The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Default user image.

Orlanda Siow

Associate senior lecturer

Default user image.

Trump, Clinton, and the gendering of newspaper discourse about the 2016 US presidential election debates

Author

  • Orlanda Siow
  • Emily Harmer
  • Heather Savigny

Summary, in English

Electoral politics remains a much-gendered sphere, dominated by men political actors and masculine behaviors. Media coverage of politics has often reinforced gendered norms. This article uses qualitative thematic analysis of three U.S. newspapers’ coverage of the 2016 presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to explore how the mediated construction of political leaders is gendered. We identify four clear themes in news coverage: performing masculine leadership, debate as violence, emotionality, and transgression. Our findings suggest that media coverage repeatedly framed political debate in masculinist terms, framed the debate using violent rhetoric, focused on the emotional performances of the candidates, and positioned the candidates as insiders or outsiders depending on gender and political experience.

Publishing year

2021-01-02

Language

English

Pages

81-101

Publication/Series

Women's Studies in Communication

Volume

44

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Topic

  • Gender Studies

Keywords

  • gender
  • politics
  • communication

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0749-1409