A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games

Jadeera P.G. Cheong; Niki Cheong; Mark Brooke; Hanae Endo; Weerawat Limroongreungrat; Agus Mahendra; Akila Shanmuga Sundaram; Peggy Choi; Mahdi Esfahani; Payam Ansari; Vinnie Hall; Dev Roychowdhury; Po Hsiu Lin; Xiaolong Song; Tânia Bastos; Ali Al-Shamli; Huyền Ngô Thị; Majed M. Alhumaid; Rizal Razman; Omar Hindawi; Selina Khoo

doi:10.1057/s41599-025-05361-2

A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games

Jadeera P.G. Cheong
, Niki Cheong
, Mark Brooke
, Hanae Endo
, Weerawat Limroongreungrat
, Agus Mahendra
, Akila Shanmuga Sundaram
, Peggy Choi
, Mahdi Esfahani
, Payam Ansari
, Vinnie Hall
, Dev Roychowdhury
, Po Hsiu Lin
, Xiaolong Song
, Tânia Bastos
, Ali Al-Shamli
, Huyền Ngô Thị
, Majed M. Alhumaid
, Rizal Razman
, Omar Hindawi

Selina Khoo^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The study analysed news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games in newspapers in 17 countries or regions (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Portugal, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam). In addition, Facebook posts of the respective newspaper organisations were also analysed. This is a quantitative study and offers an extensive comparative overview of trends and patterns in media representation of the Games in different parts of the world. The results showed that the total number of articles and photographs varied greatly between countries and regions. Analysis of the Facebook posts showed a similar trend to newspapers. The subject of interest is predominantly still the male athletes, and particularly those competing in wheelchairs. In nearly all the publications sampled, media coverage featured more content of their local athletes than foreigners. Overall, there appears to be a great disparity in terms of coverage and content of the Paralympic Games between the 17 countries or regions.

Original language	English
Article number	996
Journal	Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05361-2
Publication status	Published - 2025 Dec

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Business,Management and Accounting
General Arts and Humanities
General Social Sciences
General Psychology
General Economics,Econometrics and Finance

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Cite this

Cheong, J. P. G., Cheong, N., Brooke, M., Endo, H., Limroongreungrat, W., Mahendra, A., Sundaram, A. S., Choi, P., Esfahani, M., Ansari, P., Hall, V., Roychowdhury, D., Lin, P. H., Song, X., Bastos, T., Al-Shamli, A., Ngô Thị, H., Alhumaid, M. M., Razman, R., ... Khoo, S. (2025). A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), Article 996. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05361-2

Cheong, JPG, Cheong, N, Brooke, M, Endo, H, Limroongreungrat, W, Mahendra, A, Sundaram, AS, Choi, P, Esfahani, M, Ansari, P, Hall, V, Roychowdhury, D, Lin, PH, Song, X, Bastos, T, Al-Shamli, A, Ngô Thị, H, Alhumaid, MM, Razman, R, Hindawi, O & Khoo, S 2025, 'A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games', Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, 996. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05361-2

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title = "A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games",

abstract = "The study analysed news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games in newspapers in 17 countries or regions (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Portugal, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam). In addition, Facebook posts of the respective newspaper organisations were also analysed. This is a quantitative study and offers an extensive comparative overview of trends and patterns in media representation of the Games in different parts of the world. The results showed that the total number of articles and photographs varied greatly between countries and regions. Analysis of the Facebook posts showed a similar trend to newspapers. The subject of interest is predominantly still the male athletes, and particularly those competing in wheelchairs. In nearly all the publications sampled, media coverage featured more content of their local athletes than foreigners. Overall, there appears to be a great disparity in terms of coverage and content of the Paralympic Games between the 17 countries or regions.",

author = "Cheong, \{Jadeera P.G.\} and Niki Cheong and Mark Brooke and Hanae Endo and Weerawat Limroongreungrat and Agus Mahendra and Sundaram, \{Akila Shanmuga\} and Peggy Choi and Mahdi Esfahani and Payam Ansari and Vinnie Hall and Dev Roychowdhury and Lin, \{Po Hsiu\} and Xiaolong Song and T{\^a}nia Bastos and Ali Al-Shamli and \{Ng{\^o} Thị\}, Huyền and Alhumaid, \{Majed M.\} and Rizal Razman and Omar Hindawi and Selina Khoo",

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doi = "10.1057/s41599-025-05361-2",

language = "English",

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AU - Cheong, Niki

AU - Brooke, Mark

AU - Endo, Hanae

AU - Limroongreungrat, Weerawat

AU - Mahendra, Agus

AU - Sundaram, Akila Shanmuga

AU - Choi, Peggy

AU - Esfahani, Mahdi

AU - Ansari, Payam

AU - Hall, Vinnie

AU - Roychowdhury, Dev

AU - Lin, Po Hsiu

AU - Song, Xiaolong

AU - Bastos, Tânia

AU - Al-Shamli, Ali

AU - Ngô Thị, Huyền

AU - Alhumaid, Majed M.

AU - Razman, Rizal

AU - Hindawi, Omar

AU - Khoo, Selina

PY - 2025/12

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AB - The study analysed news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games in newspapers in 17 countries or regions (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Portugal, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam). In addition, Facebook posts of the respective newspaper organisations were also analysed. This is a quantitative study and offers an extensive comparative overview of trends and patterns in media representation of the Games in different parts of the world. The results showed that the total number of articles and photographs varied greatly between countries and regions. Analysis of the Facebook posts showed a similar trend to newspapers. The subject of interest is predominantly still the male athletes, and particularly those competing in wheelchairs. In nearly all the publications sampled, media coverage featured more content of their local athletes than foreigners. Overall, there appears to be a great disparity in terms of coverage and content of the Paralympic Games between the 17 countries or regions.

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A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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