Today we follow up with the second of a four-part look at the sports coverage of three mainstream print publications from a weekend with one of the most diverse sporting line ups of the year.
In Ireland, it was the opening weekend of the Guinness six Nations and also saw a full slate of fixtures in the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues, the Lidl Ladies Football National League and the opening weekend of the Littlewoods Camogie National League.
It was the weekend of the Dublin Racing Festival and on an international level, there was a full round of Premiership football, the finals of the Australian Open Tennis Championship and the Super Bowl.
What better time then to look at a benchmark of how the three main national newspaper titles treated each of the different sporting events in terms of coverage through their Saturday sports supplements.
Today we take a look at The Irish Independent, tomorrow the Irish Examiner and yesterday we looked at The Irish Times before a wrap-up and commentary on Thursday morning.
Guinness Men’s Six Nations
Twelve stories in total in the main supplement and then an eight-page pullout. Tony Ward, Alan Quinlan, Sinéad Kissane and David Kelly produced features on Andy Farrell and Caelan Doris while Ruaridh O’Connor and Cian Treacy provided the match analysis. The analysis of the other two games came from The Daily Telegraph. The coverage rounded out with a Q and A of six main writers on their thoughts for the Championship.
Total Paragraphs 341
Percentage of total coverage 38.2 per cent
Allianz Football League
Tomás O’Sé leads the coverage with a feature on Padraig Joyce taking over in Galway. There are previews of the weekend matches from Conor McKeown and Frank Roche
Total Paragraphs 95
Percentage of total coverage 10.6 per cent
Horse Racing
A full eight-page pullout led by Patrick Mullins writing a guest column on his rides at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Total Paragraphs 88
Percentage of total coverage 9.9 per cent (not including racecards)
Guinness Women’s Six Nations
Strong coverage with analysis by Alison Miller, a feature interview with Captain Ciara Griffin and a match preview of Ireland vs Scotland
Total Paragraphs 76
Percentage of total coverage 8.6 per cent
Allianz Hurling Leagues
Vincent Hogan’s main piece is a major feature again on the rivalry between Davy Fitzgerald and Brian Lohan ahead of Wexford Vs Clare. Michael Verney previews the matches taking place on Saturday and Sunday.
Total Paragraphs 56
Percentage of total coverage 6.4 per cent
English Premier League
Four main items led by a personality piece by Jamie Carragher taken from the Daily Telegraph, one more from that paper and a preview of each of the weekend games.
Total Paragraphs 55
Percentage of total coverage 6.2 per cent
Other Football
Dan McDonnell rounds up the week of agreements and appointments at the FAI and there is a piece on the Transfer window.
Total Paragraphs 49
Percentage of total coverage 5.5 per cent
Lidl Ladies Football National League
An interview with Donegal Captain Emer Gallagher looking forward to their trip to Waterford
Total Paragraphs 30
Percentage of total coverage 3.4 per cent
Super Bowl
Coverage of the big game from Miami written by Gerard Hughes
Total Paragraphs 23
Percentage of total coverage 2.6 per cent
Littlewoods Camogie National League Opening Weekend
Interview by Michael Verney with Heather Cooney of Galway ahead of the opening round of fixtures in the League
Total Paragraphs 16
Percentage of total coverage 1.8 per cent
Other Rugby
Two separate stories on Schools Rugby, and Munster coaching
Total Paragraphs 14
Percentage of total coverage 1.5 per cent
Golf
Graeme McDowell was again the focus of a piece on the European Tour event in Saudi Arabia
Total Paragraphs 13
Percentage of total coverage 1.4 per cent
U20 Six Nations
Report by John Fallon from Ireland’s win over Scotland in Cork on Friday night.
Total Paragraphs 12
Percentage of total coverage 1.3 per cent
Australian Open Tennis
A preview of the Men’s final taken from the Daily Telegraph
Total Paragraphs 8
Percentage of total coverage 0.9 per cent
Boxing
Preview of a night of action featuring Irish boxers at the Ulster Hall
Total Paragraphs 6
Percentage of total coverage 0.7 per cent
Hockey
A piece on the extension of the Irish Men’s Head Coach position to the end of the year.
Total Paragraphs 5
Percentage of total coverage 0.5 per cent
Cycling
The UCI Cyclo-cross is coming to Dublin and was covered in the Sports Shorts
Total Paragraphs 3
Percentage of total coverage 0.3 per cent
Cricket
Paul Stirling’s signing for Northampton is covered in the Sports Shorts area.
Total Paragraphs 2
Percentage of total coverage 0.2 per cent
In an overall context, the big three sports of Rugby, Football and Gaelic Games accounted for a higher 83.5 per cent of the coverage in Saturday’s Irish Independent than was the case in the Irish Times.
The paper also devoted 46 per cent more in terms of overall sporting coverage spread across three separate tabloid-size supplements.
The breadth of different sports covered though was higher with 15 sports covered as opposed to 12.
The coverage devoted to Women’s sport was a much higher 13.8 per cent as opposed to 73.8 per cent for Men’s and 12.4 per cent that could be deemed as neutral including coverage of the Dublin Racing Festival and the FAI.
Later this week: A similar breakdown of coverage in the Irish Examiner and a commentary on the differences we found over the three different newspapers.
Image Credit: Sport for Business
