Still On the Beaten Path: How Gender Impacted the Coverage of Male and Female Romanian Candidates for European Office

Abstract

This study discusses variations in the media coverage of the most prominent male and female EP candidates from Romania in the four weeks leading up to Election Day (May 8 to June 7, 2009). The verbal- and visual-framing analyses conducted focus on the visibility of these candidates, their viability (horse- race frame), and the balance between issue-related coverage (issue frame) and gendered coverage (trivialization frame). Our sample encompasses 249 news stories from the web sites of the most influential broadsheets and tabloids in Romania, namely, Cancan, Evenimentul Zilei, Gândul, and Libertatea. The results point toward a gender bias on the part of media. Whereas women dominated the tabloid outlets, men were featured prominently in the broadsheets. The trivialization and the issue frames appeared more often for female candidates, whereas the results for the horse-race frame were mixed. While factors other than gender (such as experience) might have influenced the coverage of these particular candidates, it is still too early to proclaim equal treatment in the media, especially since women were considered unable to deal with the issues they were linked to.