Knowledge Box

Every High Has Its Low: The Effects of Doping on Olympic Athletes' Public Image

HSB 201

This research project will examine media coverage of Olympic athletes involved in doping scandals. Prior research done in this particular area has found that the media industry has a significant impact on framing the public view of Olympic athletes. This study will focus on Benoit’s image repair theory and what techniques the athletes may or may not have used to restore their image and boost their reputation. Furthermore, it will attempt to determine if the media portrays the athlete in a positive or negative light according to how the athlete responds or reacts to doping accusations. The study will be a content analysis of a large variety of newspaper articles relevant to a number of Olympic athletes involved in doping scandals from 1980-2014. The articles will be randomly selected from the databases of the top ten newspapers in the United States (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, etc.). The study will explore how an athlete’s response either helps or hurts his or her public image in the eyes of the media.