1. ECSS 2016, Vienna, Austria – July 6th 2016
Louis Moustakas and Till Müller-Schoell
German Sport University Cologne, Germany
Mega Sporting Events and Children Rights: The Variety of Media Coverage in 2014 in 22 countries 1 1 1 1 1

2. Outline Overview How the project started What we did What we found out
Trends in coverage
Drivers of coverage
Conclusions

3. What drives that coverage in individual countries?
Overview
Two Questions
How much does media cover children, and human, rights issues in relation to Mega Sporting Events (MSEs)?
What drives that coverage in individual countries?

4. Overview
Looking at 22 countries — for a total of 44 media sources — and 3 MSEs in 2014, we find that MSE participation, levels of freedom of the press and income levels are drivers of media coverage

5. How the project started
Mega Sporting Events (MSEs) can have an impact on children and their families or caregivers
As many as 1.5 million people, including children and their families, were displaced for the Beijing Olympic Games.
At least 14 cases of children involved in construction projects related to the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
More recently, 11 workers died on construction sites for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

6. How the project started
We are all involved in sport, most of us are probably aware of these issues. But what about the rest of the world, and especially the media? In the context of Terre des Hommes’ Children Win project, we tried to answer this question and quantified media coverage (relating to MSEs and children rights) for 2014 in 12 countries.
High awareness
Nascent awareness
Minimal awareness

7. What we did
We wanted to find out what drives this coverage. So, We added 10 countries and compared results against various indicators for sport participation, human development and freedom:
MSE Participation
Athletes sent to MSEs in 2014
MSEs hosted
GNI (at PPP) per capita
Press Freedom
World Giving Index
Others (HDI, Democracy index, etc.)

8. 22 countries
44 media sources

9. What we found out | Trends in coverage
RANK
COUNTRY
RESULTS
W/ CHILD 1
United Kingdom
842
274 2
Brazil
616
115 3
United States of America
418
123 4
Netherlands
295 38 5
Canada
286 81 6
Australia
202 43 7
Germany
185 8
Korea
138 9
Spain
134 13 10
Austria
114 14 11
France
103 19 12
Switzerland 84
South Africa 71 18
Mexico 53 15
Italy 50 16
Kenya 49 17
Nigeria 42
China 37
New Zealand 26 20
India 24 21
Russia 22
Algeria -
TOTAL
3792
348

10. What we found out | Trends in coverage
Sochi Winter Olympics
Brazil World Cup
Glasgow Commonwealth Games

11. What we found out | Drivers in coverage
Income levels based on GNI (at PPP) per capita
Low-Mid Upper-Mid High

12. What we found out | Drivers in coverage
Press Freedom levels
Very serious Difficult Problems Satisfactory Good

13. What we found out | Drivers in coverage
In models using either income levels or press freedom levels, only the amount of athletes sent to MSEs remains significant

14. What we found out | Drivers in coverage
Minimum level of development achieved?
Yes
High national interest (athlete participation)
Potential for higher coverage No
Limited coverage

15. Conclusions
Discrepancies in income or press freedom do not matter once a country reaches a certain level.
Reaching a certain level of income or press freedom allows for higher coverage.
Coverage can then be driven by national interest, which is reflected here in event participation.