1 media-driven men and media-critical women? a study of gender and mps’ relationships with the...
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Media-driven Men and Media-critical Women?A study of Gender and MPs’ Relationships with the Media
Professor Toril AalbergDepartment of Sociology and Political Science
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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Research question
How do male and female MPs relate to and perceive their relationships with journalists and the media?
Are there still gender differences in a country who top word rankings when it comes to gender equality?
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Why is this important?
Modern politics is mediated politics (Bennett & Entman, 2001), where the media constitute the most important source of information about politics and society to the public and to voters.
Crucial for politicians to be visible in the media. Members of the UK parliament have expressed that their voters simply do not believe they work for the constituency’s interest unless they have an active and exposed media profile (Ross & Sreberny 2000, p. 9).
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Data and methods
Quantitative opinion survey to all Norwegian MPs during a regular period (not election campaign).
NORWAY: Spring of 2007, web survey, response rate: 51%
No major bias when it comes to respondents party or gender
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How often do MPs have personal contact with a journalist? Percent
Male Female
Almost every day 50 33
A few times a week 32 27
A few times a month or less 19 41
Total 101 101
N 54 27
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Who usually initiates these personal contacts? Percent
Male Female
Most of the time MP or a staff member 15 19
About equally divided between the two 59 44
Most of the time the journalist 26 37
Total 100 100
N 54 27
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Do the MP consider any journalists to be friends? Percent
Male Female
No 56 59
Yes, one or two 30 37
Yes, three or more 15 4
Total 101 100
N 54 27
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Did they ever ask a journalist for advice about their work as a politician? Percent
Male Female
Sometimes 13 4
Seldom 48 30
Never 39 67
Total 100 101
N 54 27
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How (and how often) do MPs have personal contact with journalists? Means
1= never, 2=montly, 3=weekly, 4= a few times a week, 5= daily
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Average share of parliamentary initiatives male and female MPs have oriented the press about or that had its origin in media coverage
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MPs perception of politics media adjustment. Means (on scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree)
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MPs perception of media coverage of politics in general and of themselves. Percent
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Conclusion
The gender equality achieved in Norwegian politics per se have not eliminated all gender differences when it comes to how male and female politicians relate to media
male MPs have adjusted more to the media than what seems to be the case for female MPs, i.e, there is a clear and rather consistent gender gap between how male and female MPs perceive their relationships with the media.