Gender and Candidate Communication Videostyle, Webstyle, Newsstyle

A poll as recently as 2000 revealed that a third of the population thinks 'there are general characteristics about women that make them less qualified to serve as [US] president'. As the public and the media rely on long-held stereotypes, female candidates must focus even harder on the way they want to define their own image through traditional mass media, such as television, and new forms, such as the internet. VideoStyle, Webstyle, NewStyle digs deep into the campaigns of the last decade sifting through thousands of ads, websites, and newspaper articles to find out how successful candidates have been in breaking down these gender stereotypes. Among their findings are that female candidates dress more formally, smile more, act 'tougher' when they can, and prefer scare tactics to aggressive attack ads.Bystrom, Dianne G. is the author of 'Gender and Candidate Communication Videostyle, Webstyle, Newsstyle', published 2004 under ISBN 9780415946834 and ISBN 0415946832.