With slow improvement in the news media industry, there was a time where we could ask ourselves, “What would the news be like without women?” And the response would be “It would be the same,” but if we asked, “What would the news media be like without men,” the answer would “It would be nothing without the men running the show”. Even now you could still say such a thing, but the one thing the male-owned news media industry has improved on is the amount of women news anchors that we see on television. But most of these women we see as news anchors are just there to satisfy the male gaze.
News anchorwomen that worked long and hard in the news media were critiqued just about there clothing. In “Broadcast News: When Women Became Two Out of Three” by Michael Filgate, he discussed how he read tons of emails in Couric’s first few weeks as a solo news anchor, in regard to what she was wearing. It’s hard to believe that many people didn’t care about how Couric would do as a news anchor, but instead found any little thing to call her out on. If it were a man, then they would’ve applauded him with joy. In other news broadcasts, we see how women are conveyed. In my group presentation last week we discussed how women were stereotyped in the news media, which included their appearance, clothes, race, and age. Women news anchors are all beautiful, with no flaw in their face, no wrinkles, just perfection. Their clothes seem to be inappropriate at times, like with the women of Fox News, which is to appeal to men. Their races, most of the women we see are Caucasian, although we do at times see minorities. And their age, they all seem to be much younger than their male counterparts.
In Media Ownership, there is a great divide between men and women. Simply, men run everything and underrepresent women in the industry. In “Media Ownership: Impact on Minority Ownership and Localism” by Carol Jenkins, she brings up the idea of the Invisible Majority, which is that, “…women in this country account for 51% of the population, yet own less than 5% of television stations and 6% of radio stations.” These big-shot corporate men give no room for women. All of the statistics that Jenkins provides is shocking about the news media industry, about how, “Five of the top nine radio groups do not list any women at all in their executive suites.” What ever happened to equal representation and unbiased employment? For men, it’s not a competitive world in the news media industry, whereas for women, they have no air to breathe. Even the FCC doesn’t help with this problem, how can women be heard in the media when even the government doesn’t want to listen?
The alternative news organization that I chose to discuss is called, Shameless Magazine. It is a Canadian magazine primarily aimed for young girls and trans youth. This magazine has magazines that young women can subscribe to, and they also have a blog which they update every couple days or so, discussing everything from the Occupy Wall-Street Protest to Free Feminist Social Media Webinar for Teens to participate in. What is great about this magazine is that they also look at minorities. In on of their current blog entries, Ronak Ghorbani informs the readers of a free film festival screenings that specifically focus on Muslim and Arab women. In Ghorbani’s blog, she includes a video of a preview of a documentary called “Unveiled Views”, which is about women who are stereotyped to not have a voice, use art to “change the world”. Every issue of Shameless Magazine includes profiles of amazing women that we can call role models, discussion of the topics that concern girls, DIY guides to art & crafts, sports, the latest in technology, columns on food politics, health & sexuality, advice and more. They’ve been awarded for the Best New Magazine in 2004 and the Utne Award for the Best Personal Life Writing in 2005. They’ve also been nominated for other awards such as Best New Title and Best New Design in 2004, Best Personal Life Writing in 2006, and National Magazine Award for their cover story “Making the Cut”. In this article Zoe Cormier discusses how, “these days, the pressure to be perfect is hitting many women below the belt”.
The media may not only be sexist against woman in the news, but also promote ageism. Many times the male anchor will be kept until he retires. But the woman anchor is often far younger than her co anchor, suggesting that a woman should not be employed any longer once she reaches an "elderly" age, yet men are allowed to continue working. This suggests that woman are only being hired to be looked at and taken less seriously than men, valued more for their appearance than their media achievements.
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