Daily Life: pink ghetto or feminist triumph? An analysis of the content of and responses to Fairfax’s women’s news website.

Abstract

In the last five years a number of news companies around the world have launched women’s news websites attached to, but distinct from, the regular website for their newspapers. In February 2012 Fairfax launched Daily Life, a self-proclaimed “femalebiased” website, the first Australian iteration of this women’s news website phenomenon. These websites have been new focal points for old feminist debates about separate gendered media spaces, and are particularly reminiscent of debates among feminist media theorists about the women’s pages of newspapers. This thesis will conduct qualitative content analysis of Daily Life’s most-viewed articles from its first year of publication in order to ascertain what content is popular on the website and how they portray women’s issues. In addition to this, results of a Daily Life reader survey will be discussed to understand how readers use and perceive the website. These results will be examined in the light of theoretical debates about separate gendered media spaces to see how Daily Life and other women’s news websites mitigate or contribute to problems of female representation in media. The thesis highlights the inequality still present in the way women are represented in the media and participate in the news industry. It examines the ideological complexities of producing a website for women, and analyses the many concerns raised about Daily Life, to ascertain whether women’s news websites help or hinder the feminist cause.