A Long Way to Equality: Women on Television News

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Igleheart_RoyalRoad_2_2018_A.pdf (547.59 KB)

Date

2018

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Department of English and Writing, The University of Tampa

Abstract

“Where can you find a morning news anchor who’s provocative, super smart and just a little sexy?” asked the voiceover in an ad about Paula Zahn, the then host of CNN’s American Morning. The ad, released in 2002, was quickly pulled from television, but its opening line echoes a major problem in thebroadcast news industry. News channels, without stating it as explicitly as CNN, still often portray their female anchors and reporters as “just a little sexy.” These channels rarely portray men this way. Hiring women in broadcast news is still a relatively new practice, and these women face various obstacles, including stations’ sexualization of them, that men do not face. Barbara Walters, the first female host of a late-night news program, wasn’t awarded her position until 1976. “The so-called hard news, a woman couldn’t do it. The audience wouldn’t accept her voice,” Walters told Oprah Winfrey. “She couldn’t go into the war zones; she couldn’t ask the tough questions” (Capretto). Many researchers have addressed the topic of barriers forwomen in broadcast news, but my research examines several different ways that these women face sexism at once, drawing a conclusion from several studies about the effect that these combined aspects have on the audience. This paper argues that the underrepresentation of female reporters overall and in certain types of stories, the lack of women as expert sources and the value that employers and the audience place on the appearance of female reporters on American television news convey to the audience that women are not as authoritative as men. This portrayal could be limiting the job opportunities for women, both in broadcast news and other fields, by reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes. On average, networks

Description

Recommended Citation: Igleheart, Arden. “A Long Way to Equality: Women on Television News.” Royal Road, 2018. https://doi.org/10.48497/4DXE-ZY97.

Keywords

Television news anchors, Television broadcasting of news, Women, Broadcast News Networks

Citation

Igleheart, Arden. “A Long Way to Equality: Women on Television News.” Royal Road, 2018. https://doi.org/10.48497/4DXE-ZY97.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11868/404

DOI

https://doi.org/10.48497/4dxe-zy97

Collections

Volume 2: Spring 2018