Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This qualitative study analyzes the perceptions of US women political candidates about their local news coverage at a pivotal moment of change in both journalism and electoral politics. Through an intersectional approach, in-depth interviews with thirty-seven women who recently ran for office from 2016 to 2020 revealed findings in two areas of news research: local news declines and gender bias in political news. First, massive declines in local news capacities have trickled into local political communication, which, along with affordances of social media, point to a decline in relevance of local media to local campaigns. Second, participants perceived bias in their news coverage based on an identity intersecting with their gender, partisan affiliation, or both. Their experiences offered two potential ways forward for local news to reattain relevancy in local elections in countries of local news declines: through accountability journalism, and by diversifying staff to meet the needs of a diversifying electoral slate of candidates.

Keywords

gender bias local news political candidates political journalism intersectional analysis political communication

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aalberg

Strömbäck

2011. “Media-Driven Men and Media-Critical Women? An Empirical Study of Gender and MPs’ Relationships With the Media in Norway and Sweden.” International Political Science Review 32(2):167–87.

Abernathy

2020. The News Landscape in 2020: Transformed and Diminished. Chapel Hill, NC: Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media. https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/reports/news-deserts-and-ghost-newspapers-will-local-news-survive/the-news-landscape-in-2020-transformed-and-diminished/

Adu

2019. A Step-by-Step Guide to Qualitative Data Coding. London: Taylor & Francis Group.

Bashri

2019. “Elections, Representations, and Journalistic Schemas: Local News Coverage of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib in the US Mid-term Elections.” ESSACHESS Journal for Communication Studies 24(2):129–46.

Brooks

D. J.

Hayes

2019. “How Messages About Gender Bias Can Both Help and Hurt Women’s Representation.” American Politics Research 47(3):601–27. doi:10.1177/1532673X18795608

Brown

N. E.

Gershon

S. A.

2016. Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics. New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315661018.

Bystrom

D. G.

Robertson

Banwart

M. C.

Kaid

L. L.

2004. Gender and Candidate Communication: VideoStyle, WebStyle, NewStyle. New York: Routledge. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unc/detail.action?docID=199630

Callison

Young

M. L.

2020. Reckoning: Journalism’s Limits and Possibilities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Carlson

Robinson

Lewis

S. C.

2021. News After Trump: Journalism’s Crisis of Relevance in a Changed Media Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

10.

Center for American Women in Politics. 2020a. Measuring Success: Women in 2020 Legislative Elections. Center for American Women in Politics. Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics. https://womenrun.rutgers.edu/2020-report/

11.

Center for American Women in Politics. 2020b. Women in Elective Office; Women of Color in Elective Office 2020. Center for American Women in Politics. Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics. https://cawp.rutgers.edu/current-numbers

12.

Collins

P. H.

Bilge

2016. Intersectionality. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

13.

Cooper

2015. In Intersectionality, eds. Disch

Hawkesworth

Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199328581.013.20.

14.

Creswell

J. W.

Poth

C. N.

2016. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Sage publications.

15.

Crowder-Meyer

Lauderdale

B. E.

2014. “A Partisan Gap in the Supply of Female Potential Candidates in the United States.” Research & Politics 1(1):2053168014537230. doi:10.1177/2053168014537230.

16.

Curnalia

R. M. L.

Mermer

D. L.

Tyus

2011. “Grassroots Strategies of Local Political Campaigns.” Ohio Communication Journal 49:85–101.

17.

Darr

2021. “Local News Coverage is Declining—and That Could Be Bad for Local Politics.” FiveThirtyEight, June 2. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/local-news-coverage-is-declining-and-that-could-be-bad-for-american-politics/

18.

Darr

J. P.

Hitt

M. P.

Dunaway

J. L.

2018. “Newspaper Closures Polarize Voting Behavior.” Journal of Communication 68:1007–1028. doi:10.1093/joc/jqy051.

19.

Dittmar

2020. “Urgency and Ambition: The Influence of Political Environment and Emotion in Spurring US Women’s Candidacies in 2018.” European Journal of Politics and Gender 3(1):143–60. doi:10.1332/251510819X15728693158427.

20.

Eliasoph

1998. Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511583391.

21.

Filla

Johnson

2010. “Local News Outlets and Political Participation.” Urban Affairs Review 45(5):679–92. doi:10.1177/1078087409351947.

22.

Forde

Bedingfield

2021. Journalism and Jim Crow: White Supremacy and the Black Struggle for a New America. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.

23.

Gershon

S. A.

Montoya

Bejarano

Brown

2019. “Intersectional Linked Fate and Political Representation.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 7(3):642–53. doi:10.1080/21565503.2019.1639520.

24.

