Karen Ross

Women and news: A long and winding road

Feminist news researchers have long argued that in the macho culture of most newsrooms, journalists’ daily decisions about what is newsworthy remain firmly based on masculine news values. As such, issues and topics traditionally seen to be particularly relevant to women tend to be pushed to the margins of the news where the implicit assumption is that they are less important than those which interest men. In so doing, men’s views and voices are privileged over women’s, thereby contributing to the ongoing secondary status of women’s participation as citizens. In this article, we draw upon data we collected from the UK and the Republic of Ireland as part of the larger, 108-country study, which comprised the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). We argue that while there have been some positive improvements in women’s representation as news actors, sources and journalists in the British and Irish news media since the first GMMP day of monitoring in 1995, women’s voices, experiences and expertise continue to be regarded by news industries as less important than those of men. Such a situation undermines and under-reports women’s contribution to social, economic and cultural life and in so doing, diminishes democracy.

Growing old invisibly: older viewers talk television

This article discusses the findings from a qualitative study undertaken with older viewers, focusing on their perceptions of how age and age issues are covered on television. They are concerned that too many older characters are portrayed in stereotypical roles and with the marginal place of older people across all aspects of the television landscape. They worry that the generally negative way in which older age is represented has an adverse impact on the way in which they are treated by society ‘in real life’. Their own explanations for why these poor images persist is sophisticated, citing the age profile of media workers as a key factor. The ‘good news’ though, is appreciation of programmes which older viewers believe present more diverse and authentic renditions of old age, not positive, necessarily, but rather, realistic, where well-crafted programmes deal sensitively with ageing, sex and sexuality rather than playing older age as batty, pathetic or frail.

The Gender of News and News of Gender: A Study of Sex, Politics, and Press Coverage of the 2010 British General Election

In the months leading up to the 2010 British General Election, pundits were claiming that women would be specifically targeted by all political parties. However, this focus never materialized and it was just more business as usual but with the added novelty of televised leaders’ debates, which meant that coverage was more male ordered than ever. The study on which this article is based monitored articles published in the four weeks leading up to election day across twelve newspapers, comprising a mix of dailies and weekend editions, broadsheets and midmarket, and tabloid titles. The study concentrated on articles that had the election as the main story and which mentioned or sourced one or more candidates, both MPs seeking reelection, and Parliamentary Candidates. We were interested in exploring (any) differences in the news coverage of women and men candidates, looking at both frequency and content. Our findings suggest that women were much less likely to feature in news stories than men, even when controlling for Party Leader coverage. Women were much more likely to be mentioned or quoted in feature articles focused explicitly on gender issues, made interesting because of their sex and couture rather than their political abilities and experience.

All ears: radio, reception and discourses of disability:

This article focuses on the way radio programmes deal with issues of disability in fictional and factual programming, from the perspective(s) of disabled listeners. I argue that, for the most part, radio does not offer a diverse range of images of disability and that too many programmes continue to treat the issue in highly partial terms, using an outmoded lexicon of disablist images and language. Areas of contention include: characterization and genre range in fictional programming; language and authority in fact-based shows; and structure, agency and employment in the industry more generally. Crucially, though, issues of (o)mission were just as important as those of (co)mission, where disability in radio is less a blot and more of a creater on the landscape of radio broadcasting.

Face to face(book): Social media, political campaigning and the unbearable lightness of being there

It is undoubtedly true that social media such as Facebook and Twitter are influencing the ways in which politicians engage the public, no longer hostage to the gatekeeping proclivities of traditional media, but now able to broadcast their messages to anyone who wants to hear them. On the public’s side, we can now follow politicians who are on Twitter or have a Facebook fan page, comment on their tweets and posts, and send them messages directly. So far, so democratic. But how many of us actually do more than just read posts and tweets and how many politicians do more than just inform us about their activities? Crucially, do politicians use social media in ways that enhance opportunities for dialogue between them and us? To explore these questions further in relation to politicians’ Facebook behaviours, we interviewed New Zealand Members of Parliament about their motivations for using social media and their attitudes on such media’s effectiveness as a political communication tool in the context of a general election campaign. Our findings suggest that despite their talk of citizen engagement, most politicians use social media as means of distributing information (one-way flow) and to make themselves both visible and ‘hip’ to the public. While cautiously optimistic about the role of social media in the lives of citizens, Members of Parliament also suggest that social media must be complementary to, and thus incorporated in, a broad-based communications strategy, rather than be seen as a replacement for traditional campaign activities.

The rules of the (leadership) game: Gender, politics and news

The abiding interest of researchers to explore the nature of political communication continues to provoke lively debates about who controls the moveable feast of the news agenda – politicians or journalists. This article argues that despite journalistic claims of impartiality, a careful, multilayered analysis of print and broadcast news of a general election (New Zealand, 2008) and, more specifically, reportage about the leaders of the Labour Party (Helen Clark) and National Party (John Key) demonstrates clear bias against the long-serving (older female) incumbent in favour of the (younger male) challenger. This bias is manifest in several ways, including the visibility of the two leaders measured by column inches, their uses as quoted sources and the tone and tenor of reportage. Whilst we found few examples of explicitly sexist commentary, there were numerous ways in Clark’s personal attributes, including her sex and age, were slyly used to undermine her continued suitability for the top job.

