Number of women running for president extraordinary, though coverage problematic, professor says


LAWRENCE — Kamala Harris, a Democratic U.S. senator from California, announced Monday she is running for president in 2020, making her the fourth woman to announce she will seek a major party nomination in the upcoming election.

Teri Finneman, a journalism historian and specialist in press coverage of women politicians, is available to speak with media about the number of women running and related issues. Finneman, an assistant professor of journalism & mass communications at the University of Kansas, can comment on the history of women running for president, how they are portrayed by media, what the historic number means for the race overall and related topics.

“The election cycle has barely started, and already we’re seeing problematic coverage that we’ve seen since the 1800s,” Finneman said. “This election cycle has an opportunity to be extraordinary, however, not just due to the current state of politics but also due to its overlap with the 100th anniversary of women having the right to vote.”

Finneman is the author of “Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s-2000s.” She also conducts research about media ethics, journalism history and oral history in addition to research on media coverage of U.S. first ladies and women politicians. She is vice president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications History Division as well as a creator and host of the podcast Journalism History.

To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or mkrings@ku.edu.

Tue, 01/22/2019

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Mike Krings

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