Framing Leadership: Gendered Media Portrayals of Two Politicians on CNN and Fox News

Abstract

In this thesis I examine the linguistic tools that liberal and conservative outlets use to frame female and male politicians. The study focuses on CNN and Fox News’ coverage of Finland's former prime minister Sanna Marin and the UK’s current prime minister Keir Starmer. A central part of this study is finding out whether the opposing political beliefs of the outlets affect the way they frame these two politicians and whether it results in gendered representations. For my materials I have selected five news articles about each politician that deal with different aspects of them and their careers. As a theoretical framework for my study I rely on frame analysis, popularized by Erving Goffman in 1986, and the footing theory he coined in 1979. I identified two main categories of frames that are used by both media outlets. Each frame has three additional subframes that deal with a specific aspect of the politicians’ coverage. The results of my analysis indicate that not only is the coverage affected by their political afflictions but that there is clear gender bias involved as well. The analysis shows an inequality and imbalance especially in the framing of Marin, due to her coverage focusing mostly on private aspects of her life instead of professional ones. Therefore, this thesis concludes that the coverage of the politicians depends on the footing that the outlets have on the issue. This thesis offers an introduction only to the way that language, framing and footing could be further examined together.