WOMEN MUNICIPAL POLITICIANS IN ELECTION NEWS

Abstract

The news media’s fascination with which party is ahead in the polls — otherwise known as the horse race — has raised ques-tions about how well informed voters are about their choices on the ballot box. A preoccupation with campaign strategies, gaffes, and photo-ops leaves journalists with less time to report on issues and platforms. Some scholars argue women are particular-ly handicapped by horse-race coverage because it can lead to negative evaluations of their electoral viability and because the masculine language used in this type of coverage could depict them as inappropriately aggressive and therefore transgressing traditional gender norms. But this study on newspaper coverage of municipal elections in one Canadian province reveals that journalists treat regular council contests more as a marathon than a horse r