Gendered Aspects of Televised Election News in Canada Elizabeth
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Politicians, Journalists, and their Audiences: Gendered Aspects of Televised Election News in Canada Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant Department of Political Science McGill University, Montréal Submitted July 2007 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy. © Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, 2007 CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Abstract iii Résumé iv List of Abbreviations v Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Analytical Framework 29 Chapter Three: Data and Methodologies 85 Chapter Four: 113 Sex-Differentiated News Coverage: Evidence from the 2000 Canadian Federal Election Campaign Chapter Five 174 Women Journalists: Running with the Pack or Reporting in a Different Voice? Chapter Six 242 Backlash or Boost? The Effects of Attack-Style Television News on Viewers Chapter Seven 291 Political Image-Crafting through Media: Canadian Politicians Speak Chapter Eight: Conclusion 374 Bibliography 403 Tables and Figures 458 Appendix One 485 Appendix Two 503 Appendix Three 507 Appendix Four 510 Appendix Five 512 Appendix Six 514 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is an intellectual product that benefited greatly from the guidance, support, and input of a fantastic collection of people. Like raising a child, my conclusion is that it takes a ‘village’ to earn a Ph.D. First and foremost, I must thank my supervisor, Dr. Elisabeth Gidengil. Her intellectual rigor is outstanding, and her hand in guiding this research has been invaluable. She is one of the busiest academics anyone would meet, but she always made me feel like I was a high priority. No point was too large or too small to discuss at virtually a moment’s notice. When I submitted the draft version of chapter four to her, which weighed in at over 50 pages, she gave it back with commentary the following day. Of course, writing is not always roses, especially for the novice! When I veered off course or failed to give 100 percent, she was quick to say so. In this, Elisabeth understands perfectly what students need, as well as the gentlest way to deliver the inevitable ‘blows’. On the days when writing was like drawing blood from a stone, as the saying goes, Elisabeth inevitably boosted me with a gem of an idea. I could not have wished for a more pleasant or rewarding experience. She is my mentor, my role model, and my friend. I have had the good fortune to be supported as well by two co-supervisors, Dr. Stuart Soroka and Dr. Jerome Black. Stuart’s bold style, sharp critical eye, and statistical expertise have been tremendous influences on this work. More than anyone else, Stuart has facilitated, likely without even knowing it, my discovery of a more assertive intellectual ‘voice’. For this I am grateful. Jerome’s guidance in the planning, structure, and technique of personal interviewing, as well as interpreting interview material were godsends. Without him, this dissertation would be something much different than it is (and not for the better). In addition, Jerome’s attention to the intersection of gender and ethnicity in his own work has consistently challenged me to avoid the all-too-common mistake of essentializing. Of course, any failures in accomplishing this task are mine alone. My peers at McGill have been a smart and lively group. The exchange of ideas and experiences was great. I owe a debt of gratitude for their support and friendship. Special thanks must be given to Blake Andrew, Rachel Brickner, Jessica Fortin, Allison Harell, Matt Hennigar, Emmanuelle Hébert, Jason Roy, Lisa Roy, and Catherine Slakmon. A special acknowledgement is owed to my dear friend, peer, and co-author, Dr. Cameron Anderson. Cameron, we paced each other through dissertation writing (you won comfortably), virgin forays into the world of publishing (we did it together), and initiation into the world of professional academia generally. I am indebted to you for your wisdom and support, and I look forward to future collaborative endeavours. From 2005 to 2007 I had the great pleasure of experiencing two new intellectual communities, first, at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, ii and later, at Queen’s University. I joined the intellectual community at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada in September, 2005. I have known Dr. Antonia Maioni, the Director of the Institute, for nearly my entire time at McGill, and she has been a model of academic excellence for me from the start. She and the Max Bell project team were very encouraging and, most of all, patient with my need to immerse myself in my thoughts at the end of the dissertation-writing process. The staff at the Institute – Johanne Bilodeau and Linda Huddy – were likewise very patient and supportive, and I thank them as well. The Institute is a special place, not only for its rigorous analysis of Canadian politics, history, and society, but for its model of a close-knit academic community. I was hired by Queen’s