Perhaps the NCAA itself could assist in promoting equitable media coverage for women's athletics.

One researcher had some suggestions for what the NCAA could do to enhance equitable coverage, including an award presented to media outlets at the Honors Dinner at the NCAA Convention.

"If the NCAA gave out national awards, say to a major national paper, a regional paper and a local paper for their equitable coverage of women, it would be an interesting stimulus," said Judith Jenkins George, a media researcher and professor of health and physical performance at DePauw University.

"The NCAA could recognize the media in the same way it recognizes those who have done other important things in athletics, such as the Theodore Roosevelt Award winner."

George also suggested that the NCAA actively support a goal of 40 percent coverage in the media, perhaps at a rate of 2 percent a year, with the target number corresponding with women's participation rates in intercollegiate athletics.

"If the NCAA were to take a leadership role in this, we could hope for more positive change, more quickly."

The NCAA News

Meanwhile, the NCAA has worked to increase coverage of women's athletics in its own newspaper, The NCAA News.

A study published in 1994 in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues by Bethany Shifflett and Rhonda Revelle reviewed eight issues of The NCAA News randomly selected from 1988 and 1991. Two issues each were selected from fall, winter, spring and summer.

The researchers found that The NCAA News had allocated 73 percent of the space to men in 1988 and 71 percent in 1991. Some seasonal variation was found as well, with women receiving only 8 percent of coverage in the fall 1988 issue and two percent of coverage in the fall 1991 issue.

David Pickle, editor of the News since 1991, is certain the News would be closer to 50 percent if studied today.

"Much has changed over the last 14 years," he said. "It's disappointing to me that an outdated study of 14- and 12-year-old content still shows up in all the literature searches of the topic.

"We understand that we are a membership publication that must reflect the NCAA's overall philosophy of equity. But that obligation is not a burden. In fact, it helps us as we constantly search for informative content."

NCAA Photos also staffs every NCAA championship, and those photographs appear in the News and other NCAA publications. NCAA Photos images also may be purchased by media in need of photography for a wide variety of women's sports events.

The NCAA also has added a variety of programs such as the Title IX seminar, the Leadership Conference and the CHAMPS/Life Skills program. Those programs, which are administered by the NCAA education services department, include the opportunity for media coverage of female participants, and they also offer opportunities to educate the membership about issues that are important to women in athletics.

-- Kay Hawes