Media Coverage of Female and Minority Representatives

In America’s representative democracy, 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 their issue positions and activities to constituents, media coverage of women and minority members of Congress has been found in the past to be less frequent and more negative than that of their male and Anglo counterparts, which may in turn limit the information these representatives’ constituents use in making their vote choices. While previous studies have focused on the plight of either women or minority representatives seeking favorable coverage for their messages and activities, I examine the dual effect of race and gender on members’ news coverage by focusing on minority congresswomen. Relying on a content analysis of newspaper coverage of 101 U.S. Representatives for the month prior to the 2006 election, I find significant differences in the media’s treatment of minority women in the House. Faced with the “double barrierÀ of race and gender, minority congresswomen receive more negative and less frequent coverage than all other representatives, including Anglo women and minority men. The implications of these findings for female minority elected officials, and their constituents, are discussed.

Publisher: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA 2008 Annual Meeting, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Aug 28, 2008
Year of Publication: 2008