IMAGE,TEXT And REPRESENTATION Example

IMAGE,TEXT And REPRESENTATION Example IMAGE,TEXT And REPRESENTATION â€" Essay Example > Question 1: Reporting Gender and PoliticsUsing the examples in attachment #1 (or two other recent [i. e. 2007] news report if you prefer) discuss how gender is used to frame political issues and politicians. Overall, gender is used equally in framing political issues and discussing politicians in the news report of newspapers The Age and The Daily Telegraph regarding the bid of former journalist Maxine Mckew to dislodge Australian Prime Minister James Howard from his post this coming election. The news reports showed an equal representation of gender in its delivery of information regarding the outlooks of the subjects and other politicians mentioned regarding political race, issues relevant to governance and perception of electorates towards political issues particularly in the area of Bennelong, Australia. There is no apparent sexist representation in the reports provided by the two newspapers in illustrating the views of Maxine Mckew for electoral office as well as the response s from Australian Prime Minister James Howard on the issue of her running for office in his own place of representation. The reports mainly veered away from media stereotypes of women in politics which usually put them as second only to men’s status. Here a woman is represented as a dominant character challenging a political power that happens to be of an opposite gender. In doing so she has earned the support of male politicians who are also domineering figures in the political arena. Veering from stereotyping of women in these reports supports the clamour of feminist group for media to be socially responsible in depicting women away from the stereotypes of victims, mothers and homemakers. Gaye Tuchman describes this as the concept of symbolic annihilation to the traditional way of how media condemn, trivialize and exclude women in political issues and as politicians (Pantti, n.d. ). The symbolic image that news reports portray the key role of a woman in challenging man’s poli tical position which is considered powerful draws a significant change in how media traditionally portray women in politics. It further shows the strength of a woman by using the word “audacity” in Mckew’s challenging Prime Minister Howard for his political position. This signifies the prominent role of a woman to have the strength to challenge such political power. However, there was a trace of gender bias in the report of the Daily Telegraph in influencing a segment of the voters to support the bid to dislodge Prime Minister Howard from his political position. It manifest in the report where an interview with insider from Labor Political Party shared views that Maxine Mckew’s running for office will get the votes of educated women opposing the current government’s political stand related to the occupation of Iraq. It showed that gender is represented as an alternative for political change to oppose macho stand on certain political issue like the invasion of Iraq. This was supported by Shelly Savage’s review of Julie Baird’s book Media Tarts where she argued that “women in Australian politics have punched above their weight, gaining additional media attention on the strength of their novelty value and because of the hyper-enthusiastic quest for a woman prime minister” (2005). She further shared that women politicians are considered credible political opponents not because of their gender but due to the fact that they threaten votes away from their political rivals. This factor has been acknowledged by Labor insiders from the news report of The Daily Telegraph.