Vol. 37, No. 1, Winter 2009

Covering Violence Against Women: Argentine
Journalists Offer 10 ‘Commandments’

The Argentine Network of Journalists for Non-Sexist Communication (PAR), representing more than 100 Argentine journalists, has drawn up a list of “10 commandments” for news coverage of gender-based crimes. The list was officially launched in conjunction with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Nov. 25, 2008.

Its aim is to combat "invisible discrimination, which is often unintentional, but occurs because it has become natural in daily life," Liliana Hendel, a psychologist and journalist for the subscription television news channel Todo Noticias, and one of the authors of the 10 commandments, or Decalogue, told Inter-Press Service.

Terminology can soften and seemingly excuse criminal behavior. For example, "Crimes of passion do not exist," says Item #3 of the Decalogue.

According to Hendel, "To call a murder a crime of passion is to presuppose that it is a consequence of love, because 'he loved her too much,' which distances it from the concept of crime."

Read more at http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44369

Five Sexist Trends the Advertising World
Just Can’t – or Won’t -- Abandon

In a frank, incisive analysis of advertising pitches, posted on Huffington Post Dec. 8, 2008, Alex Leo decries recurrent patterns of dark sexual imagery, “trends that won’t die despite our cultural outrage and personal boredom” – bondage, rape, girl-on-girl action, sluts and “cum shots.” Read Leo’s full analysis and reader comments at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-leo/five-trends-the-advertisi_b_149354.html

Where Have All the Teen Magazines Gone?
A Lament from Teen Voices Magazine

The leaders at Teen Voices magazine, a periodical offering an alternative to the “primp journalism” of commercial teen titles, is concerned about the decline in that genre:

“CosmoGirl is only the most recent in a string of failed teen magazines. CosmoGirl announced the end of its nine-year run in October 2008 and will be transitioning to an online version in January 2009. YM closed back in 2004, followed by Elle Girl and Teen People in 2006.

“You may be wondering why Teen Voices would grieve for these mainstream magazines, especially since so much of our content is geared away from what we sometimes call “primp journalism,” or endless stories on boys, gossip, and makeup. But freedom of the press means more than the freedom to report without government intervention; it’s also about maintaining and supporting a diverse, competitive media market. It’s about giving you options! So even though teen magazines may not always see eye-to-eye when it comes to what they publish, Teen Voices is all about giving teen girls lots of voices and forms of media in a world that too often silences or ignores them. “

National Women and Media Collection
Seeking Female Journalists’ Papers

Jean Gaddy Wilson, founder of New Directions for News at the University of Missouri, is chairing a new committee formed to call attention to the National Women and Media Collection and to urge women in journalism and journalism education to consider it as a repository for papers, records, notes and memorabilia that document their reportorial careers.

Collecting these records has taken on a new urgency. A growing concern has been that the digital world was creating so much impermanence that records would be harder to capture. That concern remains, but a more recent worry is that with the departure of so many seasoned journalists from the profession, as layoffs and buyouts significantly and swiftly reduce newsroom staff, valuable materials may be discarded in the process of clearing out and moving on.

On the committee with Jean are MRTW Editor Sheila Gibbons; Jo-Ann Huff Albers, retired director, School of Journalism and Broadcasting, Western Kentucky University; Laura Clark, vice president/corporate client strategy, Frank N Magid Associates; Glenda Crank Holste, public affairs specialist, Education Minnesota; Mindi Keirnan, former Knight Ridder executive; Vivian Vahlberg, managing director, Media Management Center, Northwestern University; David Moore, associate director, Western Historical Manuscripts, University of Missouri-Columbia, in which the National Women and Media Collection resides.

Indian Media Lambasted for Depiction of
Women; Women’s Groups Disagree on Approach

Alarmed over the rise in “obscene” depictions of women in Indian print and electronic media, including in television soaps, India’s National Commission for Women (NCW) wants a self-regulatory board established to curb such depictions and has demanded stronger enforcement of existing legislation regulating depiction of women and girls and harsher penalties for violators.

This call for adjustments to current law and more self-regulation by industry have sparked controversy and opposition from free-speech advocates. Since the 1986 enactment of the Indecent Representation of Women Act, there has also been criticism from feminists about the law’s potential to censor legitimate information and suppress depictions and discussions of women’s sexuality.

Departing Washington Post Ombudsman
Discusses Dearth of Females in News Coverage

In one of her last columns as ombudsman for The Washington Post (Dec. 14, 2008), veteran journalist Deborah Howell took on the topic of getting women into the news.

A study of two weeks’ worth of content by Post staffers revealed that “The Post, like most of the news media, is dominated by coverage of men from the A section to Business and Sports,” Howell wrote. “A group of women in the Post newsroom studied the issue this year and urged top male editors to pay more attention to issues that draw women, to look for female experts to be quoted, for female leaders to be featured, and for women to be in photos as much as men.”

Howell hints that the gender makeup of decision-makes has a role to play. “The newsroom, among professionals, is split bout 60% men and 40% women. There are many mid-level female editors, but only two near the top. And Page 1 decisions ultimately are made only by men.”

Research in Depth– Creation of a New "Empowered" Female Identity in WEtv’s Bridezillas by Erika Engstrom

Research in Depth– Gender Model or Job Model? New Perspectives on the Presence of Female Sources in Belgian TV News by Marc Hooghe and Knut de Swert

Commentary – No Excuses: Women at the Top Deserve Coverage by Sheila Gibbons, Editor

Plus News Briefs!

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