The America’s Cup 2007: The Nexus of Media, Sport and Big Business

Grellet, Jared Peter

University Of Canterbury

2009

University of Canterbury. Social and Political Sciences

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Over the past twenty years, the America’s Cup has grown into a significant media event in the New Zealand public sphere. This thesis focused on the New Zealand print media coverage of the 2007 regatta in Spain, analysing how different newspapers framed their coverage of the event, before interviewing the journalists who provided the stories to understand the constraints under which they worked. The analysis recorded and coded all stories relating to the America’s Cup in four of New Zealand’s daily metropolitan newspapers between April 2, 2007 and July 15, 2007. This thesis found that although the America’s Cup had shifted from between a competition between nations as the role of big-business increased, the New Zealand print media continued to focus on Emirates Team New Zealand, even though a significant number of New Zealanders were competing for foreign-based entries. The role of big businesses, including the New Zealand Government, went largely unreported in the New Zealand print media. Interviews with the journalists would suggest that their main role in Valencia was to report the racing, with limited time outside of this to report on other aspects of the event.

Keywords:

America’s Cup

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Case study

Canterbury

High performance, Sport

Other setting

2053

October 8, 2012

October 8, 2012