Women and news: A long and winding road

Abstract

Feminist news researchers have long argued that in the macho culture of most newsrooms, journalists' daily decisions about what is newsworthy remain firmly based on masculine news values. As such, issues and topics traditionally seen to be particularly relevant to women tend to be pushed to the margins of the news where the implicit assumption is that they are less important than those which interest men. In so doing, men's views and voices are privileged over women's, thereby contributing to the ongoing secondary status of women's participation as citizens. In this article, we draw upon data we collected from the UK and the Republic of Ireland as part of the larger, 108-country study, which comprised the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). We argue that while there have been some positive improvements in women's representation as news actors, sources and journalists in the British and Irish news media since the first GMMP day of monitoring in 1995, women's voices, experiences and expertise continue to be regarded by news industries as less important than those of men. Such a situation undermines and under-reports women's contribution to social, economic and cultural life and in so doing, diminishes democracy.

Women politicians in the UK press: not seen and not heard?

“…It signals that what they have to say is important. In addition, a direct quote is less likely to be distorted or misreported, even more significant in a press that studies have shown to display sexist tendencies in terms of reporting women (Gill, 2007;Ross and Carter, 2011) and women politicians in particular (Harmer andWring, 2013, O'Neill andSavigny, 2014;Ross and Comrie, 2011;Ross et al, 2013;Van Zoonen, 2006 Male MPs appear in more straightforwardly political stories over each of the years sampled, and on overall average, 11% more often. In contrast, female politicians appear in more stories related to wider society or events, about 14% more often on average.…”

“…Research has shown that, in general, there are fewer news items about women's interests or featuring or quoting women as 'experts (Ross and Carter, 2011;Women in Journalism, 2012). Indeed, Howell (2014) has found that the ratio of male to female experts on radio and TV news programmes to be 4:1, a figure that has not changed in two years of monitoring broadcasts.…”

Gender imbalance in Moroccan broadcast news

“…Prado and Hughes (2009, 7) Concerning the topics covered by reporters, previous studies reveal that hard news is more prestigious than soft ones in the news hierarchy. That is why they are more often relegated to male reporters (North 2014;Ross and Carter 2011;Van Zoonen 1998 and many others). According to Van Zoonen (1998), soft news lack "informational value," for they are not urgent serious topics.…”

Teaching Trans*: Strategies and Tensions of Teaching Gender in Student Affairs Preparation Programs

“…Examining how media uses language and semiotics can reveal how language serves to shape, present, and (re)present lived experiences. Those who serve to monitor language use in media, particularly as it pertains to how gender is portrayed, have found that "media tend to represent reality in ways that most benefit those in positions of power in society in a process of hegemonic reproduction and maintenance of the status quo" (Ross & Carter, 2011, p. 1152. This practice of examining language as a system of power highlights whose voices are heard and whose voices are obscured and just as importantly, what topics are centered (i.e., bathrooms, safety) and what topics are largely silent (resilience, experiences of trans* students of color).…”