Gender, media, and politics: a bibliometric analysis of gendered mediation in politics literature

This article presents a critical state-of-the-art assessment of empirical studies analyzing the media coverage of politicians from a gender perspective. Applying a bibliometric technique, it analyzes 330 related studies from the past three decades, focusing on the field’s visibility, publication trends, and analyzed content. Given the vast body of accumulated research, reflecting on potential biases and blind spots of the field is essential. The findings show growth in the field’s academic prominence, with active collaboration among multiple authors. Studies employ both quantitative and qualitative methods and take inductive and deductive approaches. Female academics contribute substantially more than their male counterparts, often coauthoring with male first authors. However, there is a lack of regional diversity, with a dominance of research from developed Western democracies. Regression analysis shows that association with Western institutions and countries enhances citations. Finally, the article identifies significant dilemmas in the field and proposes new avenues for future research.