Gender Bias in Media Coverage of Election Campaigns · Ourapproach Corpus Almostcomprehensivesampleofnewspapercoverageofthe2015Swiss nationalelections(2.5months,70sources,32,000+articles,all3,867

Gender Bias in Media Coverage of Election Campaigns

Fabrizio Gilardi Bruno Wüest

University of Zurich

EPSA, BelfastJune 21, 2019

(Updated June 21, 2019)

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Previous studies

≻ Consensus: gender bias in media coverage has decreased over time≻ Disagreement: nature and extent of remaining biases≻ Gender stereotypes: most studies focused on voters, not media coverage≻ Studies tend to rely on relatively small samples, manual coding

(Huddy and Terkildsen, 1993; Kahn, 1994b; Kahn and Goldenberg, 1991; Kahn, 1994a; Smith, 1997;Bystrom et al., 2001; Devitt, 2002; Banwart et al., 2003; Heldman et al., 2005; Jalalzai, 2006; Fowlerand Lawless, 2009; Gershon, 2012; Dolan and Lynch, 2014; Dolan, 2014; Dolan and Lynch, 2016;Hayes et al., 2014; Baitinger, 2015; Escobar-Lemmon et al., 2016; Ward, 2016; Kittilson and Fridkin,2008; Dunaway et al., 2013; Lühiste and Banducci, 2016; Hayes and Lawless, 2015; Fiechtner et al.,2016)

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Our approach

CorpusAlmost comprehensive sample of newspaper coverage of the 2015 Swissnational elections (2.5 months, 70 sources, 32,000+ articles, all 3,867candidates)

Analysis: three steps1. Candidate level: number of mentions (negative binomial models)2. Article level: proportion of female candidates mentioned in the article asa function of topics (hand-coded classifications) (linear regression)

3. Paragraph level: gender stereotypes? 100 topics, correlation with genderof candidates (structural topic model)

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Results: AttentionCouncil of States National Council(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

(Intercept) 5.13∗∗ 5.70∗∗∗ −2.93∗∗∗ −2.91∗∗∗ −2.92∗∗∗(2.18) (2.20) (0.22) (0.22) (0.22)

Woman −0.47∗ −0.85∗∗ −0.42∗∗∗ −0.44∗∗∗ −0.50∗∗∗(0.26) (0.38) (0.05) (0.05) (0.06)

Incumbent 1.80∗∗∗ 1.72∗∗∗ 2.18∗∗∗ 2.07∗∗∗ 2.17∗∗∗

(0.18) (0.19) (0.11) (0.13) (0.11)Top candidate 0.63∗∗∗ 0.63∗∗∗ 0.55∗∗∗

(0.06) (0.06) (0.07)Woman × Incumbent 0.70 0.28

(0.51) (0.22)Woman × Top candidate 0.22∗∗

(0.10)Age + Age2 Yes Yes Yes Yes YesCanton FE Yes Yes Yes Yes YesParty FE Yes Yes Yes Yes YesLog Likelihood -385.43 -384.65 -10744.19 -10743.31 -10741.87Num. obs. 73 73 3779 3779 3779∗∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗p < 0.1

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Results: Attention

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Council of States National Council

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Not top candidate

Top candidate

Not incumbent

Incumbent

All

Number of mentions

● ●Women Men

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Results: topics

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All candidates Incumbents Not incumbents

0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60

Federal Council election

Taxes

Cantonal administration

Swiss People's Party (SVP)

Finance

Higher education

European organizations

Local parliaments

Parties and party system

Free Democratic Party (FDP)

Conservative Democratic Party (BDP)

Criminal law

Christian Democratic Party (CVP)

Asylum and refugees

Nuclear energy

Schools

National elections

Energy

Parliament

Liberal Green Party (GLP)

Green Party

Pensions (1st pillar)

Social Democratic Party (SP)

National consciousness

Health insurance

Road transportation

Percent

women/(women + men), subset of topics covered in at least 15 articles

Share of female candidates mentioned in news articles, by topic

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Results: stereotypes

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−0.005

0.000

0.005

78 6 91 68 95 74 80 53 61 67 62 27 83 40 56 81 87 13 45 84 72 38 19 28 79 70 92 90 44 31 33 18 42 29 25 85 14 43 34 57 47 97 48 2 86 77 69 8 65 50 89 5810036 96 94 12 54 4 26 1 11 3 73 99 60 23 5 35 82 88 51 22 39 30 7 15 66 75 93 63 21 46 41 71 32 20 55 49 98 52 64 24 16 37 17 76 9 10 59

Diff

eren

ce in

topi

c pr

eval

ence

(Wom

en >

0, M

en <

0)

● ●Gender stereotypes? Unlikely. Gender stereotypes? Possibly.

