Why Women Leave Journalism
Content
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Women Leave Journalism For Better Pay, Work Conditions
by Tracy Everbach and Craig Flournoy
Women leave full-time news jobs because of a lack of opportunity, low salaries, lack of mentors, inflexible work schedules and differing perspectives on news from male-oriented newsrooms.
ince the 1980s, women have composed a majority of undergraduate students in university journalism and mass communication programs, and their numbers are growing. In their most recent survey of journalism and mass communication college students, Becker and his co-authors reported that nearly two-thirds of undergraduates and master’s students are women.1 Yet the ratio of women to men working in professional newsrooms remains the reverse of college classrooms. The American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in its 2005 annual survey that only 37 percent of newsroom employees are women.2 The most recent American Journalist Survey also reported that one-third of fulltime journalists are women, a percentage that has remained the same since the early 1980s.3 The same survey noted that women constitute the majority of journalists with fewer than five years of work experience—54.2 percent.4 This is the first time in the ongoing survey that women have outnumbered men in that category. Obviously, something is driving women from newsrooms. Therefore, the research question was: Why do some women who study journalism in college later decide to leave full-time newsroom jobs? Various studies have documented factors that could be driving women out of the journalism workforce, including low pay, family concerns, unusual and irregular working hours and a glass ceiling in newsrooms.5 Other research has shown that male and female journalists define journalism differently but that in
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Everbach is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and the Mayborn Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas. Flournoy is an assistant professor in the Division of Journalism at Southern Methodist University.
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 53 most newsrooms, men construct hierarchical and bureaucratic structures to enforce their definition of news.6 Women’s journalistic work goals sometimes conflict with masculine ideals of important journalism7 and female journalists often feel pressure to prove themselves as “one of the men,” even though they may have different social and personal concerns than do men and different definitions of what is news.8 It is crucial that both journalism educators and newsroom managers understand why women leave newsrooms so they can find ways to retain them. The trend of female students dominating journalism programs shows few signs of diminishing. In 2004, women received 65.4 percent of journalism bachelor’s degrees, the highest percentage since the end of World War II.9 But many female journalism graduates eventually forsake the profession. Professors must understand why women leave newsroom jobs so they can help their students succeed as journalists. Therefore, the reasons behind female journalists’ exits from newsrooms were studied by talking to the sources—the women who left.
Women’s Journalistic Standpoint
During the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, women believed and were told that they could have successful careers and families, as many men do. By the 1990s, many women were questioning this premise, saying women had different concerns and responsibilities than did men. During the third wave of feminism, cultural feminists maintained women were a separate cultural group from men, with different values and practices. Women have their own “standpoint” in a patriarchal society that emphasizes male needs, desires and accomplishments.10 In the male-dominated world of journalism, women’s needs often conflict with the demands of the newsroom. Newsrooms have hierarchical and bureaucratic structures constructed historically by male desires, needs and definitions of news.11 Female journalists have reported different conceptions and constructions of news than have men, a phenomenon Van Zoonen calls a “gendered nature of journalism.”12 Female and male journalists perceive journalism differently; that is, they consider different topics, angles, sources and ethics to be important. For example, socalled “masculine” journalism focuses on politics, crime, finance, education and upbringing, while “feminine” journalism involves human interest, consumer news, culture and social policy.13 Achievement in many journalism jobs is defined by production, which sometimes conflicts with women’s ethical commitments to serve their audiences and personal responsibilities at home. Women have long struggled to show their commitment to their jobs while also doing meaningful work, goals that sometimes conflict with masculine ideals of important journalism.14 Female journalists also perceive newsrooms as malebiased workplaces, as Walsh-Childers, Chance and Herzog showed in a survey of 277 female reporters, editors and graphic artists at 120 small, medium and
54 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 large newspapers.15 One in four of the women said discrimination was a significant or very serious problem.
