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Underrepresenting Reality? Media Coverage of Women in Politics and Sport
Author(s) -
Courtney Michael,
Breen Michael,
McGing Claire,
McMenamin Iain,
O'Malley Eoin,
Rafter Kevin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12826
Subject(s) - media coverage , representation (politics) , public life , politics , affect (linguistics) , media content , context (archaeology) , reality tv , mass media , social media , content analysis , news media , public opinion , media relations , political science , popular media , public relations , sociology , media studies , social science , history , computer science , law , multimedia , communication , archaeology
Objectives How do surges in female representation in public life affect media coverage? Can the media underrepresent the reality of women's progress? If so, is the source of underrepresentation the media itself or social elites that interact with the media? Methods Using automatic content analysis, we study two remarkable step changes in women's role in public life in Ireland: the 2016 elections and 2012 Olympics. Results The increase in female participation was associated with a new and substantial gender gap in coverage, which we attribute to the media, not other elites. Conclusions We cannot assume that media coverage will increase proportionally as women advance in public life. The reemergence of bias when female representation jumps may also exist outside the media in any context where there are large numbers of decisions about whether to favor males or females.