Vol. 36, No. 1, Winter 2008

Gender Bias in Clinton Coverage:
Journalists, Bloggers React

The gender bias media story of 2007, continuing into the 2008 primary season, was coverage of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. As we publish our first issue of this election year, we’re including some excerpts from that discussion, in which writers discuss:

Clinton’s Cleavage
Clinton’’s Age
Clinton’s Endorsement
Clinton and Internet Misogyny
Clinton the Candidate

Survey: Women See Female Candidates
As Better Leaders, Targets for Negative Press

Most Americans say they’re gender-blind when it comes to voting in the 2008 presidential election, according to a survey commissioned by New York Women in Communications. Yet, when questioned about specifics, more women than men say they view female candidates as better leaders, more trustworthy and stronger on issues like health care and education.

2007 in Review: The Good, Bad,
Ugly and Just Plain Incredible

It’s useful to review gender-connected media events that got our attention last year. The exercise reminds us of news coverage priorities and patterns that should that should keep news consumers ever wary. In this issue we include a selection of moments from 2007 that gave us pause, from coverage of Nancy Pelosi’s swearing-in as the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to the media frenzy over model Anna Nicole Smith’s sudden death to Don Imus’s sick comments about “nappy headed hos” and the revival of the myth that refuses to die: feminists burning bras.

NOW Foundation’s Super Bowl Ad
Analysis: More Animals Than Women

The National Organization for Women, using volunteer monitors, rated this year’s Super Bowl ads for diversity, sexual exploitation, violence, and social responsibility. While NOW’s monitors said the 2008 ads weren’t as offensive as in years past, very few women were featured. Animals outnumbered women. Women were virtually non-existent in speaking roles “and the overwhelming tone exalted violence,” said one monitor. Often, women’s sexual availability to men was central to the theme of the sales pitch.

Research in Depth: Conceptualizing Strategies for Research and Activism: A Media Sociology Approach

Research in Depth: Sexual Objectification, Sports Programming and Music Television

Plus News Briefs!

Media Report to Women has hard copies of back issues dating to its founding in 1972. Indispensable for research!