https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/massey/oai:mro.massey.ac.nz:10179/4595
type: CreativeWork
name: Women, politics and the media : the 1999 New Zealand general election : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Communication & Journalism at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
description: New Zealand's shift to a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system of government contained a two-fold promise for women. Explicitly, there was the prospect of increased electoral diversity, meaning more women in Parliament, and implicitly, there was a promise of better political reporting and therefore qualitatively better coverage of women. The country's second proportional representation election campaign, in 1999, appeared to deliver on these promises. The 1999 General Election was historically significant because it featured two women - incumbent Jenny Shipley and Labour leader Helen Clark - contesting the role of Prime Minister. Female politicians also featured in important electorate races, and made the headlines during New Zealand First's gender-based list controversy. According to one media commentator, women determined the outcome, dominated the news and changed the nature of the campaign (Harris, 2000). However, popular opinion that women influenced the character of the campaign, and especially that they dominated the campaign, is in contrast to empirical research, from around the world, which has consistently suggested women politicians receive less news coverage, are "framed" or packaged in stereotypically feminine ways, and ultimately disadvantaged by traditional news coverage (e.g. Bathla, 1998; Braden, 1996; Gidengil & Everitt, 1999; Herzog, 1998; Norris, 1997c; van Acker, 1999). Therefore, the main aim of this study was to explore, using a combination of corroborative methodologies, how and why the news media covered female politicians during the 1999 election campaign. Three methodologies (content analysis, qualitative interviews, and a case study), and a framing typology, were employed. Content and frame analysis showed that female politicians were used as news subjects to a comparable, if not better, extent than men but were marginalised as political news sources. In other words, there was a tendency for women to be talked about, rather than talked t…
abstract: New Zealand's shift to a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system of government contained a two-fold promise for women. Explicitly, there was the prospect of increased electoral diversity, meaning more women in Parliament, and implicitly, there was a promise of better political reporting and therefore qualitatively better coverage of women. The country's second proportional representation election campaign, in 1999, appeared to deliver on these promises. The 1999 General Election was historically significant because it featured two women - incumbent Jenny Shipley and Labour leader Helen Clark - contesting the role of Prime Minister. Female politicians also featured in important electorate races, and made the headlines during New Zealand First's gender-based list controversy. According to one media commentator, women determined the outcome, dominated the news and changed the nature of the campaign (Harris, 2000). However, popular opinion that women influenced the character of the campaign, and especially that they dominated the campaign, is in contrast to empirical research, from around the world, which has consistently suggested women politicians receive less news coverage, are "framed" or packaged in stereotypically feminine ways, and ultimately disadvantaged by traditional news coverage (e.g. Bathla, 1998; Braden, 1996; Gidengil & Everitt, 1999; Herzog, 1998; Norris, 1997c; van Acker, 1999). Therefore, the main aim of this study was to explore, using a combination of corroborative methodologies, how and why the news media covered female politicians during the 1999 election campaign. Three methodologies (content analysis, qualitative interviews, and a case study), and a framing typology, were employed. Content and frame analysis showed that female politicians were used as news subjects to a comparable, if not better, extent than men but were marginalised as political news sources. In other words, there was a tendency for women to be talked about, rather than talked t…
author: Fountaine, Susan Lyndsey
keywords: New Zealand general election 1999, New Zealand Parliament, Women politicians, Women in mass media, Public opinion, New Zealand
date published: 2002
date modified: 2026-07-27T20:17:07Z
provider: Massey University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Massey University