In the early twenty-first century, women continue to receive substantially less media coverage than men, despite women’s much increased participation in public life. Media scholars argue that actors in news organizations skew news coverage in favor of men and male-related topics. However, no previous study has systematically examined whether such media bias exists beyond gender ratio imbalances in coverage that merely mirror societal-level structural and occupational gender inequalities. Using novel longitudinal data, we empirically isolate media-level factors and examine their effects on women’s coverage rates in hundreds of newspapers. We find that societal-level inequalities are the dominant determinants of continued gender differences in coverage. The media focuses nearly exclusively on the highest strata of occupational and social hierarchies, in which women’s representation has remained poor. We also find that women receive greater exposure in newspaper sections led by female editors, as well as in newspapers whose editorial boards have higher female representation. However, these differences appear to be mostly correlational, as women’s coverage rates do not noticeably improve when male editors are replaced by female editors in a given newspaper.
Positive or negative media coverage may have important consequences for individuals' lives and ability to succeed. One potential factor that may affect the tone of coverage, in particular for women, is the gender of newsroom managers. Some scholars have suggested that women in key editorial and managerial roles should have a positive effect on the overall coverage of issues in the news, and specifically on the coverage of women. We used fixed effects regression to analyze panel data on the coverage sentiment of 212 U.S. newspapers from various cities and states between 2004 and 2009 to examine the effects of the gendered composition of newsrooms on coverage tone for both men and women. Our results showed that individuals with female names receive more positive coverage than those with male names do in every section of the newspaper. We also found that increases in female representation on newspapers' editorial boards resulted in coverage for women that is moderately more positive. However, there is no evidence that under female executive editorship coverage sentiment favors women. Our findings are consistent with the work of gender sociologists and media scholars who have highlighted the media's rigid gender structures and their resistance to change.Keywords Media . Editors . Gender . Coverage . Sentiment . Gender composition Positive or negative media coverage has significant consequences for individuals and issues that affect their lives. For example, a long line of research has looked at the coverage of female political candidates in various countries, showing that they often receive coverage that is not on par with that of their male counterparts. This differential coverage, in turn, often translates into fewer campaign donations and may negatively affect their ability to draw voters (Braden 1996;Bystrom et al. 2001;Caul Kittilson and Fridkin 2008;Heldman et al. 2005;Kahn 1994), perhaps even deciding a presidential election in disfavor of a female candidate (Carlin and Winfrey 2009). Similarly, scholars have argued that the coverage of women's movements has tended to delegitimize those movements through a persistent focus on protesters' appearance, by criticizing their statements and demands as unrealistic and childish, and by emphasizing dissent within the movements (Ashley and Olson 1998). In business, studies have suggested that the media tend to ignore and marginalize female entrepreneurs, making it more difficult for them to succeed and develop their businesses (Baker et al. 1997). Finally, various studies have shown that the coverage of sexual assault and violence against women often vilifies the victims, portraying them as promiscuous or careless and generating victim-blaming (Anastasio and Costa 2004;Carll 2003;Meyers 1997;O'Hara 2012).The last half of a century has seen a substantial increase in women's presence in newsrooms (Carter et al. 1998;De Swert and Hooghe 2010;Sebba 1995). According to a recent report by the American Society of News Editors (2017), the rate of women's representation in U.S. ...
The use of internet-based tools during work for personal purposes is a widespread phenomenon in both private and public organisations.
Previous research suggested that news media coverage tone tends to become more negative for successful women in politics (but not for successful men) when compared with less successful and well-known women. This study tests this in 17 countries. Specifically, it examines relationships between greater parliamentary representation of women and the coverage tone in articles on women in that country through a computational analysis of millions of persons’ names in more than 1,000 newspapers. Growth in parliamentary representation of women is associated with more negative coverage, lending support for explanations that suggest reactionary responses to perceived breaching of gendered social hierarchies.
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