Political talk radio and democratic participation: caller perspectives on Election Call

There has been much recent discussion about the changing nature of ‘the public sphere’ with the relatively new genre of reality TV being viewed as a space in which the public can at least perform, if not always engage in meaningful debate. This article considers the perspectives of callers to a political talk show - Election Call- in terms of why they call in, what they think about their interactions with politicians and how they regard the programme’s potential to constitute a public sphere. It also looks at the gendered aspects of caller experiences and beliefs in order to tease out whether gender has any influence on the public’s practice of politics. Election Callis a BBC production, which has been broadcasting since 1974, going out simultaneously on radio and TV (and the web for 2001), in the days immediately preceding the British general election. I argue that while callers mostly felt very positive about the experience of appearing on the show and having the opportunity to put their point of view, and believed that Election Callfulfils an important democratic function, they were much more negative in their assessment of their interactions with politicians, believing that it continues to be difficult to get a straight answer out of those elected to serve and represent us.

Reality television: Fairy tale or feminist nightmare?

“Reality” shows have exploded on television screens around the world. The latest “hot commodity” dominating television programming, these shows have captured astonishing viewer ratings. While a decade ago MTV’s Real World inaugurated this genre of programming—accentuating a voyeuristic gaze among audiences and an exhibitionistic streak among participants—in the last two years it has moved from being a fad to become a staple on television lineups. US television, for instance, has focused on creating ever more (apparently) unscripted “human experiment” type shows, at the expense of other genres such as the prime-time serial. Journalistic accounts indicate that audiences are either riveted by what their supporters describe as compelling insights into the human condition, or find them boring and unattractive. Given the voyeuristic impulse of this genre and the vastly divergent responses it evokes, we seek to use the Criticism and Commentary section to highlight gender as a crucial variable in this phenomenon. The economics of “reality television” production—cheap telly—might explain why programmers rely on them to capture the “ideal” youth audience. But what accounts for their popularity with viewers? Among the many questions which are thrown up by the preponderance of “housemate” shows such as Big Brother and Survivor, as well as the more traditional dating shows, are: Do these shows reflect changing social mores, especially of relationships between women and men who meet as strangers? When a nation of viewers selects the ideal mate for a contestant, what does this practice signify? Does the prevalence of these shows alter modern conceptions of heterosexual romance, and do viewer preferences reinforce or challenge traditional stereotypes about the ideals of femininity and masculinity? Why do the embarrassment and humiliation that are an important part of the format of such shows enthrall audiences and are there gendered dimensions to this phenomenon? One producer asserts that the shows appeal to a “female-oriented audience and the females want to see the romance.” Is the ubiquity of this genre on prime-time schedules an industry acknowledgment, albeit tacitly, of the significance of the female viewer or are women being cynically targeted for what they are worth to the advertisers? Does the popularity of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy herald a new openness to gay male identity or does it recapitulate gay stereotypes packaged in a new format? Television programming’s ability to cross national and cultural borders has long been acknowledged by scholars. What sense then can we make of the international

Danse Macabre: Politicians, Journalists, and the Complicated Rumba of Relationships:

This study aimed to explore the ways politicians characterize and think about the relationships they sustain with journalists, using a case study approach that focuses on the views and attitudes of New Zealand MPs towards members of the Press Gallery and, to a lesser extent, their local and regional news media. Undertaken over a twenty-four-month period, with two fieldwork phases, 62 of 121 MPs were interviewed. The broad findings suggest that MPs are relatively sanguine about their media relationships, recognizing their symbiotic nature, but clear differences emerged in terms of the complexity and friendliness of these relationships. Those differences can be accounted for primarily by way of personal style and preferences, on one hand, and party status and position, on the other: factors such as gender (either of the politician or the journalist) were not significant as determinants of difference, although women were more likely to characterize their relationships as “friendly” compared with men, who tended to use more neutral language such as “collegial.”

Facing up to Facebook: politicians, publics and the social media(ted) turn in New Zealand

Social media have an increasingly important place in the lives of citizens, and their potential to expand the reach of communication messages beyond individual networks is attractive to those looking to maximise message efficiency. The influence of Facebook in Obama’s 2008 campaign success galvanised many politicians into taking it seriously as a campaign tool. Our study explored the Facebook wall posts (1148 in total) of New Zealand Members of Parliament (MPs) leading up to the 2011 general election to determine posting behaviours and differences. Among other things, we found that women posted more frequently than men and that Labour MPs posted more than their National counterparts. Additionally, most politicians do not invite dialogue with readers of their posts, rarely get involved in comment threads and mostly take a monologic approach, using Facebook as a way of broadcasting information rather than as a medium enabling two-way flow. In other words, same old, same old.