Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T22:51:56.843Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender, Political Leadership and Media Visibility: Globe and Mail Coverage of Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Contests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2007

Linda Trimble
Linda Trimble
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. When women seek the leadership of competitive political parties, does their sex influence their news visibility throughout the campaign? By conducting a content analysis of all Globe and Mail coverage of each of the three Conservative Party of Canada leadership races featuring competitive female contenders—Flora MacDonald in 1976, Kim Campbell in 1993 and Belinda Stronach in 2004—I measured the news visibility of each of the leading male and female candidates. The findings show a relationship between the sex of the leadership candidate and news prominence, as the female contenders were, on the whole, more visible than similarly situated male candidates. However, as the analysis reveals, sex is not the only factor shaping news coverage. I argue that the news value of the party, the nature of the leadership competition, and gendered mediation of individual leadership candidates intersect to determine the amount and prominence of news coverage accorded male and female candidates for party leadership positions.I would like to thank Ph.D. student Laura Way for her diligent work to test intercoder reliability and for collecting the news articles from the 1976 PC leadership race from the Globe and Mail's digital archive.

Résumé. Lorsque les femmes se présentent à la chefferie d'un parti politique important, leur sexe a-t-il une influence, durant la campagne, sur la place qu'on leur accorde dans l'actualité ? J'ai mesuré la présence dans l'actualité des meneurs des trois courses à la chefferie du Parti conservateur du Canada où une femme était candidate – Flora MacDonald en 1976, Kim Campbell en 1993 et Belinda Stronach en 2004 – à partir d'une analyse du contenu de toute la couverture du Globe and Mail pour chacune des campagnes. Les résultats permettent d'établir un lien entre le sexe des candidats et leur présence dans l'actualité, les candidates étant, dans l'ensemble, plus visibles que les candidats dont la situation était par ailleurs comparable. Cependant, l'analyse démontre également que le sexe n'est pas le seul facteur déterminant de la couverture médiatique. Je soutiens que l'importance du parti même dans l'actualité, le style propre à la campagne, ainsi que la représentation genrée de chaque candidat par les médias se recoupent pour déterminer la fréquence et la visibilité de la couverture accordée aux candidats et candidates à la direction d'un parti politique.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 969 - 993
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aday, Sean and James Devitt. 2001. “Style over Substance: Newspaper Coverage of Elizabeth Dole's Presidential Bid.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 6 (2): 52–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Karrin Vasby. 2002. “From Spouses to Candidates: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, and the Gendered Office of the US President.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 5 (1): 105–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bystrom, Dianne G., Mary Christine Banwart, Lynda Lee Kaid and Terry A. Robertson. 2004. Gender and Candidate Communication. New York: Routledge.
Bystrom, Dianne, Terry A. Robertson and Mary Christine Banwart. 2001. “Framing the Fight: An Analysis of Media Coverage of Female and Male Candidates in Primary Races for Governor and US Senate in 2000.” American Behavioral Scientist 44 (12): 1999–2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cappella, Joseph N. and Kathleen Hall Jameison. 1997. Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good. New York: Oxford University Press.
Carroll, Susan J. and Ronnee Schreiber. 1997. “Media Coverage of Women in the 103rd Congress.” In Women, Media and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris. New York: Oxford University Press, 131–48.
Clare, Jillian. 2002. “Making Spectacles of Ourselves: The Site/Sight of Woman as Leader.” Politics, Values, Culture, Gender and Communication. www.bond.edu.au/hss/communication/ANACA/journpg3.htm (March 12, 2003).Google Scholar
Courtney, John C. 1995. Do Conventions Matter? Choosing National Party Leaders in Canada. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Devitt, James. 1999. Framing Gender on the Campaign Trail; Women's Executive Leadership and the Press. (A Report for the Women's Leadership Fund).
Everitt, Joanna and Elisabeth Gidengil. 2003. “Tough Talk: How Television News Covers Male and Female Leaders of Canadian Political Parties.” In Women and Electoral Politics in Canada, ed. Manon Tremblay and Linda Trimble. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 194–210.
Fletcher, Frederick J. and Robert J. Drummond. 1988. “The Mass Media and the Selection of National Party Leaders: Some Explorations.” In Party Democracy in Canada, ed. George C. Perlin. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall, 97–123.
Gidengil, Elisabeth and Joanna Everitt. 2000. “Filtering the Female: Television News Coverage of the 1993 Canadian Leaders' Debates.” Women & Politics 21(4): 105–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmartin, Patricia. 2001. “Still the Angel in the Household: Political Cartoons of Elizabeth Dole's Presidential Campaign.” Women & Politics 22 (4): 51–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heldman, Caroline, Susan J. Carroll and Stephanie Olson. 2005. “'She Brought Only a Skirt': Print Media Coverage of Elizabeth Dole's Bid for the Republican Presidential Nomination.” Political Communication 22: 315–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Cathy. 1999. “Media Treatment of Women in Politics in Australia.” In Journalism Theory and Practice: Proceedings of the 1998 Journalism Education Association Conference, ed. Jacqui Ewart. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University.