Gershon

2012. “When Race, Gender, and the Media Intersect: Campaign News Coverage of Minority Congresswomen.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 33(2):105–25. doi:10.1080/1554477X.2012.667743.

25.

Holliday

2021. “Journalism is a Public Good. Let the Public Make it.” Columbia Journalism Review, December 15. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/journalism-power-public-good-community-infrastructure.php/

26.

Hancock

A. M.

2007. “When Multiplication Doesn’t Equal Quick Addition: Examining Intersectionality as a Research Paradigm.” Perspectives on Politics 5(01):63–79. doi:10.1017/S1537592707070065.

27.

Haraldsson

Wängnerud

2019. “The Effect of Media Sexism on Women’s Political Ambition: Evidence From a Worldwide Study.” Feminist Media Studies 19(4):525–41. doi:10.1080/14680777.2018.1468797.

28.

Harmer

Savigny

Siow

2021. “Trump, Clinton, and the Gendering of Newspaper Discourse About the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Debates.” Women’s Studies in Communication 44(1):81–101. doi:10.1080/07491409.2020.1752341.

29.

Hayes

Lawless

2016. Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era. Cambridge Core. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781316336007.

30.

Hayes

Lawless

2021. News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

31.

Hellmueller

Vos

T. P.

Poepsel

M. A.

2013. “Shifting Journalistic Capital?” Journalism Studies 14(3):287–304. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2012.697686.

32.

Holman

M. R.

2017. “Women in Local Government: What We Know and Where We Go from Here.” State and Local Government Review 49(4):285–96. doi:10.1177/0160323X17732608.

33.

Hughes

M. M.

2013. “The Intersection of Gender and Minority Status in National Legislatures: The Minority Women Legislative Index.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 38(4):489–516. doi:10.1111/lsq.12025.

34.

Ingram

2020. “Government Funding for Journalism: Necessary Evil or Just Evil?” Columbia Journalism Review, January 24. https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/government-funding-journalism.php

35.

Kleis Nielsen

2012. Ground Wars. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

36.

Kleis Nielsen

2015. “Introduction: The Uncertain Future of Local Journalism.” In: Local Journalism: The Decline of Newspapers and the Rise of Digital Media, ed. Kleis Nielsen

, 1–25. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd.

37.

Lacy

Fico

F. G.

Baldwin

Bergan

Wildman

S. S.

Zube

2012. “Dailies Still Do ‘Heavy Lifting’ in Government News, despite Cuts.” Newspaper Research Journal 33(2):23–39. doi:10.1177/073953291203300203.

38.

Lachover

2012. “Just Being a Woman Isn’t Enough Any More: Israeli Television News of Women in Local Politics.” Feminist Media Studies 12(3):442–58. doi:10.1080/14680777.2011.615639.

39.

Lachover

2017. “Signs of Change in Media Representation of Women in Israeli Politics: Leading and Peripheral Women Contenders.” Journalism 18(4):446–63. doi:10.1177/1464884915610991.

40.

Len-Ríos

M. E.

Rodgers

Thorson

Yoon

2005. “Representation of Women in News and Photos: Comparing Content to Perceptions.” Journal of Communication 55(1):152–68. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2005.tb02664.x.

41.

Liebler

C. M.

Schwartz

Harper

2009. “Queer Tales of Morality: The Press, Same-Sex Marriage, and Hegemonic Framing.” Journal of Communication 59(4):653–75. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01451.x.

42.

Liki

Slatter

2015. “Control, Alt, Delete: How Fiji’s New PR Electoral System and Media Representation Affected Election Results for Women Candidates in the 2014 Election.” Journal of Pacific Studies 35(2):71–88.

43.

Macharia

2015. Who Makes the News? Global Media Monitoring Project. Toronto, ON: World Association for Christian Communication.

44.

Mahone

Wang

Napoli

Weber

McCollough

2019. Who’s Producing Local Journalism: Assessing Journalistic Output Across Different Outlet Types. DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. https://dewitt.sanford.duke.edu/whos-producing-local-journalism-nmrp-report/

45.

Major

Coleman

2008. “The Intersection of Race and Gender in Election Coverage: What Happens When the Candidates Don’t Fit the Stereotypes?” Howard Journal of Communications 19(4):315–33. doi:10.1080/10646170802391722.

46.

Maurer

Beiler

2018. “Networking and Political Alignment as Strategies to Control the News: Interaction Between Journalists and Politicians.” Journalism Studies 19(14):2024–1. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2017.1310627.

47.

Meeks

2012. “Is She ‘Man Enough’? Women Candidates, Executive Political Offices, and News Coverage.” Journal of Communication 62(1):175–93. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01621.x.

48.

Meeks

2020. “Undercovered, Underinformed: Local News, Local Elections, and U.S. Sheriffs.” Journalism Studies 21:1–18. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2020.1781546.

