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ABSTRACT
Twitter provides women politicians with a platform for practising political public relations and the opportunity to circumvent traditional barriers to their visibility. To explore how young women use Twitter to frame themselves during election campaigns, this study undertook a thematic analysis of tweets sent by politicians Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern during New Zealand’s 2014 general election campaign. A likability frame dominated their messaging, supported by subsidiary frames of the busy local MP and the relational politician. Choices of interpersonal and intimized situations showcased these attributes. Although the messaging was arguably effective, there are longer-term consequences for women with respect to the likability/competence double bind. Further and systematic incorporation of gender into the field of political public relations would strengthen this emerging discipline and add value to existing research around women’s electoral viability.
Twitter proporciona a las mujeres políticas plataformas para practicar relaciones públicas y la oportunidad de evitar las barreras a su visibilidad. Para explorar cómo las mujeres jóvenes usan Twitter para encuadrarse durante las campañas para elecciones, este estudio emprendió un análisis temático de los tweets enviados por las políticas Nikki Kaye y Jacinda Arderndurante la campaña para las Elecciones Generales de 2014 en Nueva Zelanda. Un marco de “agradabilidad” dominaba sus mensajes, apoyados por marcos auxiliares de “la ocupada parlamentaria local” y la “política relacional”. Elecciones de situaciones interpersonales e intimidad exhibieron estos atributos. Mientras que podría decirse que el mensaje fue efectivo, hay consecuencias doblemente vinculadas a largo plazo para las mujeres con respecto a la competencia de ser agradable. Una incorporación del género más extensa y sistemática en el campo de las relaciones públicas en la política reforzaría esta disciplina emergente y añadiría valor a la investigación existente sobre la viabilidad electoral de las mujeres.
推特向女性政客提供一个锻炼政治公共关系的平台和规避她们可见性中所存在的传统障碍的机会。为了探究年轻女性如何利用推特来在选举期间为她们自己造势，本文对新西兰2014年大选期间Nikki Kaye 和Jacinda Ardern两位政客所发的推特进行了主题性分析。亲民的风格占据了她们所发的消息，并由次级风格“繁忙的当地国会议员”和“关联政客”所支持。人际和亲密情形的选择展现了她们的属性。一些消息的有效性有待论证，但女性的亲民能力双重约束却有着更为长期影响。将性别深入和系统的纳入政治公共关系实战能够加强这一新兴的学科并为围绕女性选举成功性的研究增添价值。
Acknowledgment
I sincerely thank the reviewers and editor for their very detailed and constructive feedback on my initial draft.
Notes
1 For instance, Strömbäck and Kiousis’ (Citation2011) defining text on political public relations contains no index entries for gender or related terms.
2 For instance, although Hallahan (Citation2011) listed studies of framing that examine gender and/or women, he did not discuss how female politicians self-frame or are framed in the media. His discussion of political candidates, actors, etc. is mostly presented in gender neutral language, with the occasional reference to, for example, “‘bad guy’ versus ‘good guy’” framing (p.192) or the father figure (p. 194).
3 Kaye narrowly beat Ardern by 717 votes in 2011 and 600 votes in 2014, with voter turnout lifting across these periods, from 76% in 2011 to 79% in 2014.
4 It is standard practice for politicians in NZ, with the exception of party leaders, to write and send their own tweets (Beveridge, Citation2016). Politicians welcome the opportunity to communicate directly and to interact with their followers (e.g. Powell, Citation2015; Ross & Bürger, Citation2014). However, I cannot verify that every tweet was sent by Ardern or Kaye personally; this is noted in “Assessing Validity, Reliability, and Replicability.”
5 Dirty Politics was a best-selling book published just before the 2014 general election, exposing hidden influences on contemporary NZ politics and especially critical of senior National Party politicians, including Prime Minister John Key; see McMillan (Citation2015).
6 Ugg boots are a comfortable, fleece-lined boot, mostly worn indoors.
7 Weekly Twitter statistics for Election 2014 (Beveridge, Citation2014c) showed each party’s top three politicians in terms of increased followers in the preceding week. Statistics from August 29; September 6, 13, and 19; and October 3, 2014 showed Ardern listed in first or second place for Labour each week (with a total increase of 2790 followers); Kaye was in second place for National in three of these weekly listings (with a total increase of 442 followers).