From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections

The under- and misrepresentation of women politicians and electoral candidates in the news media has been well documented. Much less is known, however, about how news providers portray women politicians differently over time, either in tandem with developments in the political and media landscape —...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Usha Devi Rajaratnam, Antoon De Rycker
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/1/19223-71669-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-11738
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-117382018-06-09T22:35:21Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/ From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections Usha Devi Rajaratnam, Antoon De Rycker, The under- and misrepresentation of women politicians and electoral candidates in the news media has been well documented. Much less is known, however, about how news providers portray women politicians differently over time, either in tandem with developments in the political and media landscape — e.g., the presence, visibility, and role of women in politics — or to reflect changes in internal newsroom policies. Against this background, this study aims to compare and contrast the news coverage of female candidates in two successive general elections, using multiethnic Malaysia as its case. Samples of news articles from Malaysiakini — one of Malaysia’s major independent online newspapers — were collected for the election periods of 2008 and 2013 and subjected to qualitative content analysis, with a focus on headlines. Findings suggest that the more recent reporting of women candidates helps position women as competent professionals compared with the more gendered portrayals five years before. At the same time, there is a trend away from descriptive to interpretive journalism, putting the many challenges that Malaysian women face as candidates in a wider societal and international context. The implications of the study are that also in Malaysia, individual newspapers can change over time, revise their gender stereotypes and overall play a stronger role in enhancing women’s electoral viability. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/1/19223-71669-1-PB.pdf Usha Devi Rajaratnam, and Antoon De Rycker, (2018) From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections. Jurnal Komunikasi ; Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34 (1). pp. 218-237. ISSN 0128-1496 http://ejournal.ukm.my/mjc/issue/view/1075
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	The under- and misrepresentation of women politicians and electoral candidates in the news media has been well documented. Much less is known, however, about how news providers portray women politicians differently over time, either in tandem with developments in the political and media landscape — e.g., the presence, visibility, and role of women in politics — or to reflect changes in internal newsroom policies. Against this background, this study aims to compare and contrast the news coverage of female candidates in two successive general elections, using multiethnic Malaysia as its case. Samples of news articles from Malaysiakini — one of Malaysia’s major independent online newspapers — were collected for the election periods of 2008 and 2013 and subjected to qualitative content analysis, with a focus on headlines. Findings suggest that the more recent reporting of women candidates helps position women as competent professionals compared with the more gendered portrayals five years before. At the same time, there is a trend away from descriptive to interpretive journalism, putting the many challenges that Malaysian women face as candidates in a wider societal and international context. The implications of the study are that also in Malaysia, individual newspapers can change over time, revise their gender stereotypes and overall play a stronger role in enhancing women’s electoral viability.
format	Article
author	Usha Devi Rajaratnam, Antoon De Rycker,
spellingShingle	Usha Devi Rajaratnam, Antoon De Rycker, From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
author_facet	Usha Devi Rajaratnam, Antoon De Rycker,
author_sort	Usha Devi Rajaratnam,
title	From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
title_short	From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
title_full	From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
title_fullStr	From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
title_full_unstemmed	From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
title_sort	from gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2018
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11738/1/19223-71669-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:01:01Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:01:01Z
_version_	1777406849327300608

From gender stereotyping to constructing political identity: changes in Malaysiakini’s portrayal of women candidates during Malaysia’s 2008 and 2013 general elections

Similar Items