Beyond gender parity in politainment: when political information becomes a television spectacle, androcentrism persists

Abstract

In a context where television is still key in influencing public opinion, and from a critical feminist position, this study explores the perpetuation of gender bias in political communication developed in infotainment formats. The general objective is to evaluate the professional roles and functions of the participants in the current affairs debates of politainment from a gender perspective. For this purpose, a content analysis design is adapted to a non-probabilistic sample from January and May 2024 (more than 35 hours) covering three political current affairs television debates of similar format, content, broadcasting slot and screen share during the 2023/24 season: La hora de La 1 ( La 1, Corporación Radio Televisión Española, 11,5 % share), La mirada crítica ( Telecinco, Mediaset España, 12,3 % share) and Al rojo vivo ( La Sexta, Atresmedia, 11,5 % share). The analysis makes it possible to detect the relevance of the women in these debate spaces, depending on their role (host, panelist, reporter, source, expert, narrator, correspondent, or specialist). The main findings point to the under-representation of women in key roles such as expert (8,51 %), compared to the feminization of others such as narrator (63,16 %), with no own voice in the spectacularised political debate. This unequal distribution of the functions exercised by women also reproduces their exclusion from the public sphere politainment formats, where the androcentric gaze is imposed on their effective participation as political subjects.