Go USA ... go world : nationalist and internationalist priming effects through Olympic telecasts

Abstract

Within the Modern Olympics, a tension exists between celebrating national pride and promoting international peace and unity. Research has documented that U.S. network coverage of the Games is dominated by a pro-U.S. frame. Despite millions of Olympic viewers, little research has examined possible Olympic viewing motivations; and perhaps more importantly, no research has explored the effects of pro-U.S. Olympic images, which largely ignores themes of international peace and unity upon which the Olympics are founded. This study first developed the International Sport Viewing Motivations (ISVM) scale, a measure consisting of nationalist and internationalist sport viewing motivations. Further analyses confirmed that nationalist sport viewing motivations are a stronger predictor of Olympic viewing than internationalist sport viewing motivations. Additionally, through experimental design, the study exposed participants to a nationalist or internationalist Olympic frame to test possible priming effects of frame on viewers' national pride, internationalism, and international political attitudes. Results showed main effects of frame on national pride and internationalism. Specifically, the nationalist frame caused a larger degree of change in national pride, and the internationalist frame caused a larger degree of change in internationalism. Findings also suggested indirect effects of the nationalist frame through national pride on certain international political attitudes.