Women municipal politicians in election news.
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Abstract
The news media’s fascination with which party is ahead in the
polls — otherwise known as the horse race — has raised questions
about how well informed voters are about their choices on
the ballot box. A preoccupation with campaign strategies, gaffes,
and photo-ops leaves journalists with less time to report on
issues and platforms. Some scholars argue women are particularly
handicapped by horse-race coverage because it can lead to
negative evaluations of their electoral viability and because the
masculine language used in this type of coverage could depict
them as inappropriately aggressive and therefore transgressing
traditional gender norms. But this study on newspaper coverage
of municipal elections in one Canadian province reveals that
journalists treat regular council contests more as a marathon
than a horse race. The nature of municipal election coverage
suggests journalists treat candidates as a mass group of runners,
doing little to distinguish them from each other and rarely speculating
on their electoral chances. The real problem for women
and men council candidates is not media bias but media invisibility—
getting the coverage they need to build a public profile so
voters will support them.
Keywords
Women politicians, horse-race journalism, municipal politics, Canada.Downloads
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