Journalism and Gender: Toward a Multidimensional Approach

In this article, we raise some methodological questions regarding the study of journalism and gender. We start with the idea that in many studies, researchers tend to think that the relationship between gender and journalism is external, that is, gender and journalism are considered essentially separate phenomena. In such a scenario, journalism appears to be gender neutral. Instead of theoretically keeping journalism and gender apart, we suggest that it is worth studying journalism as a gendered institution with its own history, culture, and social roles. We ask how the understanding of the relationship between journalism and gender may change if different social, cultural, and conventional dimensions of journalism are examined. Our main argument is that journalism and its relationship to gender can be investigated systematically as a multidimensional object that highlights various aspects of both concepts, depending on the specific research focus. Based on our former study, we aim to develop a model for examining these diverse facets of journalism.