Chapter 15
In: Politics and the Media in Poland from the 19th to the 21st Centuries
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Abstract
Scientific objective: This article aims to investigate the presence of stereotypes in the media discourse accompanying the presidential campaign of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, one of the opposition’s key politicians.
Research methods: The research material included 505 press releases, articles, and audiovisual materials published between December 14, 2019, and June 28, 2020 - between the start of the Kidawa-Błońska election campaign and the first presidential election round. The article used Discourse Analysis as a conceptual framework and MAXQDA as an analytical framework.
Results and conclusions: As a result, we identified many examples of stereotypes regarding women’s role in politics in the media discourse accompanying Kidawa-Błońska’s election campaign. Most often, politicians, journalists, Internet users used two interpretive frameworks: the diminished role of women in politics (puppets in men’s hands) and traits attributed to women. It is worth emphasizing that the female candidates’ narrative about their gender should be consistent with the party strategy and the electorate’s preferences. Thus, maintaining or breaking the gender stereotype by female politicians was also perceived as maintaining or breaking the party stereotype.
Cognitive value: In the analyzed case, the article indicates that both the candidate herself, politicians from her political camp, and the media favorable to her provoked and reinforced gender stereotypes. As a result, this narrative remained inconsistent with her party’s strategy and was unreadable to its electorate.