The 2024 Paralympics in Hungarian mainstream online written media

The representation of social minority groups, including people with disabilities, plays a crucial role in shaping how majority society relates to them. The Paralympic Games are one of the world’s largest sporting events, providing an exceptional opportunity to influence public perceptions of disabled people and attitudes toward disability sport. This study examined how the most popular Hungarian-language online written media outlets represented the Paralympic Games and people with disabilities. Based on analytical criteria drawn from the relevant literature, these representations largely did not include harmful portrayals. Most of the content was created by reproducing or drawing on reports from the Hungarian News Agency (MTI), so its representational approach was also reflected in the examined outlets. In cases where the content was not based on MTI reports, problematic representational patterns appeared more frequently.