Gendered Agenda Setting?

The literature on political agenda-setting investigates why certain issues in the news manage to get the attention of decision makers. Studies have shown how a variety of factors matter for the political agenda-setting influence of the media, ranging from the characteristics of politicians, parties and issues to the tone of the news and “real world” problem indicators. However, although there is research on differences between the issue priorities and capacities of male and female politicians, we do not know much about the extent to which political agenda-setting is gendered. This study aims to contribute to such a research agenda by exploring whether the effect of news on political agendas is contingent upon the share of female politicians in the news. We investigate this in a study of three small European PR-systems with a comparatively high level of gender equality in politics; Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. The analysis applies multiple datasets that cover comparable news outlets and political agendas in the period between 2000 and 2016.