<![CDATA[This study aims to critically examine the commodification of female athletes in online sports journalism for the 2026 Indonesian professional volleyball competition (Proliga). Using a critical qualitative approach, the research design examines how the media shifts athletes' marketability from technical accomplishments and achievements to physical attractiveness. The research methodology combines Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis with Robert N. Entman's Framing Analysis. Data collection was conducted through sampling of three mainstream national sports news portals, which produced dozens of articles related to five female athletes. The study's main findings indicate that online media systematically and deliberately pursue an agenda of constructing public discourse that degrades athletes' narratives toward sexual objectification. Driven by political economic motives and aligned with the theory of uses and gratifications, media managers exploit audiences' visual desires to generate clickbait profits. This practice of media commodification massively stifles gender equality in sports journalism, where athletes' rights to autonomous self-presentation continue to be hijacked by digital capitalism. The implementation of gender-sensitive reporting guidelines is urgently needed to restore journalistic dignity.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
