NZ Olympic Committee boss Kereyn Smith lashes out at media over coverage

NZOC chief executive Kereyn Smith says women's sport needs to get more coverage in New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images.

New Zealand Olympic Committee chief executive Kereyn Smith has lashed out at media over "horrifyingly bad" coverage of women's sport.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB, Smith called for equal media coverage for male and female athletes after UNESCO released a report stating only four per cent of global media content was dedicated to women's sport.

Smith said the NZOC undertook a year-long study ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, which showed numbers were only a shade better than the global numbers UNESCO's two-year report revealed.

Smith said the NZOC's research leading into the Rio Olympics showed about eight or nine per cent of content was dedicated to women's sport.

"There just hasn't been the storytelling of women's sport, and just the mass coverage of male sport continues to feed upon itself."

Smith admitted New Zealand media fairly covered both women and men during the Rio Olympics, but coverage sagged "back to the sad norm" as soon as the largest sporting event in the world concluded.

Kiwi runner Nick Willis defended New Zealand media on Twitter, stating it was much worse in other parts of the world.

It's 10x worst in the US. I've always thought NZ has done a great job profiling its stars from smaller sports, male or female. Queen B, @BarbsKendall, Dame Susan Devoy, Sarah Ulmer...

— Nick Willis (@nickwillis) February 12, 2018

Smith said netball got relatively good coverage, but overall, women's sport was getting far less airtime and far less serious treatment, and that needed to change.

"There's a really big differences between the language around men and women's sports, differences around where the stories are placed."

To get the day's top sports stories in your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here