A gendered perspective of local news: NewsStyle analysis of 2016 presidential campaign coverage in the Des Moines Register
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Abstract
The concept of NewsStyle was developed by Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, and Robertson in 2004 to examine how media cover candidates in mixed-gender campaigns. The purpose of this study is to investigate the NewsStyle of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’ 2016 presidential campaign coverage in one local newspaper. The selected newspaper is the Des Moines Register, which is the most influential newspaper in Iowa. As a swing state, the voters in Iowa play a key role in the presidential election. Based on previous studies about women candidates’ coverage, the quantity, slant, electability, personal traits, and issues coverage would be recorded. This project used content analysis of 100 articles in the Des Moines Register from July 28, 2016 to November 8, 2016 to provide insights about how media in Iowa covered the mix-gender campaign. The findings suggest that although Clinton still faced stereotypical bias in the news coverage, the gender gap in coverage between Clinton and Trump was less pronounced in this campaign. However, the Des Moines Register paid the most attention to Clinton’s alleged dishonesty about her private email server and the Clinton Foudation, which may have negatively influenced the outcome of Clinton’s 2016 presiential campaign.