Candidate Gender and the Online Media Coverage in the UK Political Campaigns of 2015 and 2016

The number of female MPs in the UK Parliament is among the lowest in Europe. Previous research suggests that differences in media coverage given to female political candidates relative to males may contribute to the under-representation of women in British politics. However, the precise relationship between candidate gender and media coverage remains inconclusive, while most studies overlook the growing importance of online media outlets. To advance our understanding of this relationship, a novel data-set encompassing a mix of broadsheet, middle-market and tabloid newspapers is introduced, to measure the quantity and quality of online press coverage during the selected UK elections in 2015/2016 at both parliamentary and party leadership levels. In total, approximately 4,300 articles were examined using mixed-method design. Surprisingly, the quantitative analysis of the news volume reveals, with statistical significance, that the press was more inclined to write about the female candidates. Indeed, not only did the newspapers devote a greater number of articles to women, but they were described in a larger amount of words with more of their direct quotes used in the articles. However, the analysis also indicates that the female candidates received a higher volume of person-related coverage. Qualitative investigation of the articles supports this finding, showing that women were frequently presented in frames related to physical appearance or motherhood. This study fills the gap in the existing body of research, by exploring how online media reports on female politicians. As opposed to the previous studies, our research suggests that the under-reporting of female politicians might not be directly linked to diminishing of their chances in political runs. However, the content of the online media coverage may still be gender-biased in favour of male candidates.