The Intersection of Race and Gender in Election Coverage: What Happens When the Candidates Don't Fit the Stereotypes?

Abstract

Prior research has shown journalists often rely on gender and racial stereotypes when covering female and minority candidates running against a White, male for political office. This study uses a content analysis of newspaper articles and editorials to examine what changes, if any, occur in media coverage when a woman and a minority run against each other without a White, male candidate in the race. The findings of this research indicate that journalists in this study have made some progress in reducing stereotypes in their coverage; however, they are still covering candidates in significant stereotypical ways. Although these journalists are focusing less on appearance of candidates, the female candidate in this study received more coverage about her gender, and the minority candidate received more coverage of his race. Despite the candidates' previous experience to the contrary, these journalists still aligned the woman candidate with traditional female issues and the man with traditional male issues.

KEYTERMS:

• Candidates
• gender
• race
• schema theory
• stereotypes

Notes

∗p < .001.

∗p < .001.

Cajun is defined as a Louisianan descended from French-speaking immigrants from Acadia. Thus, we created a race/ethnicity category. We placed Cajun in this category because it is an ethnicity. Racial and ethnicity classifications are used by the U.S. Census, National Center for Education Statistics, and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).