For decades, the gaze of the sports broadcasting camera has held an unwritten, uncomfortable duality. When a male athlete steps up to the starting blocks, the lens locks onto his muscles, his intense focus, and the mechanics of his impending athletic feat. But for female athletes, that same lens has all too often drifted—lingering on a low angle, zooming in unnecessarily during a slow-motion replay, or framing a shot in a way that feels more voyeuristic than journalistic.
Now, a major media coalition is moving to permanently shift that focus back to where it belongs: the competition.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has released a comprehensive, groundbreaking set of broadcasting rules designed to completely eliminate sexualized camera angles from women’s sports coverage. Published in collaboration with European Athletics and a coalition of prominent female sports stars, the new directive is sending shockwaves through sports media rooms, triggering a massive, polarized debate across the digital world about how women’s sports are consumed.
New broadcasting guidelines for women’s athletics have been released to crack down on camera angles and slow-motion replays that ‘sexualize’ athletes
The guidelines highlight shots broadcasters are urged to avoid pic.twitter.com/QGxAiMlvfE
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) July 14, 2026
“Raising the Bar”: The Anatomy of the New Playbook
The new rules are laid out in a meticulous, 23-page manual titled Raising the Bar: Guidelines for Respectful Media Coverage in Women’s Athletics.
Far from just offering vague editorial advice, the handbook serves as a highly practical, illustrated guide for television directors, camera crews, and photojournalists working on the stadium floor. It features explicit visual diagrams demonstrating exactly which camera angles are professionally acceptable and which are strictly prohibited across highly scrutinized track-and-field events, including:
-
The high jump and pole vault
-
Long jump and triple jump
-
Sprinting and long-distance running events
The guidelines take direct aim at the specific habits that have long frustrated female competitors and advocacy groups. Production crews are now explicitly forbidden from using dramatic low-angle shots when an athlete is preparing to jump or stretch, and from using gratuitous, close-up slow-motion footage that serves no genuine analytical or storytelling purpose.
Recognizing the inevitable pushback from traditionalists, the EBU was quick to preemptively counter the argument that these rules would stifle creative filmmaking. The broadcasting union emphasized that respect does not equal a boring broadcast, stating firmly that “the most compromising shots can be avoided with no loss of storytelling or visual quality.”
A Growing Movement Against the Lens
This isn’t the first time the global sports apparatus has attempted to course-correct its coverage.
The momentum has been building steadily on the world stage. During the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the Chief Executive Officer of Olympic Broadcasting Services issued a direct, sweeping mandate to all global camera crews, ordering them to film male and female competitors using identical framing and editing standards. The goal, he stated at the time, was to actively dismantle the deep-seated “stereotypes and sexism” that had quietly plagued Olympic coverage for generations.
The EBU’s new 23-page document represents the normalization of that stance, turning what was once a temporary Olympic protocol into a permanent, enforceable standard for European athletic coverage moving forward.
The Backlash: Crude Jokes and the Uniform Paradox
If the broadcasting industry hoped for a universally applauded transition, the internet quickly delivered a harsh reality check. As soon as the guidelines went public, social media platforms erupted with a wave of swift, hostile, and largely crude commentary.
Thousands of online trolls flooded comment sections, unleashing a barrage of cynical jokes and claiming that stripping the broadcast of sexualized framing would effectively tank the popularity of women’s athletics altogether.
“You basically killed any interest in female sports,” one prominent social media comment read, echoing a widespread sentiment among critics who argued that viewership was heavily tied to the aesthetic appeal of the competitors.
Other critics took aim at the athletes themselves, suggesting that if women didn’t want to be sexualized by the cameras, they should simply “wear some clothes when they compete.”
However, that particular argument exposes a massive, systemic paradox that female athletes have fought against for years. As defenders of the new guidelines were quick to point out, women do not choose their revealing track-and-field kit designs out of personal vanity. The skimpy, tightly fitted uniforms are actually mandated by the strict regulations of international sports governing bodies. Under current rules, an athlete who attempts to wear loose, full-coverage clothing could face immediate disqualification.
As the new guidelines take effect across European stadiums, the sports media world is entering a new era of accountability. The message from the EBU is clear: female athletes are to be celebrated for their speed, power, and historic achievements—not treated as passive content for a sexualized lens. Now, the challenge rests on the shoulders of the camera operators to prove they can capture the thrill of the game without compromising the dignity of the player.