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Can topic models identify gender stereotypes at all?

(https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/02/11/yellen-succeeds-on-the-hill-by-not-delivering-color/)

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Conclusion

≻ Attention: significant gender gap, except for incumbents≻ Topics: gender gap much weaker for incumbents≻ Stereotypes: we cannot find much evidence, but it might have to do with

our method

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ReferencesBaitinger, G. (2015). Meet the press or meet the men? examining women’s presence in american news

media. Political Research Quarterly 68(3), 579–592.Banwart, M. C., D. G. Bystrom, and T. Robertson (2003). From the primary to the general election: A

comparative analysis of candidate media coverage in mixed-gender 2000 races for governor and ussenate. American Behavioral Scientist 46(5), 658–676.

Bystrom, D. G., T. A. Robertson, and M. C. Banwart (2001). Framing the fight an analysis of media coverage offemale and male candidates in primary races for governor and us senate in 2000. American BehavioralScientist 44(12), 1999–2013.

Devitt, J. (2002). Framing gender on the campaign trail: Female gubernatorial candidates and the press.Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 79(2), 445–463.

Dolan, K. (2014). Gender stereotypes, candidate evaluations, and voting for women candidates: What reallymatters? Political Research Quarterly 67(1), 96–107.

Dolan, K. and T. Lynch (2014). It takes a survey: Understanding gender stereotypes, abstract attitudes, andvoting for women candidates. American Politics Research 42(4), 656–676.

Dolan, K. and T. Lynch (2016). The impact of gender stereotypes on voting for women candidates by leveland type of office. Politics & Gender 12(3), 573–595.

Dunaway, J., R. G. Lawrence, M. Rose, and C. R. Weber (2013). Traits versus issues: How female candidatesshape coverage of senate and gubernatorial races. Political Research Quarterly 66(3), 715–726.

Escobar-Lemmon, M. C., V. Hoekstra, A. Kang, and M. C. Kittilson (2016). Just the facts? media coverage offemale and male high court appointees in five democracies. Politics & Gender 12(2), 254–274.

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References

Fiechtner, S., P. Schönhagen, and M. Puppis (2016). Gender und medien im vorfeld der eidgenössischenwahlen 2015. Universität Freiburg.

Fowler, L. L. and J. L. Lawless (2009). Looking for sex in all the wrong places: Press coverage and theelectoral fortunes of gubernatorial candidates. Perspectives on Politics 7(3), 519–536.

Gershon, S. (2012). When race, gender, and the media intersect: Campaign news coverage of minoritycongresswomen. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 33(2), 105–125.

Hayes, D. and J. L. Lawless (2015). A non-gendered lens? media, voters, and female candidates incontemporary congressional elections. Perspectives on Politics 13(1), 95–118.

Hayes, D., J. L. Lawless, and G. Baitinger (2014). Who cares what they wear? media, gender, and the influenceof candidate appearance. Social Science Quarterly 95(5), 1194–1212.

Heldman, C., S. J. Carroll, and S. Olson (2005). ‘she brought only a skirt’: print media coverage of elizabethdole’s bid for the republican presidential nomination. Political Communication 22(3), 315–335.

Huddy, L. and N. Terkildsen (1993). Gender stereotypes and the perception of male and female candidates.American Journal of Political Science 37(1), 119–147.

Jalalzai, F. (2006). Women candidates and the media: 1992-2000 elections. Politics & Policy 34(3), 606–633.

Kahn, K. F. (1994a). The distorted mirror: Press coverage of women candidates for statewide office. TheJournal of Politics 56(1), 154–173.

Kahn, K. F. (1994b). Does gender make a difference? an experimental examination of sex stereotypes andpress patterns in statewide campaigns. American Journal of Political Science 28(1), 162–195.

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References

Kahn, K. F. and E. N. Goldenberg (1991). Women candidates in the news: An examination of genderdifferences in us senate campaign coverage. Public Opinion Quarterly 55(2), 180–199.

Kittilson, M. C. and K. Fridkin (2008). Gender, candidate portrayals and election campaigns: A comparativeperspective. Politics & Gender 4(3), 371–392.

Lühiste, M. and S. Banducci (2016). Invisible women? comparing candidates’ news coverage in europe.Politics & Gender 12(2), 223–253.

Smith, K. B. (1997). When all’s fair: Signs of parity in media coverage of female candidates. PoliticalCommunication 14(1), 71–82.

Ward, O. (2016). Seeing double: Race, gender, and coverage of minority women’s campaigns for the ushouse of representatives. Politics & Gender 12(2), 317–343.

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