When Race, Gender, and the Media Intersect: Campaign News Coverage of Minority Congresswomen
Abstract
The news media often serves as an intermediary between elected officials and constituents, informing voters of the ways in which they are being represented. While the media plays a critical role in allowing representatives to communicate with constituents, previous research indicates that coverage of women and minority members of Congress may be unfavorable. Contrary to previous research, I find that being either a woman or a minority alone does not negatively impact coverage. However, faced with the “double barrier” of race and gender, minority congresswomen often receive more negative and less frequent media coverage than all other representatives.
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Gershon's (2012) study finds that minority women receive more negative coverage not just compared with white men, but also minority ethnic men and white women.
“Considering the intersectional effects of these dynamics, Gershon’s (2012) study of coverage of House representatives finds that minority women receive more negative coverage not just compared with white men, but also minority ethnic men and white women.”
From Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns (2017) · cites this paper as Gershon 2012
Gershon (2012) found that when combined effects of race and gender are considered and campaign, media, and candidate factors are controlled for, significant cleavages emerge among minority ethnic and white women in U.S. local newspaper coverage.
“Gershon (2012) has found that when the combined effects of race and gender are considered, and campaign, media, and candidate factors are controlled for, significant cleavages emerge among minority ethnic and white women.”
From Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns (2017) · cites this paper as Gershon 2012
Existing intersectional analyses of press coverage of political campaigns are extremely scarce.
“While existing intersectional analyses provide important methodological precedents, they are extremely scarce (Gershon 2012;Tolley 2015).”
From Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns (2017) · cites this paper as Gershon 2012
When considered in light of similar findings from the United States and Canada, the findings suggest that the exceptional disadvantages faced by minority women on the campaign trail are not country specific.
“Furthermore, when considered in the light of similar findings from the United States and Canada (Gershon, 2012;Tolley 2015), they suggest that the exceptional disadvantages faced by minority women on the campaign trail are not country specific.”
From Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns (2017) · cites this paper as Gershon, 2012
The candidate matching strategy employed here demonstrates the importance of controlling for additional politically relevant factors to account for alternative explanations of variation in press coverage of political actors.
“Third, building on Gershon's (2012) design, the candidate matching strategy employed here demonstrates the importance of controlling for additional politically relevant factors to account for alternative explanations of variation in press coverage of political actors.”
From Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns (2017) · cites this paper as Gershon's (2012)
Cites
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color
Crenshaw, K. (1991) · Stanford Law Review · doi:10.2307/1229039 · Cited by 29,585 · see citing works
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Intersectionality and Press Coverage of Political Campaigns
Ward, O. (2017) · The International Journal of Press/Politics · doi:10.1177/1940161216673195 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gershon, S.
- Affiliations
- Georgia State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gershon, Sarah
- ORCID
- Gershon, Sarah
- Venue
- Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-05
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 105-125
- ISSN
- 0195-7732 (ISSN-L)
- 1554-477X
- 1554-4788
- OpenAlex
- W1966802708
- Cited by
- 95
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 5.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Women Politics & Policy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Politics and Representation
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Keywords
- campaign news coverage, gender and race intersection, double barrier, media representation of women, media representation of minorities, negative media coverage, congressional campaigns, gender and race in politics
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