Embodying Love and Justice? A Representation Study of Female Cops on Taiwanese Newspapers

• Main Authors: Ya-Ting Chang, 張雅亭
• Other Authors: Hong-chi Shiau
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/86811206841514165556

碩士 === 世新大學 === 傳播管理學研究所(含碩專班) === 102 === In a standoff between the police and the people, a female cop was covered by newspaper with a headline read as: the Lin, Chih-Ling (a supermodel in greater Chinese region) in the police world subdues her smile while tightening the security. In another well-known news coverage, the female cop was depicted as “sweetie is acting cool in a show-off way to capture the flying shoes.” As sensational as the Taiwanese journalism may be, female cops have been seemingly over-represented. The looks and sweetiness of female cops have long been in the spotlight of media coverage, despite a ongstanding effort for female cop to demonstrate their professionalism. Much of the gender inequality rests upon the long-term practice ofoccupational segregation, and women’s exclusion from these male jobs served as the basis forwidespread condescension toward them. Set against the larger histocial background, this study employs content analysis as well as critical discourse analysis to examine the news coverage of female cops on newspapers, believing the analyses would offer a rich terrain of negotiation in news production.In such collective news reporting, with the repetitive formulas employed, this results revealthat consistent with precedent studies, female cops are far morelikely to be a peripheral role with minor responsibilities. Female cops were more likely to be covered in news stories not related their jobs as the police. Discourse analysis yields that while female cops are mostly positively presented, the media construction of female cop remains stereotypical and sex-related. By constructing female cop as the officer embodying love and justice, the media construction in general reinforces the patricarchial ideology, making female cops domesticated, despite the increasing inclusion of women in the male-dominated workplace in Taiwan.