A study of newspaper treatment of male and female political candidates

Abstract

As greater numbers of women enter the typically male-dominated arena of U.S. politics, it is important to look at ways in which widely held gender stereotypes can affect the coverage candidates of either gender receive in newspapers. Journalists fall into the use of certain frames in their coverage of male and female candidates, which can result in imbalanced coverage along the lines of gender. This study compares the amount of personal coverage, issue coverage, types of issue coverage, and positive and negative coverage that male and female candidates receive. This study conducted a quantitative content analysis of 84 newspaper articles culled from the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. The findings show there is a significant difference in the amount of personal and issue coverage male and female candidates receive, as well as significant differences in the amount of positive and negative coverage male and female candidates receive. The implications and limitations of this study are explained.