In what ways is news and the journalism industry gendered?

  

There are numerous ways of how the news and journalism industry Is gendered as on countless occasions there have been many examples of women being marginalised or “symbolically annihilated” (Tuchman,1978, P.3) within the media. Both Men and Women have been placed on separate pedestals, where men tend to come out on top and present the hard-hitting noteworthy news stories, and Women may find the top jobs within news presenting and journalism hard to come by. Women do not just find it hard to make it to the top in the newsroom, there are particular areas of journalism such as sport or politics where the theme of male dominated news reporting is continued and women are only just now starting to become more recognised in the male sport industry. Although, having said this, they are still being discriminated against due to the public frowning upon women reporting on the male sport industry as they have a preconceived perception that they do not have as much knowledge of the sport as the men working within the same industry. These stereotypes are a hinderance within the journalism industry that society needs to overcome as it has been seen over the years that women and men can both have an equally positive affect within the newsroom and the journalism industry. The Global Media Monitoring Projects findings show that over the last twenty-five years, the number of women getting jobs within the journalism industry has increased massively on the past 25 years prior to the creation of the monitoring project, as “more women than men graduate from media and journalism programmes, although women enter media professions at more or less the same rate as men, they do not go as far” (North 2009;Robinson 2005, cited in Ross, 2018, P.824) and may leave the industry early because of a lack of opportunities. The need for “monitoring the media is an important political activity since it provides the basis of understanding what is being represented in the media” (Galtung,1995:104, cited in Ross, 2011, P. 1152). 

Since the 1960s Women have opposed and fought against media institutions and the way they are systematically running. This is because it is believed that journalism is gendered, thus meaning the newsroom will be gendered as well. As a result, it is felt that the men were always getting the hard hitting, most interesting news stories like politics or crime as “in the newsroom, hard news is considered the most prestigious type of journalism” (Ross and Carter,2011, cited in North,2014, P.356) and women were allocated news stories about celebrity and lifestyle that make you feel a certain emotion and this type of story is seen as “less prestigious in the news hierarchy and female reporters more often assigned to report on them” (Cann and Mohr 2001; Poindexter and Harp 2008, cited in North, 2014, P.357). Although, having said this, Women reporting on what was seen as “soft News” (North,2014, p.357) in the past, can also been seen as a positive because tabloid newspapers are made to report on celebrity, showbusiness and lifestyle so if Women were seen as better and more likely than men to report on this type of news, women may be more likely to get the job because they are more credible candidates. However, there are still a lot of newspapers who will employ and allocate men over women to report on showbiz stories about women because they want the story to take a certain narrative, rather than have a woman reporters voice heard. For example, a big feature for a long time in ‘The Sun’ newspaper, was the use of a naked woman on page 3. This would then be accompanied by a small piece or caption, usually written by a man so a woman is physically seen but not heard. This segment then got discontinued because many people complained that it was degrading to women and likewise, there was no page displaying male genitalia, which many people, both men and women felt was a clear sign of a divide and a gendered societal hierarchy.

Men and women have been working on different beats as men had more power within the media industries, particularly at decision making level so it was hard for Women to break the cycle of men at the top of the industry until the early 1970s. This was because by the late 1960s the credibility of some articles was being questioned and weather credibility was as a result linked to gender and if it was important in distinguishing weather “gender dynamics in journalism were asymmetric” (Klaas,2020, p.2) and had an effect on the outcome of the news story. Most recent research conducted by Weibel et al. (2008, cited in Klaas,2020, p. 4) shows that while male newscasters were more prominently seen on screen and seem to have more credibility, the small sample of women newscasters’ messages that were heard by the public viewers were perceived to have more credibility than those of the male newscasters. This change in relationship between the viewer and the female newscaster presenting the news, represents a development in society and gender roles. 

