Womans In Society Essay, Research Paper
Womans in all callings are endeavoring to derive equality in
the work force today, and female telecasting intelligence ground tackles
are definitely portion of the battle. The route to telecasting
intelligence anchoring is a bouldery one, where merely a few adult females
survive and many fail. Where advancement was one time thought
to hold been made, there aren & # 8217 ; t many females acquiring in front
in the universe of telecasting intelligence. Today, there is a really
decelerate, if any, addition in the Numberss of adult females who win.
There are many inquiries environing the topic of
adult females in telecasting intelligence, and I will try to reply
relevant 1s in this paper. How have the adult females that
really do it to the top and win as anchorwomen,
done it? What does it take to do it? Why do those few
endure it/enjoy it? Why has it been and still is
hard for adult females? What are the outlooks of adult females
in the field, as opposed to the outlooks of work forces?
I am interested in this subject because I one time aspired
to go a telecasting broadcaster. I still have
inspiration in me, but non rather every bit much due to the
negative and detering facets I have heard about in
categories and in the media. I am non certain that I could be
happy in a calling such as this, and I know there are great
troubles in & # 8220 ; doing it & # 8221 ; in this profession. I have
read about the unbelievable aspiration of successful females
in telecasting intelligence, and it seems like it takes a particular
sort of passion to desire to maintain up in the concern.
I kept my inquiries in head when assemblage research
stuff. While concentrating on the cardinal inquiries, I was able
to happen information that led me to organize replies to them.
Christine Craft & # 8217 ; s life told of her single
experience of being fired on the footing of her expressions and
her age. I realized from reading her narrative that she had a
& # 8220 ; nose for intelligence & # 8221 ; , a passion for stating it to the universe,
and a alone flicker that made her a good journalist, yet
those qualities weren & # 8217 ; t plenty in her instance. She took that
passion and flicker, filed a sexual favoritism instance and
won.
Difficult News: Womans in Broadcast Journalism had a few
chapters that were relevant to today, and I could pull on
some information for my paper. However, much of the
information was historical and non helpful to replying my
inquiries.
Battling for News concentrated chiefly on print
news media. There was stuff about the first adult females in
broadcast medium in the 1950 & # 8217 ; s and how they were hired and
fired.
Television News Anchors had really helpful information,
in that there were single narratives from anchorwomen
stating of their experiences. This provided narratives about
the adult females who have succeeded within the field & # 8211 ; why and
how. There was a unit of ammunition table treatment conducted by The
New Mother Jones magazine with telecasting newswomen Linda
Ellerbee, Marion Goldin, Ann Rubenstein, and Meredith
Vieira. This provided first-hand sentiments about what these
adult females see traveling on in the concern.
Womans in Television News was published in 1976, and
therefore, much of the information was outdated. However, I
was able to utilize some quotation marks from newswomen about what they
believe 1 must make to & # 8220 ; do it & # 8221 ; in broadcast news media.
I besides found some interesting quotation marks from a former frailty
president of ABC News sing adult females in the industry.
Waiting for Prime Time had valuable information about
Marlene Sander & # 8217 ; s experience and sentiments of other
anchorwomen and work forces. It covered possibilities for the
hereafter of adult females in broadcast medium.
Pamela Creedon & # 8217 ; s two books were helpful in that they
discussed subjects of sexual favoritism in broadcast
news media and included a chapter by Marlene Sanders,
titled & # 8220 ; The Face of the Network News is Male. & # 8221 ; Here she
attempted to undertake some jobs adult females in telecasting intelligence
face: what the jobs are, why they exist, and a spot
about what needs to be done to bring around these jobs.
Liesbet van Zoonen & # 8217 ; s book included a chapter titled
& # 8220 ; Media Production and the Encoding of Gender. & # 8221 ; It showed
how society positions adult females in the media. The outlooks of
female anchorwomen in portion stems from the overall position of
adult females on telecasting & # 8211 ; whether it be in a film, music
picture, or soap opera. This was relevant to my paper in
replying the inquiry of why there are certain
outlooks of adult females in telecasting intelligence.
The text edition, Gender, Race and Class in Media had a
few chapters relevant to my paper. Larry Gross wrote a
chapter titled, & # 8220 ; Out of the Mainstream: Sexual Minorities
and Mass Media. & # 8221 ; He discussed assorted stereotypes in our
society that lead to stereotypes in all countries of our
lives.
I found some of my beginnings from Oasis, and besides used
a twosome of magazine articles that were relevant to the
topic. I focused on the inquiries that I wanted to
reply and drew points from the stuff that were
relevant and provided significant grounds to reply my
inquiries. I found that sentiments and ideas of adult females
who had been through the concern were most helpful.
There was one large restriction I faced if I wanted to
turn out that adult females in telecasting intelligence were discriminated
upon based on sex and age. Womans have been fired from
their ground tackle places, and it has seemed that the grounds
were because of expressions or aging. But this is difficult to
prove. In August, Carol Schrader, a adult female ground tackle from
KETV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska was asked to go forth. She said
that it was because of her age, although her foremans didn & # 8217 ; T
state that was the ground, saying that she wasn & # 8217 ; t making her
occupation. She was replace by a immature, light-haired adult female. Besides, when
Marlene Sanders was asked to go forth ABC, alternatively of stating
point-blank that she was excessively old, her foreman told her she
had outgrown the profession. Lynn Sherr of ABC News was
besides fired, and she believed it was because of her
visual aspect, as no 1 told her why she lost her occupation. It
International Relations and Security Network & # 8217 ; t a proved fact that every instance of a adult female acquiring
fired from their professions were fired because of their
age.
The figure of adult females intelligence ground tackles is scarce. Merely a
few win, and the ground for this is because what is
expected of them is much greater than what is expected of
work forces. Womans must work twice every bit difficult, be twice as
beautiful, and travel supra and beyond their abilities. The
telecasting broadcast medium concern is dominated by males,
and, in bend, males have the bulk of the power.
Positive stairss have been taken by adult females, but they are
still far from being equal in the field. Progresss are non
being made rapidly.
Some work forces in the universe of telecasting intelligence say that
adult females do hold a tougher clip. Larry King had this to state:
I know that if I were & # 8220 ; Loretta & # 8221 ; King alternatively of
& # 8220 ; Larry & # 8221 ; King I would be nowhere near where I am
today. I would non hold had a national wireless
talk show in 1978, a national overseas telegram show of my
ain, and a national column if I had started out
being the & # 8220 ; incorrect & # 8221 ; gender ( Craft 1988, p. 6 ) .
Al Ittleson, former vice-president of ABC News, says
that physical visual aspect is of import for both male and
female broadcasters, but emphasizes the importance of a
adult female broadcaster & # 8217 ; s expressions:
Womans are supposed to be beautiful. Peoples
expect what a adult female is supposed to look
like, so when they come to television-I haven & # 8217 ; T
seen an unattractive adult female on telecasting yet & # 8230 ;
In fact, they & # 8217 ; rhenium hired, I would state, likely
more because of the manner they look and their image
than because of their background. A adult male with a
really strong news media background and a adult male who
has broken narratives & # 8230 ; can acquire off with a small
spot of dowdiness. Men aren & # 8217 ; Ts supposed to be
attractive. Womans have a tougher clip ( Gelfman
1976, p. 53 ) .
Our society pins importance upon adult females & # 8217 ; s expressions.
They are required to retain qualities of muliebrity, yet
must besides be professional. new wave Zoonen explains the
different outlooks of work forces and adult females in news media,
stating, & # 8220 ; one must presume & # 8216 ; muliebrity & # 8217 ; as a characteristic of
female journalists and & # 8216 ; maleness & # 8217 ; as a different
feature of male journalists & # 8221 ; ( van Zoonen 1994, P.
63 ) . The images that are instilled in society are
carried over into all facets of life, and are prevailing
in telecasting intelligence.
Merely as our society is dominated by white, in-between and
upper-middle category males, it is so in most professions.
The work forces are the foremans in telecasting intelligence, and this has
made it hard for adult females to derive prestigiousness. The work forces
topographic point outlooks upon the adult females, and penalize them if they
aren & # 8217 ; t precisely what they want.
One good illustration of a instance where a adult female intelligence ground tackle
was fired on the footing of her expressions is Christine Craft.
Trade was discriminated against because of her sex,
visual aspect, and age. She was fired from KMBC in Kansas
City and told, & # 8220 ; You don & # 8217 ; t conceal your intelligence to do
cats look smarter & # 8221 ; ( Craft 1988, p. 66 ) . Along with this,
she was fired because she was & # 8220 ; excessively old, excessively unattractive,
and non sufficiently regardful to work forces & # 8221 ; ( Craft 1988, P.
