"Just the facts, ma'am": newspaper depictions of women council candidates during the 2007 Alberta municipal election

Abstract

Do women municipal politicians encounter the same level of media bias as their national counterparts? This question guided a study of how three daily and three community newspapers portrayed women and men council candidates during the 2007 Alberta municipal election. Using content and discourse analysis, the study compared how journalists covered female and male candidates’ personal traits, campaign platforms, public utterances, and electoral viability as well as how visible both groups of candidates were in newspaper election coverage. Results from the study indicate that while aspiring women councillors do face a subtle sexism, the media environment they encounter while campaigning is generally more gender-neutral and hospitable to them than the one awaiting women competing for elite national office. Thus, scholarly belief that the media act can as a barrier to women’s candidacy are largely unfounded at the municipal level.