49.

Napoli

P. M.

Weber

Mccollough

Wang

2018. Assessing Local Journalism: News Deserts, Journalism Divides, and the Determinants of the Robustness of Local News. DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy. News Measures Research Project.

50.

News Leaders Association. 2019. “Newsroom Diversity Survey.” Retrieved June 13, 2021, from https://members.newsleaders.org/newsroom_diversitysurvey

51.

Paxton

P. M.

Hughes

M. M.

Barnes

2020. Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

52.

Powers

Zambrano

S. V.

Baisnée

2015. “The News Crisis Compared: The Impact of the Journalism Crisis on Local News Ecosystems in Toulouse (France) and Seattle (US).” In: Local Journalism: The Decline of Newspapers and the Rise of Digital Media, ed. Nielsen

R. K.

, 31–50. London: I.B. Tauris.

53.

Reyes

Bogumil

Welch

L. E.

2021. “The Living Codebook: Documenting the Process of Qualitative Data Analysis.” Sociological Methods & Research:004912412098618. Advance online publication. https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/doi/full/10.1177/0049124120986185

54.

Robinson

Culver

K. B.

2019. “When White Reporters Cover Race: News Media, Objectivity and Community (Dis)trust.” Journalism 20(3):375–91. doi:10.1177/1464884916663599.

55.

RTDNA. 2020. RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey: Newsroom Diversity. https://www.rtdna.org/uploads/files/2020%20Newsroom%20Research%20-%20Newsroom%20Diversity(1).pdf

56.

Schudson

2018. Why Journalism Still Matters. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

57.

Schwartz-Shea

Yanow

2012. Interpretive Research Design: Concepts and Processes. New York: Routledge.

58.

Scott

J. S.

Collins

2020. “Riled up About Running for Office: Examining the Impact of Emotions on Political Ambition.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 8(2):407–22. doi:10.1080/21565503.2020.1757806.

59.

Soontjens

Van

Walgrave

2021. “The Hostile Media: Politicians’ Perceptions of Coverage Bias.” West European Politics 44(4):991–1002. doi:10.1080/01402382.2020.1792671.

60.

Sui

Paul

Shah

Spurlock

Chastant

Dunaway

2018. “The Role of Minority Journalists, Candidates, and Audiences in Shaping Race-Related Campaign News Coverage.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 95(4):1079–102. doi:10.1177/1077699018762078.

61.

Sullivan

2021. “Perspective | Congress May be About to Help Local News. It Can’t Happen Soon Enough.” Washington Post, August 31. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/sullivan-local-journalism-bill/2021/08/31/68d027fe-0a5d-11ec-aea1-42a8138f132a_story.html

62.

Tolley

2015. “Racial Mediation in the Coverage of Candidates’ Political Viability: A Comparison of Approaches.” Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies 41(6):963–84. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2014.1002201.

63.

Usher

2021. News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

64.

Van Aelst

Strömbäck

Aalberg

Esser

De Vreese

Metthes

Hopmann

Salgado

Hubé

Stępińska

Papathanassopoulos

Berganza

Legnante

Reinemann

Sheafer

Stanyer

2017. “Political Communication in a High Choice Media Environment: A Challenge for Democracy?” Annals of the International Communication Association 41(1):3–27.

65.

Van der Pas

D. J.

Aaldering

2020. “Gender Differences in Political Media Coverage: A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Communication 70(1):114–43. doi:10.1093/joc/jqz046.

66.

Vidal-Correa

2020. “Media Coverage of Women in Politics: Mexican Local Politicians on Campaign.” The Journal of International Communication 26(1):1–19. doi:10.1080/13216597.2020.1736599.

67.

Wagner

2021. “Avoiding the Spotlight: Public Scrutiny, Moral Regulation, and LGBTQ Candidate Deterrence.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 9(3):502–18. doi:10.1080/21565503.2019.1605298.

68.

Ward

2016. “Seeing Double: Race, Gender, and Coverage of Minority Women’s Campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives.” Politics & Gender 12(2):317–43. doi:10.1017/S1743923X16000222.

69.

Ward

2017. “Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns: Representations of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Female Candidates at the UK 2010 General Election. The International Journal of Press/Politics 22(1):43–66.

70.

Winfrey

K. L.

Schnoebelen

J. M.

2019. “Running as a Woman (or Man): A Review of Research on Political Communicators and Gender Stereotypes.” Review of Communication Research 7:109–38. doi:10.12840/ISSN.2255-4165.020.

71.

Zelizer

2017. What Journalism Could Be. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.02 MB

“Minimal” and “Biased”: An Intersectional Analysis of Female Candidates’ Perceptions of Their Local News Coverage

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material