66 ) . Because her foreman straight told her these things, she
felt she had been sexually discriminated against. She won
two tribunal instances, winning a sum of $ 600,000 in amendss.
Craft & # 8217 ; s instance opened the eyes of many anchorwomen, as
good as others in the media and elsewhere. Here is a
talented, competent broadcast journalist who was below the belt
treated and took a base. She remarks on her experience,
& # 8220 ; The work forces could be balding, jowly, bespectacled, even flesh out
and encased in double-knit, yet the adult females had to be
flawless. Furthermore, there was the outlook that I
should feign non to cognize certain facts merely because I
was a adult female & # 8221 ; ( Craft 1988, p. 10 ) .
What is upseting about Craft & # 8217 ; s instance is that it is
so blatantly obvious that she lost her occupation on the footing of
being a adult female, being excessively old, and non being reasonably plenty.
At the clip, out of all the ground tackles in the state who
were over 40, work forces made up 97 per centum of that,
with three per centum being adult females who did non look their age.
Marlene Sanders writes that what is seen in Craft & # 8217 ; s instance
is & # 8220 ; that furrows are & # 8217 ; flavoring & # 8217 ; in a adult male but
& # 8216 ; disqualification & # 8217 ; in a adult female, & # 8221 ; and that while this may
non be sexual favoritism, & # 8220 ; it is a sad statement about
how adult females are viewed in our society & # 8221 ; ( Sanders and Rock
1988, p. 148 ) .
The universe of telecasting intelligence is an unstable one,
where adult females take opportunities, non cognizing if or how long they
can boom in the concern. Marlene Sanders puts it
obviously, & # 8220 ; The message is clear ; we can all be replaced.
There are no warrants of length of service, and no obvious
finish where intelligence professionals can interpret their
experience and knowledge into new and hearty callings & # 8221 ;
( Sanders and Rock 1988, p. 205 ) .
Before she took the occupation at KMBC in Kansas City, Craft
was working at a smaller station in Santa Barbara, where
she had a positive experience. She says, & # 8220 ; I was content
to be in a topographic point where the accent was on acquiring the
narratives and acquiring them right. Merely one time did direction
reference my visual aspect, and that was to state me to draw my
hair back a spot & # 8221 ; ( Craft 1988, p. 28 ) .
Trade was attracted to the Kansas City station in a
larger market. However, she made clear before taking the
occupation that first and first she did non desire to alter her
visual aspect. They promised her it wouldn & # 8217 ; t go on, yet
within the first hebdomad they had a beauty adviser stacking
the make-up onto her face.
Sexual favoritism is apparent in telecasting intelligence.
KMBC practically begged Christine Craft to come to their
station. & # 8220 ; Womans are rewarded more than work forces for altering
intelligence stores frequently or for traveling to larger markets more
because of their gender than because of their journalistic
makings & # 8221 ; ( Creedon: Smith, Fredin, Ferguson Nardone
1993, p. 174 ) .
During the first test, a former intelligence manufacturer at
KMBC, Sherry Chastain, testified, stating that her foremans
& # 8220 ; instructed her to supervise the visual aspect of female
ground tackles and newsmans, but ne’er males & # 8230 ; the male
opposite number was bald with a bad toupee and thick spectacless,
yet nil was of all time mentioned about supervising his
visual aspect & # 8221 ; ( Craft 1988, p. 118 ) .
Diane Sawyer says that equal wage for equal work is a
more serious issue than aging on the air. The ground this
is such a hard challenge is because the figure of
adult females on a intelligence staff, every bit good as their ages can be easy
established. However, wages tend to be confidential,
and the dollar value of experience and other
makings are difficult to find. Therefore, while it
is possible that aging may non be a major issue for adult females
broadcasters ten old ages from now, equal wage for equal work
will most likely linger on ( Hosley and Yamada 1987, P.
152-154 ) .
Some of the incrimination for all anchorwomen & # 8217 ; s jobs were
voiced by misanthropic male telecasting executives in the
1980 & # 8217 ; s. Jon Katz, former executive manager of CBS
Morning News, Tells of another executive who had a manner of
make up one’s minding which adult females to interview for ground tackle places.
He would look at their tapes in the VCR for eight seconds
and he would inquire himself, & # 8220 ; Do I desire to sleep together them? & # 8221 ; This
was his footing in make up one’s minding who to engage ( Katz 1995, p. 158 ) .
Catherine Crier experienced touchs of sexism at CNN.
A former attorney and justice, she was criticized for being
merely another reasonably face come ining the field of
broadcast medium. She had no old experience in
news media, yet her political experience provided the
accomplishments and cognition necessary to win. She says,
& # 8220 ; Journalists couched their reaction in footings of experience
and background, but those same journalists have failed to
voice similar unfavorable judgments of Pierre Salinger of Bill
Moyers, two work forces who jumped from political relations into broadcast
intelligence & # 8221 ; ( Fensch: McHargue 1993, p. 182 ) . Crier says that
the additions of adult females in telecasting intelligence is being made really
easy, and that & # 8220 ; it is still a defeat for most
adult females & # 8221 ; ( Fensch: McHargue 1993, p. 184 ) .
Jane Pauley is an exclusion to the negativeness adult females
broadcasters frequently receive. The public loves her. & # 8220 ; It is
exactly because Pauley is so earthy and
easy-going that Americans loved waking up with her & # 8221 ;
( Fensch: Holloway 1993, p. 249 ) . She possesses the
feminine quality that is appealing to the mass audience.
She was replaced by Deborah Norville, a younger, blonder
adult female on the Today show, and viewing audiences were disquieted to see her
travel. Now she is a success on NBC Nightly News.
There are certain qualities a adult female needs to hold in
order to be able to last in telecasting intelligence. Ann
Rubenstein of NBC Nightly News says, & # 8220 ; You must truly
decide for yourself what you & # 8217 ; re traveling to make and non make.
And what monetary value you are willing to pay for whatever they & # 8217 ; rhenium
offering & # 8221 ; ( Fensch: Orenstein 1993, p. 128 ) .
Hard work and deathless aspiration are of import
qualities of anchorwomen. Mary Alice Williams, of CNN and
NBC, gave it her all the first twenty-four hours she went to work for
NBC, & # 8220 ; looking on camera, as an ground tackle of the eventide
intelligence interruptions, and by the terminal of her first three hebdomads she
had anchored every web intelligence show & # 8221 ; ( Fensch: White 1993,
p. 289 ) .
A passion for stating the intelligence is of import, and is
one ground why the successful adult females stay in the field.
Diane Sawyer explains,
& # 8220 ; I truly love what you learn every twenty-four hours in the
concern. I love the breathless manner we walk
into people & # 8217 ; s lives and inquire them anything we
privation and so go forth. For a minute you have
available to you the whole existence of a individual & # 8217 ; s
life-the hurting and the agony and the joy and
the battle. You can larn from it and take
it with you and so come back the following twenty-four hours
with person else. That & # 8217 ; s what I like to make & # 8221 ;
( Fensch: Zoglin 1993, p. 278 ) .
Sawyer & # 8217 ; s ceaseless aspiration carried her from intelligence
letter writer to web star. While working for CBS
Morning News and covering the dialogues to liberate Iran
sureties, she & # 8220 ; would kip all dark on two secretarial
chairs so I could acquire up at 4 ante meridiem, stalk the halls and
see what I could acquire & # 8221 ; ( Fensch: Zoglin 1993, p. 284 ) .
The will to digest any obstructions and believe in
themselves keeps the few successful anchorwomen traveling.
Sally Quinn, CBS anchorwoman says
You & # 8217 ; ve got to hold assurance. If I didn & # 8217 ; T
hold an tremendous sum of assurance, I
would hold been destroyed by this whole
experience & # 8230 ; You can & # 8217 ; t larn to be a perfect
anchorwoman in one twenty-four hours, and I knew that I wasn & # 8217 ; T
traveling to be perfect and that people were merely
traveling to crucify me because I wasn & # 8217 ; t perfect & # 8221 ;
( Gelfman 1976, p. 75 ) .
Michael Gartner, NBC News president, explains what is
of import in telecasting intelligence grounding. & # 8220 ; You have to hold
a particular combination of individual to be the focal point of a
successful show. You have to be a good journalist, and
you have to be able to present the message-which a print
individual doesn & # 8217 ; Ts have to do-in individual, in person & # 8217 ; s house & # 8221 ;
( Fensch: Zoglin 1993, p. 281 ) .
Barbara Walters is an exclusion to the regulation that
older adult females do non win in telecasting intelligence. She is a
successful telecasting newswoman who is good over the age
of 40. Even she had to take the difficult route to do it to
the top, get downing out as a secretary at a little
advertisement bureau, working in public dealingss and so
in public personal businesss for CBS. Walters recognizes the tough
times adult females in telecasting intelligence face. She says
You have to work harder. It & # 8217 ; s been said before,
but it & # 8217 ; s true. You are taken less earnestly and
you are really frequently scorned by your ain colleagues
& # 8230 ; it & # 8217 ; s a tougher occupation for a adult female because a adult female
has to be terribly good. She truly does. A adult male
can be much more excused & # 8221 ; ( Gelfman 1976, p. 88 ) .
Womans are non lifting to the top rapidly in telecasting
intelligence, although there is slow betterment, and anchorpersons
say they are all right with the thought of adult females at the top.
Walter Cronkite says of a adult female ground tackle in the hereafter,
& # 8220 ; Fine, why non? I think it likely & # 8230 ; I think by the clip
the following alteration comes, the following coevals of ground tackle
people, I would believe that the barrier would be down and
that adult females would hold every bit good a opportunity as work forces & # 8221 ; ( Drum sanders
and Rock 1988, p. 198 ) .
Yet there are still barriers standing in the manner of
adult females endeavoring to do it to the top. They begin at
low-level occupations, such as research workers and logistics individuals
and hope to take the right waies to acquire to the top of the
ladder. Sanders writes, & # 8220 ; For old ages there were few adult females
above the degree of research worker. While that has changed,
the sum of defeat for those who do non travel in front
has driven many people out of the concern wholly & # 8221 ;
( Sanders and Rock 1988, p. 198-199 ) .
Lesley Stahl of CBS News points out that anchorwomen
are most frequently workaholics, with a ceaseless thrust to
make their occupation. She says
It & # 8217 ; s one ground we do win in this concern.
We merely give it everything & # 8230 ; Maybe it & # 8217 ; s because
our sort of personalities are attracted to this
industry, compulsive, deadline-oriented people
who keep forcing ourselves to see how much work
we can make. We love work & # 8230 ; It & # 8217 ; s non merely a symptom
in the early phase, it goes on & # 8221 ; ( Sanders and Rock
1988, p. 81 ) .
Society & # 8217 ; s outlooks of female intelligence ground tackles is really
much like that of any adult female in a powerful and successful
calling. While the adult females must portray a glamourous, yet
friendly image, outlooks of work forces in the concern are
non near every bit high. Jon Katz says in his article
The work forces who anchor today expression, frock, and act
about exactly the same manner they did 50 old ages
ago. They merely have to reflect a individual trait
to succeed-gravitas. They wouldn & # 8217 ; t dream of
being confidant, glamourous, or coy. Nor would
anyone expect that of them & # 8221 ; ( Katz 1995, p. 162 ) .
Katz goes on to state that work forces who make it in the
concern normally ne’er fail. He says of anchorpersons, & # 8220 ; Old
ground tackles ne’er fade off. And they can & # 8217 ; t be killed by
person means & # 8221 ; ( Katz 1995, p. 164 ) .
Sadly, forward motions aren & # 8217 ; t evident today by
adult females in telecasting intelligence. Forty old ages ago, a female
deriving the anchor place on the eventide intelligence was a spring
frontward. Today & # 8220 ; it feels more like a measure rearward, an
effort to stuff complete, modern-day adult females into an
ill-fitting straitjacket & # 8221 ; ( Katz 1995, p. 164 ) .
It is evident that adult females intelligence ground tackles face many more
battles than work forces in the field. It takes a unique
single to contend through those battles and strive for
what they want most: to relay intelligence throughout the universe.
Equality with work forces is far from being reached, but a few
females have stood their land and hopefully made a
difference for others that follow. If people open their
eyes and recognize there are plentifulness of adult females who are merely
as, if non more, competent than work forces at keeping an ground tackle
place, adult females could derive regard within the field. For
now, the few adult females who find success and are willing to
endure the adversities that come along will probably last
in the concern, at least until age hinders their physical
visual aspect.
