Gendered evaluations of what is newsworthy

Advocates for greater media diversity often argue that if women had more power in the newsroom they would fundamentally change the way media represents women. However, “making a direct connection between journalists’ personal characteristics and the news they produce has been a tricky proposition” (Craft & Wanta, 2004, p. 125). Journalism is a profession in which individuals become highly socialized to the norms and routines of their newsrooms. The routines allow journalists work within the strict time constraints placed on their work, and journalists who master the routines “are valued for their professionalism” (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996, p. 106). Four studies found few differences between male and female editors’ perceptions of what makes stories newsworthy.

In 1949, David Manning White studied the decision making process of a male wire editor at a daily newspaper he dubbed Mr. Gates. Bleske (1991) updated White’s study by observing a female wire editor he called Ms. Gates. He found that despite 40 years of changes in the newspaper industry, Ms. Gates chose stories very similarly to Mr. Gates. Although Ms. Gates said an interview that she might be more likely to choose a story about women if space opened at the last minute, only 18 stories she selected in the week she was observed “were directly about women’s issues or featured women as the main news subject” (p. 94).

Splichal and Garrison (2000) conducted a large telephone survey of newspaper editors in both 1993 and 1999 and asked them their opinions of whether 15 separate aspects of the private lives of public officials, such as past drug use or extramarital affairs, should be considered newsworthy. The results yielded few statistically significant differences based on gender; however, there was one issue which female editors were far more likely to want to cover than men. Female editors were much more interested in pursuing a story centered on allegations of sexual harassment by the official than their male counterparts.

A second survey of 25 male and 16 female senior editors found no significant difference in their responses when they were asked to rank a list of hypothetical news stories by importance (Lavie and Lehman-Wilzig, 2003).

Only one study suggested significant differences in newspaper coverage based on editor gender. Craft and Wanta (2004) examined a week of local news coverage in 30 daily newspapers and found newspapers with a high percentage of women in managerial positions tended to cover news in a more positive light” (p. 135). They argued that although crime news was an important staple of all the newspapers they reviewed, the cliché “if it bleeds, it leads” was reflected far more often at male-run publications.

Taken as a group, these studies struggle to find evidence that female editors would publish different content from newspapers managed by men. Craft and Wanta (2004) argued that female editors have likely been socialized to accept existing news values, and that these results may also be understood in the context that “women who achieve management positions, as their male counterparts, have been rewarded for conformity in addition to achievement” (p. 127).

Leibler and Smith (1997) offered further insight into the findings from interviews they conducted with journalists who work at the network television level. Importantly, they found that women in those positions “did not perceive themselves as agents for change” (p. 66). Despite the power these women may have had to alter they way news was covered at the networks, Leibler and Smith found their approach to journalism was not significantly different from their male colleagues because they were not inclined to push for new policies or practices.

References

Bleske, G. L. (1991). Ms. Gates takes over: An updated version of a 1949 case study. Newspaper Research Journal, 12(4), 88-97.

Craft, S., & Wanta, W. (2004). Women in the newsroom: Influences of female editors and reporters on the news agenda. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), 124-138.

Lavie, A., & Lehman-Wilzig, S. (2003). Whose news? Does gender determine the editorial product? European Journal of Communication, 18(1), 5-29.

Leibler, C. M., & Smith, S. J. (1997). Tracking gender differences: A comparative analysis of network correspondents and their sources. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41(1), 58-68.

Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1996). Mediating the message: Theories of influences on mass media content, 2nd edition. New York: Longman Publishers USA.

Splichal, S., & Garrison, B. (2000). Covering public officials: Gender and privacy issue differences. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 3, 167-179.

Can female editors alter women’s presence in the news?

Female reporters have been found to use more female sources than their male counterparts (Armstrong, 2004), so it might logically follow that more female sources would be found in newspapers edited by women. However, two studies examined what happens when women call the shots in the newsroom and it appears that they have not been effective in increasing the number of women quoted.

Everbach (2005) conducted a content analysis of the sources featured in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune which had an all-female management team from 1999-2003. She examined 326 stories and found that the Herald-Tribune still used a greater percentage of male sources than female sources, despite the female editors. She also found that several of the women featured were only interviewed because of their connection to men and were described simply as the man’s wife, mother or girlfriend.

Greenwald (1990) also found that female editors did not lead to significantly more women being quoted in the business sections of the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch or the Louisville Courier-Journal.

One of the main arguments these scholars made for their findings was that female editors are not able to change whether women are sourced in stories because they “have not been able to make significant changes in male-dominated news values, so [newsrooms] continue to emphasize masculine definitions of news” (Eberbach, 2005, p. 20).

References

Armstrong, C. L. (2004). The influence of reporter gender on source selection in newspaper stories. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(4), 139-154.

Everbach, T. (2005). The ‘masculine’ content of a female-managed newspaper. Media Report to Women, 3(4), 14-22.

Greenwald, M. S. (1990). Gender representation in newspaper business sections. Newspaper Research Journal, 68-74.

Should female reporters seek to work for female editors?

Newsrooms are unfortunately not above office politics. The profession is competitive and reporters want their editors to view them as eager, competent, accurate and reliable. This is because it is the editor who ultimately decides which reporters get to cover certain stories or beats. Two studies suggest that female reporters will receive more equal treatment from a female editor.

Craft and Wanta (2004) examined reporting in 30 daily newspapers and they found that female reporters were more likely to cover the same types of issues as male reporters when their editor was a woman. In contrast, male-led newsrooms tended to assign male reporters to political beats and female reporters to education beats.

Greenwald’s (2004) analysis of the business sections of the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch and the Louisville Courier-Journal found that the only difference in the coverage by the two papers was that the Courier-Journal, which had a female business section editor, had more stories written by women than the Dispatch, whose business editor was a man. Even though the Dispatch employed more women, “the Courier-Journal ran five-and-a-half times more stories bylined by women” (p. 73).

These studies argue that female journalists would be well served to work for a female editor.

References

Craft, S., & Wanta, W. (2004). Women in the newsroom: Influences of female editors and reporters on the news agenda. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), 124-138.

Greenwald, M. S. (1990). Gender representation in newspaper business sections. Newspaper Research Journal, 68-74.

Facts about women in media management

According to the American Society of Newspaper Editors 2006 census, 38 percent of journalists working in daily newspapers are women; 65 percent of all supervisors are men. 

A 2002 study by the Pew Center for Civic Journalism and the American Press Institute found only one in five of the nation’s top female newspaper editors said they definitely wanted to move up in the news industry; 45 percent said they were looking to change newsrooms or leave the business entirely. 

The Poynter Institute found women are leaving newsrooms prematurely. As of 2002, more than half (54 percent) of women in newsrooms had fewer than five years experience. They also found that compared to the U.S. civilian work force in 2000, journalists are considerably less likely to be women (33 percent vs. 46.5 percent) and even less likely than the overall U.S. managerial and professional work force in 2000, which included 49.8 percent women. 

In 2007, the Radio and Television News Directors’ Association reported that women are 40 percent of the TV workforce and make up a quarter of TV news directors. They also reported that one in five of the nation’s top TV stations has a female news director. 

Women are fairing the least well in radio according to MIW Radio Group. Ninety percent of radio program directors are men and 85 percent of radio station general managers are men.

This research was originally complied by the McCormick Tribune New Media Women Entrepreneurs.