University Department of Political Studies in July, 2006, based in part on an interview presentation spawned by this dissertation. I am once again grateful for the guidance and support I received at McGill and to all those who contributed to my intellectual growth and wider professional development. I (and likely Queen’s) am counting on the fact that these will be great assets in years to come. Special recognition, of course, must be given to my husband and best friend, Dr. Andrew Grant. You understand when to offer advice and when silence is golden. You set a standard in your own academic endeavours that I am both proud of and aspire to. You allow me to make my own intellectual mistakes, and do not remind me of them later. You know the genuine meanings of patience, tolerance, and support. Finally, I must go back much farther than my time at McGill. Early on, my parents, Dr. Norman Goodyear and Siobhan Goodyear, impressed on me the value and joy of education. My inquisitiveness is in no small measure a product of the talents and attitudes they have passed to me. If I am at all equipped to forge a life and career of knowledge-seeking, it is because of them. iii ABSTRACT This dissertation is an analysis of the gendered aspects of televised election news in Canada. My theoretical framework is the ‘gendered mediation thesis’, and its central claim is that news is a predominantly masculine narrative that privileges men and masculinity in politics. The theory relies primarily on two causal factors to account for this pattern. First, news is a reflection of our gendered society. Thus, the frames used to report politics are replete with masculine symbols and metaphors and give primacy to masculine traits. Second, the structure and operation of the news system itself – particularly the political economic constraints imposed by competition for audience share and advertising revenues – encourage news formats that enforce, rather than challenge, established gender norms in the society. My empirical analyses focus on four components of the news media system: 1) news content, 2) news production, 3) media effects, and 4) elites’ approaches to media. The first two themes analyze production and content, and the latter two themes focus on the consequences of gendered news. I use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to demonstrate that aspects of televised news coverage present men and women candidates differently, and I find evidence that women are seriously underrepresented in Canadian newsrooms, particularly in positions of power. I also present evidence that gendered news has harmful effects on both audience perceptions of women candidates, as well as women politicians’ own perceptions of their treatment by newsworkers as well as in news coverage. My analyses suggest that gendered news coverage can present distorted information about women politicians, harm women politicans’ electoral prospects, and also possibly discourage women from entering politics as a profession, thereby contributing to a serious problem in the supply of women candidates. iv RÉSUMÉ Cette dissertation analyse la représentation biaisée des femmes dans les nouvelles télévisées des élections au Canada. J’emploie le cadre théorique de la « gendered mediation thesis », selon lequel les nouvelles constituent un narratif essentiellement masculin qui privilégie les hommes et la masculinité dans la politique. Cette théorie s’appuie sur deux facteurs causaux pour expliquer ce phénomène. Premièrement, les nouvelles reflètent les préjugés contre les femmes dans notre société. Ainsi, les cadres employés pour reporter les événements politiques regorgent de symboles et de métaphores masculins et accordent la primauté aux traits masculins. Deuxièmement, la structure et l’opération du système de nouvelles lui-même —particulièrement les contraintes politico- économiques imposées par la compétition pour capturer leur part du public et les revenus générés par la publicité— encouragent des formats de nouvelles qui renforcent plutôt que de défier les normes sociales établies biaisées contre les femmes. Mon analyse empirique porte sur quatre composantes du système médiatique de nouvelles : 1) le contenu des nouvelles, 2) la production de nouvelles, 3) les effets médiatiques, et 4) l’approche des élites aux médias. Les premiers deux thèmes analysent la production et le contenu, tandis que les deux autres se concentrent sur les conséquences de la représentation biaisée des femmes dans les nouvelles. J’emploie une combinaison de données quantitatives et qualitatives pour démontrer que les nouvelles télévisées présentent les femmes et les hommes différemment, et ma recherche démontre que les femmes sont sérieusement sous-représentées dans les salles de nouvelles canadiennes, particulièrement dans les positions de pouvoir. Je présente aussi des preuves empiriques que les nouvelles biaisées contre les femmes ont des effets néfastes sur la perception des femmes candidates par le public, ainsi que sur la perception des femmes candidates elles-mêmes de leur traitement par les journalistes et dans les reportages.