Media and 1992 Election: Women

"Women made significant gains this election, winning a larger than usual number of races. However, many women's groups still did not feel female candidates were fairly treated. . . .

In a recent study M. Junior Bridges discovered the media reported significantly more trivial stories about Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush, than serious stories on important female candidates. Bridges also noted that eighty-seven percent of quotes in newspapers come from men. In addition two studies by Women, Men, and the Media drew attention to the media's white, male dominated standard.

The studies showed that this view had adversely affected this election's news coverage. Not surprisingly, the male dominated media basically ignored the studies. Women Are Good out of San Francisco discovered that on talk shows hosted by men, eighty-three percent of guests were men, seventeen percent were women, and none were black women. Women might have won even more races, had their media coverage been comparable to their male opponents." OH

"Studies show that women journalists tend to give certain candidates more time than what the male reporters give to these candidates. This was obvious in the 1988 Presidential Election. Bush was given more television coverage than Dukakis by five percent, but female reporters covered Dukakis forty-five percent of the time and Bush only twenty-five percent. Certain issues, such as abortion, also received more coverage by women than by men. Men gave equal time to both pro-choice and pro-life, while female reporters gave pro-choice ideas twice as much time as pro-life." KS

"In America, it is always good to have some minorities in powerful positions, but unfairly, her (Carol Mosley Braun) opponent, Williamson, did not have much of a chance to gain the public's support, much less win." IL

"During Carter's governorship, Rosalyn was an active member of his team. Then, in the early days of his Presidency, Rosalyn tried to continue her active role at Cabinet meetings; this drew immediate criticism from the press. This response exposed negative feelings for Rosalyn and her involvement in the system." OK

"Ross Perot offended many female reporters with his remarks about them. Although remarks, such as sexist attacks, are hard to deal with and very aggravating, it is the job of the female reporter to disregard the incident and continue her coverage as unbiased as possible." KS

"The candidates who are hurt the most by the media's exposure are women. Many times a woman candidate is looked upon briefly and then tossed aside, as if unimportant to the scheme of the election. What the media fails to depict is that women are equally as capable as any man in holding the office of the Presidency.

The media is often too harsh and unfair in their depiction of women as candidates. The media covers only the bad points and leaves out the good qualities a woman could bring to her position, or the media only tells the woman's point of view on the so-called women's issues, such as abortion or sexual harassment.

The media rarely gives a woman's view on issues like foreign policy, war, and military expenses or farm issues, even though they are equal to or better than a man's." OH