Framing our First Daughters: A Critical Reflection on the News Coverage of Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush

• In Event: Framing Family Roles and Structures: on Television and in the White House

Abstract

First daughters have occupied a space within both the White House and American culture over the past 35 years, from Tricia Nixon and Amy Carter to Chelsea Clinton, the Bush twins, and now Sasha and Malia Obama. This analysis, combining framing theory and critical perspectives, demonstrates how U.S. newspaper coverage of Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush, crafted stereotypically gendered frames about transformation and domesticity in its representation of the first daughters.

Author

• Shayla Thiel-Stern, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities