Gender Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story for Clinton Coverage

Gender bias in public life is so pervasive that, to borrow legal parlance, the burden of proof should probably rest on those denying its influence, not asserting it. Yet while bias is entrenched in virtually everything, that fact doesn’t always explain surface-level disparities in how we treat the sexes.   “We have reached an instructive moment in 2016’s presidential election,” Rebecca Traister began a column this past Sunday in New York Magazine’s “The Cut.” She juxtaposed news media enthusiasm for Joe Biden to enter the race with skepticism about Hillary Clinton’s chances to win it. Candidates with matching credentials, but media coverage tilted in the man’s favor. An advantage clearly based on gender.