Women Making News: Gender as a Variable in Source Selection and Use

Abstract

An important dimension of agenda setting is the way in which the media frame the issues and events they present to the public. This article focuses on one of the most important dimensions of framing: choice of information source—the selections journalists make from among the many possible and potential holders of information of those sources whose information and viewpoints will actually be included in the news. In particular, this content analysis often years of three southern newspapers focuses on the inclusion of female sources in newspaper stories and analyzes whether the gender of the reporter affects that inclusion.