Beyond the Sport: Disability Justice and Channel 4's Coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

For over 12 years now, Channel 4 has held the UK's broadcasting rights for the Paralympic Games. In this time, much has changed, both in relation to the global popularity and visibility of the Games and its stated media narrative and social mission. With the Paris Paralympics openly declaring a fundamental shift away from the narrative of the Superhuman and 'sport first' onto one of social justice and an "inclusion revolution" , this study seeks to investigate how Channel 4's presentation of the Paris 2024 Paralympics may, or may not, be embracing this move towards greater disability advocacy and disability justice, through sport. This is a content-based analysis which uses grounded theory to reveal key themes and preoccupations within the data, which relate to questions of disability justice. These themes include humour; disability pride; community buy-in and community building; direct advocacy; peer learning; resistance; and representations of disabled people as whole individuals, capable of a multiplicity of emotional responses, social roles and identities. In this way, the study seeks to explore the ways in which the mainstream British broadcast media may, or may not be, contributing to achieving greater social equality for disabled people in the UK, and beyond.