U.S. Women Surging Online, Closing Gender Gap

Women are no online in the same proportion as men and their participation is reshaping America's social landscape because women are using e-mail to enrich their important relationships and enlarge their networks. Contrary to reports suggesting that the Internet creates social isolation, this survey of the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that Internet users in general, and online women in particular, believe their use of e-mail has strengthened relationships and increased their contact with relatives and friends.

Gender No Longer A Barrier to Media Hiring, But Minority Status May Be

Race and ethnicity are still associated with lower levels of employment in journalism and mass communication, although gender no longer appears to be, according to researchers at the University of Georgia. They studies bachelor's degree recipients between 1987 and 1997, two thirds of whom were female and 15% of whom were classified as minorities. Women showed a slightly greater chance of employment in the field as men six to eight months after graduation than men. However, minorities reported lower levels of employment than non-minorities, with the worst years between 1994 and 1997.

Class-Action Status Assigned to Sex Discrimination Suit Against CBS TV Stations

Female technicians who sued five CBS owned-and-operated stations over sex discrimination in 1996 received class-action status. They complained of promotions denied; training not provided when asked for an then lack of it being used as an excuse to deny advancement; receivingving vulgar, derogatory comments. The suit now covers women who worked as technicians at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis or in the engineering and operation departments at stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Green Bay beginning in October 1993.

News Coverage of Military Women: More Than One Would Expect -- And Also Less

Throughout the 1990s, women, who represent a minority of the U.S. armed forces, received a disproportionate share of attention when national network newscasts reported on military personnel. Military women received approximately twice as much attention as their mere numbers warranted, both during peace and war. Women officers, especially, received considerable attention: their mistreatment and their failings received in-depth coverage. Sex dominated news of military personnel and women dominated the sex-related coverage, according to an analysis by ADT Research for Women, Men and Media.

Washington Post Ombudsman Chastises Reporter For Army Harassment Story

In an article larded with disapproving quotes from anonymous sources and faint praise from named one, the sexual harassment complaint brought by Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, U.S. Army, against a fellow general came to the attention of Washington Post readers on April 1, 2000. On April 23, Post ombudsman E. R. Shipp wrote a column on the article, which had drawn angry reader reaction. The article, by reporter Thomas Ricks, "should be required reading in every course on sexual harassment,' one reader wrote to Shipp. "This is exactly why women are hesitant to complain about sexual harassment, let alone file charges." Through Shipp's column, Ricks conceded that, had he to do it over again, he would "reconsider the tone of the story" and "provide more context."

Women Correspondents in Vietnam Recall Experiences on Anniversary of War's End

West Virginia University in April 2000 hosted a panel of female war correspondents who recalled their experiences as combat journalists, noting that they were fighting for equal job treatment at home at the same time they were risking their lives covering the war. The forum was taped by C-SPAN and aired at the end of that month. It was organized by Christine Martin, dean of the WVU School of Journalism and an expert on women journalists in Vietnam. On the panel were Jurate Kazickas, then a reporter for Look; Tad Baratimus, then at the Associated Press; Tracy Wood, UPI; Anne Morrissy Merick, then with ABC; Edie Lederer, now AP's chief correspondent at the United Nations; Laura Palmer, ABC; Denby Fawcett, then of the Honolulu Advertiser and now with KITV in Hawaii. The panel was moderated by Martha Teichner of CBS News.

'Real Women: The Hidden Sex' Reveals Bias in British Newspaper Photo journalismlism

An analysis conducted for Women in Journalism, an organization formed in England in 1995 to promote the the interests women working in print journalism, found that newspaper photography continues to slight women and fails to reflect the real-world circumstances of women's lives. Lengthy excerpts appear.

Analysis of British Radio Ads Finds Little Decline in Sex Stereotyping

A British research team found only a slight decline in sex stereotyping in analyzing radio commercials aired in 1986 and 1995. More females than males appeared, although males were more frequently in the central role by 8 to 1. By and large, women in the ads studied were making traditional pitches for products and rewards long associated with women, disputing the researchers' expectation that gender stereotyping would have declined.

After More Than Two Decades, Government Settles USIA/VOA Discrimination Suit

The U.S. federal government finally agreed, on March 22, 2000, to settle a class-action sex discrimination sinvolvingeing 1,100 women who said they had been denied promotions at the U.S. Information Agency and the Voice of America. The government agreed to pay $508 million -- the largest award to that date in an employment discrimination case -- to end a lawsuit filed 23 years earlier by Carolee Brady. Brady had applied for a job as a USIA magazine editor, only to be told that managers were seeking a man. Her suit later was broadened into a class-action suit including other reporters, editors, announcers, producers and technicians.

Plus News Briefs, People, Book Reviews and Commentary

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