Gender Bias in German Media Reports

ABSTRACT In this paper, we empirically examine German media reports about politicians with regard to gender differences in the reporting. We analyze a comprehensive dataset with coded reports from both public and private media outlets between 1998 and 2012 and estimate the tonality of the coverage using logit models. Overall, we find a more or less balanced reporting with only small differences in the reporting about male and female politicians. An analysis of gender differences by the five largest political parties reveals some interesting results as women in the conservative parties are more likely to receive a positive media coverage than their fellow male party members. On the contrary, women in the Left Party are more likely to receive a negative media coverage. As the results are statistically significant but small in magnitude, we conclude that there is no substantial indication of a gender bias in German Media, although there are some interesting differences by political parties.