"Binders full of Tweets:" Twitter, gender and the 2012 elections

Rachel Reis Mourao, [email protected]

#Elections2012 and “women’s issues”

1. In 2012, policies labeled “women’s issues” became central to the electoral process.

2. The “horse race” political coverage in the United States

Campaign reporters focus on reproducing the assertions put forward by the candidates rather than investigation, contextualization, and interpretation (Pew Research Center, 2012)

3. Twitter: widely used by reporters in 2012 to cover the campaign on-the-go

Did the rise of Twitter affect the way political journalists cover gender during elections?