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The 2008 presidential election was one of the most watched campaigns in American history, and prominently featured the vice presidential candidates, Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Joseph Biden. This election contest presents an exciting opportunity to expand and test our current understandings of the relationship between gender and media coverage. We examine this relationship using computer-assisted content analysis of major newspapers, television news broadcasts, and political blogs. These three media are analyzed in terms of both quantity and substance of coverage received by Palin and Biden. Using a multiple medium perspective in our investigation of the contest between Palin and Biden, this article finds differences in volume of coverage (Governor Palin receives more), substance of coverage (roughly reflecting gender-based stereotypes), and medium (with differences in volume and substance of coverage across newspapers, television, and blogs). Implications for future contests and for American politics in general are discussed. Keywords: Gender, Media Coverage, 2008 Election, Stereotypes, U.S. Vice Presidential Candidates, Content Analysis, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden. La eleccion presidencial del 2008 fue una de las campanas mas vistas en la historia de los Estados Unidos, dando un lugar destacado a los candidatos para la vicepresidencia, la gobernadora Sarah Palin y el Senador Joseph Biden. Esta contienda electoral presenta una gran oportunidad para ampliar y poner a prueba nuestra comprension actual de la relacion entre el genero y la cobertura de los medios de comunicacion. Este articulo examina esta relacion usando un analisis de contenido de los principales periodicos, programas de television y blogs politicos. Estos tres medios son analizados en terminos de cantidad y sustancia de la cobertura recibida por Palin y Biden. Usando una perspectiva de multiples medios en nuestra investigacion de la competencia entre Palin y Biden, este estudio encuentra diferencias en el volumen de cobertura (la gobernadora Palin recibio mas), sustancia de la cobertura (mas o menos reflejando estereotipos de genero), y de medio (con diferencias de volumen y sustancia de cobertura entre periodicos, television, y blogs). Las implicaciones para futuras contiendas y la politica estadounidense en general son discutidas., On August 29, 2008, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska became the first woman in the history of the United States to be named as the vice presidential candidate for the [...]

In today's fragmented media environment, citizens have an enhanced ability to select information outlets that match their preexisting political beliefs and avoid information sources that clash. This modern version of 'selective exposure' means that citizens can more easily isolate themselves from perspectives unlike their own. In this article, we employed a quasi-experimental design to test (1) the extent to which subjects selectively exposed themselves to opinion articles that were congenial to their presumed predispositions about Sarah Palin and (2) whether selective exposure reinforced these predispositions, thereby magnifying differences between Republicans and Democrats. We found that subjects did indeed tend to engage in selective exposure. And among those who did, there was evidence of reinforcement. Interestingly, there was evidence of persuasion among the relatively few subjects who exposed themselves to sources that ran counter to their predispositions. Keywords: Political Communications, New Media, Media Effects, Selective Exposure. En el ambiente fragmentado de los medios de comunicacion actuales los ciudadanos tienen una mayor habilidad de seleccionar medios de comunicacion que sean compatibles con sus creencias politicas preexistentes y evitar fuentes de informacion incompatibles. Esta version moderna de la 'exposicion selectiva' permite que los ciudadanos puedan aislarse mas facilmente de perspectivas contrarias a la propia. En este articulo, empleamos un diseno cuasi-experimental para examinar: (1) la medida en la que los sujetos selectivamente se exponen a articulos de opinion que congenien con sus predisposiciones acerca de Sarah Palin y (2) si la exposicion selectiva refuerza esta opinion, por lo tanto magnificando las diferencias entre Republicanos y Democratas. Encontramos que los sujetos efectivamente tienden a emplear una exposicion selectiva. Y entre aquellos que lo hacen, hay evidencia del reforzamiento de dicha opinion. Curiosamente, hubo evidencia de persuasion entre los sujetos que se expusieron a fuentes contrarias a su ideologia., Media fragmentation brings good news and bad news. The good news is that the media diet for most Americans is more varied and interesting than it used to be. Americans [...]

Television photojournalists should develop a set of working ethics when dealing with the coverage of political campaigns. Photojournalists become too eager to grab the opportunities presented by staged photography sessions and end upparticipating in contriving images of a candidate. It is important to depict candidates as they are.