“An out gay man in the parliament”: New aspects in the study of LGBTQ politicians’ media coverage

This study identifies how three prominent Israeli online newspapers frame gay Members of Knesset (Israeli parliament) and cabinet ministers. 2019 was chosen since the number of gay MKs reached a historic milestone of representation. The study employed a mixed-methods design, combining descriptive st...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMedia, culture & society Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 3 - 20
Main Authors Greenwald, Gilad, Haleva-Amir, Sharon, Kama, Amit
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2024
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Cabinet
Content analysis
Electronic newspapers
Frame analysis
Homophobia
Homosexuality
Legislatures
LGBTQ people
Mass media
Media coverage
News
Political representation
Politicians
Private sphere
Qualitative research
Sexual orientation
Statistics
media framing
Israel
LGBTQ
political representation
gay politicians
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This study identifies how three prominent Israeli online newspapers frame gay Members of Knesset (Israeli parliament) and cabinet ministers. 2019 was chosen since the number of gay MKs reached a historic milestone of representation. The study employed a mixed-methods design, combining descriptive statistics, based on a quantitative content analysis, with a thematic qualitative analysis. 1015 retrieved news items constituted the initial database. They were divided into two categories: “Gay relevant” (items explicitly referring to, or mentioning the politician’s sexual orientation); or “Gay irrelevant” (all other items), to thematically focus on the Gay relevant items (N = 159). Six themes were then identified: Novelty; LGBTQ Political Representation; Private Sphere; Homophobia; Community Recognition and Rights; and Incongruity. Findings revealed that elite newspaper coverage is similar to popular ones; cabinet ministers’ framing is more neutral compared to junior MKs; and liberal MKs are framed differently than conservative ones.
ISSN:0163-4437
1460-3675
DOI:10.1177/01634437231185946