News Media Reporting of United States Senate Campaigns: The Role of Gender in Local Television Coverage of Elections from 2006 to 2014

Abstract

One explanation for the lack of women in elective office concerns the role of media in both shaping and reinforcing gender stereotyping through coverage of elections. Studies have identified gender stereotypes in nationwide television and print media as well as local newspapers, yet none have examined local television news. In this study, I reexamine these findings using a novel data set of local television transcripts of Senatorial campaigns over five election cycles, from 2006 to 2014. The findings reveal that media coverage of female candidates tends to be less biased than previous research shows. Female and male candidates received nearly equal amounts of coverage; however, gender differences in trait and issue coverage remains an issue.