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The Distorted Mirror: Press Coverage of Women Candidates for Statewide Office

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Abstract

Voters see the political landscape largely through the eyes of the news media. In races for statewide office, where direct contact with politicians is rare, citizens receive most of their news about the campaign from state newspapers. Voters' dependence on the press for political information may be problematic for women running for office. A content analysis of newspaper coverage in 47 statewide campaigns between 1982 and 1988 shows that the press differentiate between male and female candidates in their campaign coverage. These differences are more dramatic in U.S. Senate races, but the differences are still evident in gubernatorial contests. In senatorial races, women receive less campaign coverage than their male counterparts and the coverage they receive is more negative—emphasizing their unlikely chances of victory. In both senatorial and gubernatorial races, women receive consistently less issue attention than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the news media seem more responsive to the messages sent by male candidates. The media's agenda more closely resembles the agenda issued by male candidates in their televised political advertisements. These systematic differences in press treatment of male and female candidates may hinder women as they strive for statewide elective office.
... Un disfrute pleno del derecho a ser votadas en igualdad de condiciones comprende también el aspecto del acceso a medios de comunicación, los cuales permiten divulgar a la población la información que se requiere para participar en los comicios. El razonamiento que sustenta lo anterior es que en la mayoría de las ocasiones para que se dé el voto se requiere que quien elige identifique a la persona que contiende por el cargo (Kahn, 1994). El acceso a medios por parte de los participantes en comicios realizados en México se da en dos modalidades: los tiempos de Estado, una prerrogativa de las y los candidatos garantizada por los organismos electorales, y la cobertura mediática equitativa, para la que el Consejo General del Instituto Nacional Electoral ha establecido recomendaciones para los medios de comunicación. ...
... El análisis de la cantidad o volumen de la cobertura mediática tiene su justificación en la constatación de que a mayor visibilidad de las candidaturas, mayor probabilidad de que puedan ser reconocidas y por ende votadas (Goldenberg y Traugott, 1987). Desde este punto de vista, las candidaturas sin cobertura mediática o con cobertura menor estarían en desventaja frente a sus contendientes (Kahn, 1994). Por ser la cantidad de cobertura un rasgo manifiesto de los contenidos, su medición suele conseguir mayor fiabilidad en comparación con las otras dimensiones: como variable dependiente, se expresa, en radio y televisión, en medidas absolutas o relativas de tiempo aire y, en publicaciones, en medidas absolutas o relativas de artículos, centímetros cuadrados o texto dedicados a candidaturas. ...
... Entre los estudios que siguen este enfoque se encuentran los que no reportan sesgos de género -como Smith (1997), Devitt (2002), Atkeson y Krebs (2008) y Hayes y Lawless (2015) en el contexto estadounidense; o el de Lachover (2015), en Israel-y los que sí, por ejemplo, en Bélgica (Vos, 2013;Hooghe et al., 2015) y en países de la Unión Europea (Lühiste y Banducci, 2016). Si ordenamos cronológicamente los estudios publicados en Estados Unidos podemos notar que los primeros estudios realizados reportan sesgos significativos de género en atención mediática -por ejemplo, Kahn (1994)-mientras que estudios posteriores -como el de Smith (1997) y Hayes y Lawless (2015)-reportan sesgos de género no significativos, por lo que los estudios recientes han volcado su interés hacia aspectos cualitativos de los mensajes. ...
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Ensayos sobre el sistema político electoral en Jalisco es una publicación colectiva que ofrece líneas de investigación cruciales para comprender las transformaciones recientes del sistema político mexicano desde un enfoque subnacional y, simultáneamente, propone nuevas directrices para la observación de los procesos electorales en el país. Las participaciones en este volumen retoman temas fundamentales en los estudios electorales, como lo son el sistema de partidos, la legalidad del proceso electoral y de la efectividad de las instituciones que los garantizan, la configuración de élites políticas y sus trayectorias, el rol de los medios de comunicación en la competencia electoral, así como los límites al principio de igualdad de participación, sobre el cual se sustenta el ideal electoral.
... It has been found in the previous research that female candidates receive more horserace coverage than coverage of their political activities (Kahn, 1994a(Kahn, , 1994b(Kahn, , 1996. When the horserace frame is dominant for coverage of female candidates, it shows female candidates as being less viable than their male counterparts (Kahn, 1994a(Kahn, , 1994b(Kahn, , 1996. ...
... It has been found in the previous research that female candidates receive more horserace coverage than coverage of their political activities (Kahn, 1994a(Kahn, , 1994b(Kahn, , 1996. When the horserace frame is dominant for coverage of female candidates, it shows female candidates as being less viable than their male counterparts (Kahn, 1994a(Kahn, , 1994b(Kahn, , 1996. Contradictorily, Clinton's representation than other female candidates never had been given in the same media way just because there was none before her to strive for this highly esteemed position in the country. ...
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... As such, the media appears to exaggerate existing gender stereotypes compared to campaign communication. Similarly, for the U.S., Kahn (1994) shows that, in comparison to their campaign ads, the news coverage tends to emphasize gender stereotypical personality traits in the coverage of female candidates. Personality traits expressed in the campaign ads of male candidates, however, are mirrored more closely by the news. ...
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