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Women Are On, But Not In, the News: Gender Roles in Local Television News

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Abstract

This investigation examined 580 news stories in the top three local television news programs in a Northeastern U.S. television market for a two-week period. Content analysis was used to determine whether or not there were gender differences in the prevalence of reporters and anchors and in the type of stories they reported. Analysis of newscasts revealed that female reporters were more likely to present human interest and health related stories, while males were more likely to present political stories. Analysis of news sources revealed that male experts were used significantly more often than were female experts as news sources. There was no relationship between time news stories were presented and gender of the reporters or anchors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Communication, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, CT, 06117, USA

    Roger Desmond

  2. Cox Radio, 233 Riverside Ave., Westport, CT, 06880, USA

    Anna Danilewicz

Authors
  1. Roger Desmond
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  2. Anna Danilewicz
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Correspondence to Roger Desmond.

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Desmond, R., Danilewicz, A. Women Are On, But Not In, the News: Gender Roles in Local Television News. Sex Roles 62, 822–829 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9686-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9686-5

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