Jenkins, Cathy. 1996. “Press Coverage of the First Women in Australia's Federal Parliament.” Australian Studies in Journalism 5: 82–100.Google Scholar
Kahn, Kim Fridkin. 1992. “Does Being Male Help? An Investigation of the Effects of Candidate Gender and Campaign Coverage on Evaluations of US Senate Candidates.” The Journal of Politics 54 (2): 497–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Kim Fridkin. 1994. “The Distorted Mirror: Press Coverage of Women Candidates for Statewide Office.” Journal of Politics 56 (1): 154–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Kim Fridkin. 1996. The Political Consequences of Being a Woman. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kahn, Kim Fridkin and Edie N. Goldenberg. 1991. “Women Candidates in the News: An Examination of Gender Differences in US Senate Campaign Coverage.” Public Opinion Quarterly 55: 180–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kropf, Martha E. and John A. Boiney. 2001. “The Electoral Glass Ceiling? Gender, Viability, and the News in US Senate Campaigns.” Women & Politics 23 (1/2): 79–103.Google Scholar
McGregor, Judy. 1996. “Gender Politics and the News: The Search for a Beehive Bimbo-Boadicea.” In Dangerous Democracy? News Media Politics in New Zealand, ed. Judy McGregor. Palmerston North NZ: Dunmore Press, 181–96.
Neuman, W. Lawrence. 2000. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 4th ed. Toronto: Allyn and Bacon.
Norris, Pippa. 1997a. “Introduction: Women, Media and Politics.” In Women, Media and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris. New York: Oxford University Press, 1–40.CrossRef
Norris, Pippa. 1997b. “Women Leaders Worldwide: A Splash of Color in the Photo Op.” In Women, Media and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris. New York: Oxford University Press, 149–65.
Parry-Giles, Shawn and Trevor Parry-Giles. 1996. “Gendered Politics and Presidential Image Construction: A Reassessment of the ‘Feminine Style.’” Communication Monographs 63 (December): 337–53.Google Scholar
Patten, Steve. 2006. “New Right Politics.” In Canadian Politics: Democracy and Dissent, ed. Byron Sheldrick and Joan Grace. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. 273–99.
Patterson, Thomas E. 1994. Out of Order. New York: Vintage.
Robinson, Gertrude J. and Armande Saint-Jean. 1991. “Women Politicians and Their Media Coverage: A Generational Analysis.” In Women in Canadian Politics: Toward Equity in Representation, ed. Kathy Megyery. Research Studies for the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing, vol. 6. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 127–69.
Robinson, Gertrude J. and Armande Saint-Jean. 1996. “From Flora to Kim: Thirty Years of Representation of Canadian Women Politicians.” In Seeing Ourselves: Media Power and Policy in Canada, ed. Helen Holmes and David Taras. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace, 23–36.
Ross, Karen. 2000. “Framed: Women, Politics and News Media in a General Election Climate.” Monograph Series in Communication, Culture and Media #1/CCMR, Coventry: Centre for Communication, Culture and Media Studies. http://www.conventry.ac.uk/ccmr/publish1/framedtext/htm. (February 6, 2003).
Ross, Karen. 1995. “Gender and Party Politics: How the Press Reported the Labour Leadership Campaign, 1994.” Media, Culture & Society 17: 499–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampert, Shannon and Linda Trimble. 2003. “'Wham, Bam, No Thank You Ma'am': Gender and the Game Frame in National Newspaper Coverage of Election 2000.” In Women and Electoral Politics in Canada, ed. Manon Tremblay and Linda Trimble. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 211–26.
Scharrer, Erica. 2002. “An ‘Improbable Leap’: A Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Hillary Clinton's Transition from First Lady to Senate Candidate.” Journalism Studies 3 (3): 393–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sreberny-Mohammadi, Annabelle and Karen Ross. 1996. “Women MPs and the Media: Representing the Body Politic.” Parliamentary Affairs 49: 103–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taras, David. 1999. Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Trimble, Linda and Jane Arscott. 2003. Still Counting: Women in Politics across Canada. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Trimble, Linda and Shannon Sampert. 2004. “Who's in the Game? The Framing of the Canadian Election 2000 by the Globe and Mail and the National Post.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 37 (1): 51–71.Google Scholar
Van Acker, Elizabeth. 1999. Different Voices: Gender and Politics in Australia. South Yarra: MacMillan Education.
van Dijk, Teun A. 1991. Racism and the Press. London: Routledge.
van Zoonen, Liesbet. 2005. Entertaining the Citizen: When Politics and Popular Culture Converge. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.