This study explored how nationalism was perpetuated by the Seven Network’s broadcasting of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games during a time, in which much of Australia was in various forms of Covid-19 lockdowns. Self-categorization theory was used to analyze all the primetime coverage of the Seven Network’s main channel for name mentions, description of success or failure, and personality and physicality of the Olympians. Results of this study underscore large differences in the way in which the Seven Network portrayed Australian and non-Australian athletes. Whilst the majority of the top-20 most-mentioned athletes list were Australian, non-Australian athletes received the bulk of the name mentions. There were also differences in the ways in which Australian and non-Australian athletes’ success and failure were portrayed. This study contributes to the literature by uncovering how a major sporting event was covered by a national broadcaster during the Covid-19 pandemic and shows that Australian media catered its coverage to its home audience, who were in lockdowns. Thus, interest and viewership of the Tokyo Olympics was high, which might have been the impetus for the Seven Network to create a largely partisan program.

中文翻译：

---

向封锁的国家转播东京：澳大利亚对 2020 年夏季奥运会的转播报道

这项研究探讨了七号电视网在 2020 年东京奥运会期间转播的民族主义是如何延续的，当时澳大利亚大部分地区都处于各种形式的 Covid-19 封锁之下。使用自我分类理论来分析七号电视网主频道的所有黄金时段报道，包括奥运选手的名字提及、成功或失败的描述以及个性和身体素质。这项研究的结果强调了七号电视网描绘澳大利亚和非澳大利亚运动员的方式存在巨大差异。虽然最受提及的前 20 名运动员名单中的大多数是澳大利亚人，但非澳大利亚运动员也获得了大部分的提及。澳大利亚和非澳大利亚运动员的成功和失败的描述方式也存在差异。这项研究通过揭示国家广播公司在 Covid-19 大流行期间如何报道一项重大体育赛事，为文献做出了贡献，并表明澳大利亚媒体迎合了处于封锁状态的家庭观众的报道。因此，东京奥运会的兴趣和收视率很高，这可能是七号台制作一个主要是党派节目的动力。