Towards Excellence

(ISSN No. 0974-035X)
(An indexed refereed & peer-reviewed journal of higher education)
UGC-MALAVIYA MISSION TEACHER TRAINING CENTRE GUJARAT UNIVERSITY

GENDERED DIFFERENCES IN WRITING STYLES IN PRINT MEDIA

Authors:

Anamika S, M.Manjunatha V

Abstract:

Journalism demands its outputs to be accurate, objective, and immaculate. Therefore, permitting prejudices to seep into work is staunchly condemned. Human beings are still vulnerable to cognitive biases based on individual characteristics, and hence, this paper attempted to identify if one such characteristic – gender – can influence the works produced by journalists. The study, through content analysis, examined whether there were any significant disparities in writing styles between the articles by male reporters and female reporters concerning story tones prevalent in the articles, the story structures used, and the gender of the sources selected. The results showed that there is no significant difference in story tone, story structure, and selection of sources in articles written by journalists of both genders, thus indicating that gender might not influence news writing. This conclusion provides reassurance that hiring more female journalists in newsrooms will not dilute the quality of work, nor threaten to weaken the existing power that journalism possesses. The resulting data can reinforce the need to erase gender stereotypes about female journalists and encourage them to become part of newsrooms.

Keywords:

Gender, journalism, writing styles, story tones, story structures, sources

Vol & Issue:

VOL.14, ISSUE No.1, March 2022