News Sources, Democracy and Gender in News Media

Media can be considered a vital political arena in the shaping of politics, civic engagement and democracy. An investigation of the relationship between gender and minority/majority population and the selection of news sources is therefore highly relevant. One systematic feature of TV news programs is that they are characterized by a bias. We know from international research (Hooghe & de Swert 2009; De Swert & Hooghe 2010) that (different categories of) women (and men) are used less frequently as news sources. The chapter discusses some of the democratic consequences of biased TV news programs. In line with Jürgen Habermas’ perspectives on democracy and the public sphere, one can ask what consequences it has for a democratic public sphere in terms of participation, representation and voice that the national TV news landscape is biased in term of source diversity (in this case in gender terms). In order to enlighten this discussion, the analysis draws on existing empirical data and on work by Justin Lewis (2006) and Peter Dahlgren (2009). Lewis links citizenship, a well-informed citizenry and news media in a discussion of the ‘democratic promise of news’. With Dahlgren’s analysis of television as a space for civic identity and agency, the paper discusses contributions and limitations of television news framed by some of the dimensions of civic cultures and citizenship (knowledge, values, trust, practices, and identities). The project is part of the research project AU Ideas: The Democratic Public Sphere at Aarhus University, Denmark. See www.offentlighed.au.dk