One area of journalism and news reporting where women have started to become more noticeable is in sport. There are more women pundits, hosts, commentators and reporters involved in sport, particularly football than ever before with 33% of sport, arts and celebrity news stories coming from female journalists. Whilst positive steps have taken place for women reporters to enter the male sports industry, “progress towards gender equity is uneven” (Connell 2009; England 2010; Messner 2000, cited in Musto,2017, P. 574). This is because, although women are becoming more prominent in the male sports industry, they are still being personally hounded and attacked by audience members on social media who believe that women should not be reporting on the men’s game because they lack the same level of knowledge gained by an ex male sportsman who participated in that sport. For example, Karen Carney is an ex-women’s football player who played at the very top of the women’s’ game, gave an honest and insightful opinion when reporting on a Leeds United football match that was then mocked on social media which led to an abundance of sexist abuse, and therefore she disabled her account. This is one of the many reasons why women have struggled to break the mould and get involved in the male sport industry because of public perception and the way they are treated based on their own personal opinions. Another reason why women are struggling, is because of how female athletes are treated in the media in comparison to male athletes with sociologists believing that media coverage of sport portrays the male sport industry as superior to the female sport industry. Cheryl Cooky conducted a study about lead stories on a sport news show called ‘SportsCenter’ and she found out that “none of the news and highlights shows in our 2014 sample led with a women’s sports story” (Cooky,2015, P.268). This means out of the sample she analysed that women’s sporting achievements were being overlooked as the top lead story of the day. This is also backed up by the numerous televised male sports games shown per week and the lack of televised female sports. As well as the female sports industry seeming inferior, female professional athletes are treated differently within the media as well. Sport can be a powerful socialising instrument as female accomplishments are always being compared to men and what they have achieved. There has always been a need to compare each gender with one another because people believe it is the way towards gender equality but saying things like “she’s fast, but not as fast as a man” is belittling towards women’s triumphs and not a step in the right direction because men and women do not share the same physical traits however, their victories should be commended and celebrated in the same way and not always in comparison with each other.

nonetheless, there are things being done to change the perception of women in the media, in areas such as journalism, politics and sport. There have been adverts created to celebrate and empower women and their achievements. For example, within sport, coverage often has a focus on women’s physical traits, so on International Women’s day, lingerie brand ‘Agent Provocateur’ released a campaign called ‘Play to Win’, which is a female led ad campaign to promote female athletes and body confidence. Other ways that help in order for women perception in the media to change are empowering figures speaking out in a public setting. A famous actress Viola Davis used her platform as a celebrity during her Oscar acceptance speech, to speak out about the lack of opportunities for marginalised women to get the top roles within the media and more needs to be done so things can change. Media monitoring and networks for women is still imperative in order to keep track and see if the number of women given a chance to climb up through the ranks within news and journalism has risen or if society is continuing to toil with a gender divide.

To conclude, I believe women have been marginalised and discriminated against for a long time in getting the hard-hitting news stories and top jobs within the newsroom and journalism based solely on their gender. Although, monitoring institutions such as the GMMP show a rise in women’s roles within the media since their records began in 1995, they are being made to report on what is called ‘soft’ news such as celebrity and showbusiness because it is believed that women are better than men at bringing emotion into a piece of writing. Gender stereotypes such as this still exist today and many people are working hard by creating networks and awareness campaigns for aspiring female employees, to remove the injustices against women in order for gender equality to be achieved and soar to the top jobs within news and journalism.

Bibliography

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https://www.givemesport.com/1555358-womens-sport-what-it-means-to-see-athletes-in-the-agent-provocateur-advert

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Ross, K., Carter, C. and Ging, D. (2018) ‘Women, Men and News: “It’s Life Jim, But Not as We Know It”’, Journalism Studies, 19(6): 824-845. 

Tuchman, G. (1978.) “The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media.” In Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media. Tuchman, G., Daniels, A.K. & Benet, J. (Eds.) New York: Oxford University Press, pp.3-5.

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