Common Trends, and Onwards!
Mihika G -
Hello hello, and thank you for joining me in another week of updates on my journey to dissect the gender bias (potentially) in the New York Times!
After making my selections for the Harris articles, the number is down to 175, which is absolutely doable. This represents 27 articles from July 2024, 73 from August, 42 from September, 31 from October, and 2 from November that meet the guidelines I had established previously. This number may decrease slightly due to future examination; for example, one of the articles I had initially selected for July 2024 was later cut and not included in my final data set because it was written by Hillary Clinton, who, as a politician, is required to maintain some degree of objectivity even while writing in the Opinion section of the NYT for public image, etc.
As a reminder, my initial article guidelines are that the article must be written/published in the New York Times Opinion section between July 21, 2024 (candidacy announcement) and November 5, 2024 (election day), and further must include the candidates name, whether first, last, or full.
- Kamala, Kamala Harris, and Harris all accepted.
- Use of name within other words accepted. E.g. “Kamalanomics,” referring to Harris’s stance on the economy.
Now, let’s shift to some common trends I have been able to identify in my research thus far.
Recurring Focus on Personality and Energy
There are definitely articles that objectively discuss her policy positions and how they fit into the political landscape of the 2024 election. However, concurrently, many of the articles emphasize Harris’s demeanor/personality and personal image branding. There is a frequent dialogue surrounding her campaign’s momentum and the public perception of her, rather than her true viability as a candidate or public figure. Key words that have been repeated across different articles include:
- enthusiasm
- energy/energized
- euphoria/ euphoric giddiness
- excitement/excited
- vibes/vibe shift/vibes have changed
- charismatic
- meme/meme candidate/became a meme
- hope/hopey changey
- joyful
- woman/women
- dynamic
- optimism/optimistic
Although many of these are positive, it supports the idea that this type of media narrative is more common.
Policy Discussions Secondary to Branding
Quantitatively, the articles that objectively discuss her key policy stances, such as voting rights, reproductive rights, are outnumbered by analyses of her personality, identity, and media appeal. Often, even when writing about her accomplishments and credibility, they are framed by a discussion of how this all fits into a bigger picture of a character/persona that she embodies or must adopt for her political success.
Identity
There is a large focus on Harris’s identity, both race and gender. For the purposes of this project, I will stick to talking about the gender aspect of this. This last category is easy to pass off as gender marking; however, upon further thought, due to Harris’s unique position as one of the first female presidential candidates in a significantly male-dominated landscape, it is important to note that such mentions of her gender may not be an indication of bias, but rather an objective addition to her platform, as it is, factually, a distinguishing feature of her platform.
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