Original scientific paper
The Gender of TV Expertise: A Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Analysis of Israeli TV Talk Shows
Amir Hetsroni
; Department of English, Language and Communication, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China
Abstract
This combined quantitative/qualitative study is based on a content analysis of
238 hours of Israeli talk shows from 2012 and semiotic analysis of selected programs
to map the gender distribution of TV experts and explore potential differences
in the way men and women are treated in the programs.. All in all, 495
experts were coded. Men experts outnumbered women experts in a 1.7 to 1 ratio.
These men were signifi cantly older than the women and tended to have a higher
academic rank, but they were not treated more favorably during the program. In
fact, experts of both genders were criticized or disagreed with in just less than
4% of the cases. The topics on which the experts commentated refl ect familiar
gender stereotypes with men more likely to talk about security, politics and
economy and women more often talk about body grooming and child care. The
results, which partly accord with feminist criticisms of the popular media, are
analyzed in relation to the theoretical concepts of symbolic annihilation and
“fast thinking” and the fi ndings of studies that looked at the gender of scientists
and scholars in other TV genres.
Keywords
Key word: talk shows; Israeli TV; TV genres; gender stereotypes; feminist criticisms
Hrčak ID:
152476
URI
Publication date:
5.2.2016.
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