Dissertation
WOMEN AND WOMEN OF COLOR IN THE 2020 U.S. ELECTION: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY OF NEWS FRAMING
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005497
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/118981
Abstract
Research consistently shows that women and women of color are commonly framed in the news media with traditional schemas and stereotypes, including a focus on appearance, emotions, likability, and novelty. As a result, women and women of color who run for office are often not seen as ‘viable’ or ‘electable,’ resulting in a remarkable barrier that has yet to be overcome; a woman president in the United States. While schemas are structurally created and reinforced, one predominate structure that perpetuates this issue is that of the news media. Although the news media attempts to be objective, deeply engrained stereotypes continue to seep into daily reporting. Though research often explores the presence of stereotypes in news coverage, there are several areas that warrant greater exploration: first, research often focuses on gender or race. In response, this dissertation will include an exploration of both. Second, text or image is often exclusively researched, but incorporating both through multimodality is vital to understanding the total message. Finally, research relies on traditional stereotypes for coding; however, exploring new ways that the media frames women and women of color should be explored to discover the latent and manifest coverage.
To achieve this, a mixed methods study was conducted. 204 new articles were collected from the top five news sources in the Unites States: USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and Fox News. Each of these articles was first, quantitatively coded with a keen eye for stereotypes about race and gender. The title, primary image and text were all coded and tested to assess proposed hypotheses. Following this analysis was an in depth multimodal discourse analysis of major gender and gendered racial events. These events dominated the news media during the campaign and were explained in detail through this analysis. The findings conclude that stereotypes still significantly persist in news coverage of political candidates. These results suggest that the news media continues to rely on schemas as a method for creating newsworthy stories.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- WOMEN AND WOMEN OF COLOR IN THE 2020 U.S. ELECTION: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY OF NEWS FRAMING
- Creators
- Stephanie Helen Gibbons
- Contributors
- Bimbisar Irom (Advisor)Alexis Tan (Committee Member)Pamela Thoma (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 236
- Identifiers
- 99900592155901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation