The Male Face of Journalism

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/2172

The New York Times has one female columnist out of seven, the Washington Post, one out of five. On any given day of the week, women are excluded from the most important opinion-shaping pages of mainstream print media.

Sadly, these media monoliths are the standard rather than the exception. Journalism continues to be a field dominated by men. Considering women make up 51 percent of the population in the United States, the near-total exclusion of women in media makes them neither free nor fair. Citizens in the United States consistently are given their information from one perspective, the only one that is valued — the male perspective.

Before any eyebrows are raised, it is important to have an honest and constructive debate regarding this issue because, like it or not, media institutions have an indelible impact on our perceptions. The male face of journalism imbues male superiority. Subjects deemed important or “newsworthy” are strictly a male domain and interpreted as such.

The silencing of women in the media speaks volumes about how far we as a society have to go in the area of gender equality. As they stand now, gender stereotypes and sexist remarks are said without so much as a second thought on TV news programs. With such blatant discrimination prevalent in the media, it is no wonder glass ceilings continue to exist in corporations, politics and significant decision-making bodies.

While it is absolutely true that the media and the United States in general have made tremendous strides in the area of gender equality, it cannot be disputed that both still have a long way to go.

There should no longer be a “face” to journalism. Active recruitment of positive voices and identities are needed to remedy the inequality in the mainstream media.
--------------------------------


and the House and Senate should be divided equally between men and women. why doesn't Hillary fight for that instead of flag burning? flags are a male construct anyway.

Uhm, being that she is a female Senator, I'd say she is fighting for that by the very virtue that she is there at all.

Personally, I'm confused as to how else one would go about fighting for an equally gender divided Congress, outside of fielding candidates and supporting them.

states would have to work out how they presented Reps. and Sens. to Congress in an equal way.

this isn't rocket science

The people should always have the right to elect anyone they want.

since there are now more women than men pursuing college degrees.

But I always love to hear about the vast male conspiricy to "silence" women.

nt

...women will continue to be underrepresented. We may therefore never reach fifty-fifty, but it is a crime for men to comprise such an overwhelming majority.

So men need to grow uteruses?

...and regularly leave the work force for as long as mothers do, then we'll begin to see equal representation.

I'm not holding my breath.

Last I checked.

:shrug:

Part of the fault is nature's, though, and we're not gonna get away from that division completely.

Get a platform and run, run, run. You can't win if you don't play.

MEN...How many men of color do you think are employed by these News companies?

women for women?

It's been said that more males than females are in favor of a woman Pres. If that's true why is that?

Aren't women to blame that Brokaw, Jennings, Rather and their stentorian voices and "distinguished" commanding appearance also called stature or gravitas, are the expected norm?

A long time ago I learned something from the black civil rights movement: only the group in question can change themselves and it must be done from with-in. Once done, the other issues will fall into place.

Not saying their isn't male bias against women, just saying a stronger demand from women for representation would help a lot.

at that time because women were consigned to the Women's, Fashion and Gossip sections. Very few, like Helen Thomas, made it into the trenches with the guys for the real news. Those who did often had to freelance, because editors wouldn't assign them the newsworthy stories. I finally decided it wasn't worth my time and expense to be educated for something I wouldn't use.

It looks like we are going back to those times again. Also, I really have no respect for Barbara Walters nor Diane Sawyer. I think they were sellouts when the women were started to break into the main news and fighting hard to do it.

Judith Miller at the NYTimes the last few months. Here's two very prominent women at the premier paper. One has a reputation of sleeping with her sources and the other reportedly flirts with many sources. Are women who flirt less or are less attractive denied promotions in journalism? I sometimes like Dowd's writings but her whole schtick bothers me.