NEW YORK, July 29 /EMWNews/ -- Results from the Dow Jones Insight -

Olympics Media Pulse show that heading into the Opening Ceremonies, top

global sponsors Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa are leading total media

coverage with ad campaigns focused on goodwill for the Olympic Games. All

three, which cumulatively garnered 59 percent of traditional media mentions

and 67 percent of social media mentions during the period of July 15-28,

have introduced ads centered on themes of global unity, working together

and achieving dreams.



    Athlete Doping Along With Pollution Makes Things Murky for Beijing



    As the start of the Beijing Olympic Games draws closer, coverage of

athlete doping is starting to catch up with the hot-button issue of

pollution concerns, according to analysis of traditional and social media

sources tracked by Dow Jones Insight.



    While coverage of Beijing's polluted air and water was more frequent

(2,094 mentions) than doping (1,186 mentions) during the 10 days from July

14-23, doping coverage has been increasing in the wake of the World

Anti-Doping Agency's vows that the Beijing Games would be "the cleanest

Games in history."



    -- Mentions of doping increased to a high of 177 on July 24 with

coverage of U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy testing positive for the banned

stimulant clenbuterol. Hardy may pursue appeals with the American

Arbitration Association and the Court of Arbitration for Sport in order to

hold onto her spot on the U.S. team.



    -- Doping coverage was also driven by news that Greek sprinter Katerina

Thanou was included on Greece's official roster for Beijing. Thanou served

a two-year ban after missing a mandatory doping test prior to the 2004

Athens Games. Thanou had won a silver medal in the 100 meters in Sydney in

2000.



    -- The issue of doping will likely remain in the headlines as Jamaica

Olympic Association (JOA) Chief Mike Fennell has confirmed that a member of

Jamaica's athletics team for the Beijing Games tested positive for a banned

substance, but he has refused to identify the athlete.



    Unlike Athens in 2004, Beijing is Under Media Microscope for

Environmental Issues



    Beijing is not the first Olympic host city subjected to scrutiny of its

air quality and pollution. In the months before the start of the 2004

Athens Olympics, that city's notorious air pollution was the subject of

some media coverage. But it was small compared to the attention focused on

Beijing's problems thus far.



    Coverage of Beijing's environmental issues has been more than 10 times

that of Athens' in the seven months prior to each event, according to

analysis by Dow Jones Insight of more than 2,000 mainstream media sources

published during both time periods.



    From January 1 through July 31, 2004, there were 353 documents

mentioning environmental issues related to the Athens Games in the analyzed

newspapers, magazines and newswires. In comparison, during the first seven

months of 2008, there were 4,216 documents mentioning environmental issues

related to Beijing as the host city.



    The striking difference in coverage may be a reflection of current

growing worldwide concern over the state of the environment and the effects

of global warming, whereas before the 2004 Games the primary focus of

attention was on domestic and international terrorism in Greece.



    Sprinters Powell and Gay Edge Out Phelps to Lead Press Coverage



    For the first time since Dow Jones Insight began analyzing media

coverage heading into the Beijing Olympic Games, Michael Phelps is not the

most talked-about athlete, at least in traditional media sources (print and

online). During the period of July 15-28, Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell

garnered the most coverage, with 17 percent of the total 3,807 mentions of

athletes being tracked. Following closely behind among the top 10 athletes

was U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay, with 13 percent. Powell and Gay, along with

Jamaica's Usain Bolt, are expected to fight it out for the gold medal in

the glamour event of the track and field competition -- the 100 meters.



    In third was Australian swimmer Grant Hackett with 444 mentions for

12%, followed by Phelps with 432 mentions for 11%. U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm

was next with 365 mentions for 10%. Hamm was back in the news this week

when he announced he was withdrawing from the team because of concerns that

his wrist injury would not be fully healed by the start of the Games.

Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang and U.S. swimmer Dara Torres each had 9% of the

total mentions. Australian hurdler Jana Rawlinson had 254 mentions, or 7%,

mainly covering her failure to make the 2008 Australian team. Rounding out

the top 10 were U.S. track athletes Jeremy Wariner, with 7%, and Allyson

Felix, with 6%.



    However, when it comes to social media, Phelps is still the fan

favorite, dominating coverage in message boards and blogs with 28 percent

of the mentions tracked, which was nearly double the mentions for Dara

Torres, who had the second-highest total.



    Top Ten Athletes (Traditional Press)






    1. Asafa Powell

    2. Tyson Gay

    3. Grant Hackett

    4. Michael Phelps

    5. Paul Hamm

    6. Liu Xiang

    7. Dara Torres

    8. Jana Rawlinson

    9. Jeremy Wariner

    10. Allyson Felix

    Top Ten Athletes (Social Media)






    1. Michael Phelps

    2. Dara Torres

    3. Tyson Gay

    4. Paul Hamm

    5. Asafa Powell

    6. Liu Xiang

    7. Shawn Johnson

    8. Allyson Felix

    9. Paula Radcliffe

    10. Jeremy Wariner



    The Dow Jones Insight - Olympics Media Pulse provides a high-level view

of a competitive media landscape and demonstrates how athletes, sponsors

and issues are covered in the media and how that coverage changes over

time. Dow Jones Insight combines proven research methodologies, trusted

content and advanced text-mining and visualization tools to deliver

strategic qualitative and quantitative media measurement metrics.

Organizations use the analysis to nurture their reputation, demonstrate the

effectiveness of their communications strategies and achieve business

objectives. The platform processes nearly a million articles, Web pages,

blogs and message board posts per day.



    The charts are available at http://www.dowjonesinsight.com/olympics and

can be reproduced in print and online media. For further information about

the Dow Jones Insight solutions or The Dow Jones Insight - 2008 Olympics

Media Pulse, please contact Shannon Sullivan at +1 609 627 2312 or

[email protected].



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