Beyond elite sports: Analysis of the coverage of anabolic steroids in the Spanish press (2007–2011)

This article explores how the issue of anabolic steroids has been covered by the Spanish press in a period when doping/drug abuse in sport has attracted considerable attention in the media. We analysed news and opinion pieces about this topic in the Spanish written press over a period of five years (2007–2011) on the basis of the agenda-setting theory. A total of 581 items linked to the consumption of steroids were identified, mainly in the sports sections of a statewide newspaper and in the society and crime sections of Valencian and Catalan regional newspapers. In the vast majority of cases, the source and producer of the news is the police or the judicial system and the primary focus is on penal aspects, while a health and social integration perspective is neglected. Press releases from the police reveal the spread of the doping phenomenon, among both professional and amateur athletes, and also among security and emergency bodies.