Research

As the national university, we champion and support innovative research that addresses the country’s most pressing challenges.

22 Oct 2024

UP Diliman

An active learning system which generates training sequences comparable to randomly labeled video sequences has potential use in vehicle tracking

The development of an efficient and reliable transport system has a direct impact on the economy of the country. One...

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12 Sep 2024

UP Mindanao

Tarsiers need small forest fragments to survive, making it crucial to protect these isolated environments

The Philippine tarsier Carlito syrichta (Linnaeus, 1758) is considered a specially protected flagship species in the Philippines. However, the species is threatened...

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20 Aug 2024

UP Mindanao

In Visayan and Mindanao epics, the “Man With No Breath” is seen as deathless and invulnerable, contrary to the common view of continuous breathing as a sign of wellbeing

In Visayan and Mindanao epics, one encounters the figure of an enigmatic character called the “Man With No Breath”. This...

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09 Aug 2024

UP Diliman

Height and height differences impact different areas of life including jobs, education, sports and social interactions

This review article examines the meanings and materialities of human stature, from serving as a marker of human difference to...

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02 Aug 2024

UP Los Baños

Saba banana peels offer many health benefits including potential effectiveness in treating obesity and related disorders

This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the potential health benefits of saba banana peel (SBP). The study reveals that...

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29 Jul 2024

UP Manila

Pharmacy students are skilled in nonverbal communication and language use, but less confident in developing and managing treatment plans

Pharmacists are in a unique position to provide important medication information, prevent errors, and help improve patient outcomes. Patient medication...

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19 Jul 2024

UP Los Baños

Large-scale study involving samples from 90 countries reveals that butterflies originated approximately 100 million years ago in what is now the Americas

The research, conducted over seven years and involving over 80 scientists worldwide, aims to contribute to our understanding of butterfly...

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16 Jul 2024

UP Diliman

The dozens of animal engravings discovered in the Atxurra cave in Basque Country, Spain prove that there is planning before artistic production during the Upper Palaeolithic

The Atxurra cave (Basque Country, Spain) is an exceptional place to learn about the Magdalenian artists in Europe. A unique...

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26 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

Traditional Thai music was combined with Western classical music to develop unique chamber music pieces that more people can appreciate

Imagine blending the intricate melodies of Thai traditional music with the rich harmonies of Western classical music to create something...

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18 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

The Vocabulario de Iapon (Japanese Vocabulary) is both typical and unique among books first printed in the Philippines from 1593 to 1640

Books go through a process of transformation from uniformity to uniqueness in the course of their survival. Some of these...

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13 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

The lack of a consistent Southeast Asian values system may explain the ongoing sexual prejudice toward lesbian women and gay men in the region

Homonegativity or negative attitudes towards lesbian women and gay men still persist in Southeast Asian countries. Such attitudes not only...

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11 Jun 2024

UP Diliman

Research investigates how crowdsourcing, digital co-production and collaborative governance can modernize local public transport services

The SafeTravelPH Public Transport Crowdsourcing App, which was designed as part of a bigger research, is a platform that actively...

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Research

In this study, Panao and Gache delve into the fascinating world of sports and its connection to global politics. Essentially, the study asks whether the media treats all countries equally when reporting on sports achievements. They collected 11,469 news articles on the Olympics, published by Reuters from 2012 to 2022, to see how different countries’ performances are portrayed in international news outlets. What they found was that, rather surprisingly, non-democratic states that perform well in sports tend to be underreported. Even if they win medals, their achievements often receive less attention. On the flip side, democratic
countries—even if they underperform—get more media coverage. The range of what non-democracies cover is wide, however, and includes authoritarian regimes like China as well illiberal democracies with recurring bouts of repression.

Why is there a bias in favor of democracies? The authors argue that this bias stems from the media’s normative preference for liberal democracy and its associated values. There are a number of implications. One pertains to soft power, or to the ability of a country to influence others through culture, diplomacy, and other non-coercive means. Panao and Gache suggest that being a democracy pays off in terms of soft power gains. Another implication points to the relevance of sports as an arena of political contestation.

While it is understood that, like their democratic counterparts, authoritarian regimes utilize strategies, narratives, and tactics, including engagement in international sporting activities to project soft power, literature rarely focus on how international media wittingly or unwittingly mediates soft power projection through their coverage. These findings show that for an equivalent or greater amount of sporting success athletes from autocratic states receive less coverage than those from democratic states. Consequently, autocratic states gain less in soft power through their sporting efforts than their democratic counterparts do. Overall, we show that in the coverage of sporting events, instead of soft power gains, what actually happens
is a sort of soft disempowerment, particularly of states contravening international rules or failing to uphold international standards.

So, next time you watch the Olympics or any major sporting event, consider how the media shapes your perception of different countries. It is not just about who wins medals; it is also about the narratives we consume. And remember, the playing field is not always level when it comes to media coverage.

Authors: Rogelio Alicor L. Panao and Adrian Justin L. Gache (Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read more: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics