Gender, Media and Politics

The gender, media and politics website is designed to provide a resource to those interested in the manner in which political women are depicted by the media and the implications of this coverage for their electoral success. Much of our work relies on the concept of gendered-mediation which allows us to investigate the potential for bias that may arise when the conventional masculine language and news frames used in election reporting are applied to female politicians. Using content analysis, survey research and experimental studies we examine the application of militaristic and sporting metaphors, the use of expressive versus neutral verbs of reported speech, and the degree of interpretative coverage of politicians' actions and statements to understand the impact of gender mediated news coverage on voters' evaluations of male and female politicians and party leaders.