Method
The researchers conducted individual, in-depth, standardized-question interviews16 with 17 women who had worked full-time in journalism after college and subsequently decided to leave their jobs. The interview method was chosen because it provides rich detail and description. Although only 17 women were interviewed, the sample members’ demographics varied greatly. Their journalism experience ranged from one year to 30 years, and their years of birth ranged from 1949 to 1982. Thirteen of the women were Caucasian, four were Asian and one was black. Nine were married and eight were unmarried. Nine had children and eight did not (although the married women not always were the same women who had children). The women lived throughout the United States.17 Because of the diversity of the sample chosen, 17 in-depth interviews substantiated enough data for a clear picture of women who left journalism jobs. In telephone interviews of one hour to two hours during 2004 and 2005, the respondents were asked a consistent list of questions. Many of the respondents talked about subjects beyond the set of questions, and follow-up questions based on these topics were asked. Most questions sparked discussion—a “conversation with a purpose”—as described by Lindlof.18 Interview subjects were located through snowball sampling, which was chosen because it provided a wide cross-section of women.19 The women were promised anonymity in compliance with human subjects approval from the University of North Texas Institutional Review Board and the Southern Methodist University Institutional Review Board. To protect their identities, respondents were coded FJ1 through FJ17 (Female Journalist 1 through Female Journalist 17). After completing the interviews, characteristics of each respondent were identified and the data were analyzed. Transcripts of the interviews were examined and patterns and themes were identified, employing inductive reasoning to find answers to the research question.20
Results
Several respondents expressed passion for journalism but said they were disappointed by newsroom cultures that failed to accommodate their needs and desires. They said they enjoyed journalism as a career but the hours and demands of the newsroom did not fit well within their lives. “It’s very difficult to lead a balanced life in the newspaper business, especially in a competitive market,” said FJ2.21 “You were supposed to give your blood to the news, and after 10 years of that, it took its toll.” A cultural shift in
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 55 newsrooms allowing flexibility in work schedules might help retain more women, but managers resist such changes with “a subtle, dismissive attitude, more than anything else, that I think finally pushes women out the door.”22 FJ9 said newspaper work hours became incompatible with her family responsibilities.23 “It was an intolerable work environment. I had a 2-year-old child who I rarely saw because he was in day care.”24 When FJ9’s father offered her a job in the family business with more stable hours, she accepted. FJ4 left the newsroom because she wanted to have a child: The intensity I used in my job, I didn’t think it was compatible with having a family. Whatever my vision was of being a wife and mother wasn’t compatible with my vision of being a newspaper reporter. I think of the types of women in newsrooms, and there weren’t a lot who were happily married and had children.25 FJ16 left to stay home with young children. There are days when I think I’ve got the best of all possible worlds because I get to make my own schedule and do what I want to do. However, when you decide you want to ramp down your professional life in favor of family, you don’t have the same challenges.26 Indeed, several women said their new professional roles did not ignite the same passion they felt for journalism. FJ13 said that while her newspaper company was skimpy on resources and pay, the higher-paying advertising agency where she now works is “too fake, too commercial” compared with journalism.27 FJ13 said she might eventually return to a newsroom. FJ7 said the culture of her newsroom made her nervous—the “unpredictability of it, the long hours, not knowing each day what you’re getting into.”28 She now works in corporate public relations, which is more predictable, but “I don’t know that I have a passion for this the way that I hoped to have.”29 FJ11 reported that she became disillusioned with newspapers after recognizing managers singled out reporters, most of them male, anointing them “golden boys” and giving them choice assignments. Many of the editors are men and it’s the human condition to relate to people who are most like you. The only people the top editor would come out into the newsroom to talk to about sports and other stuff like that were the ones considered the good reporters because they were brash and had bravado. My reaction to that is that the reporters with brash and bravado were the ones I trusted the least.30
56 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 Now a city spokeswoman, FJ11 said public relations “is not something I am passionate about. But journalism careers are not conducive to having a balanced or family life.”31 Some respondents said newsroom demands were unreasonable. FJ2 said most newspaper managers look down upon reporters and editors who choose to put their families first. “And usually, that’s women.”32 Her current part-time job in public relations allows her to have a more balanced life with her child. “Now I see all kinds of things that people do. I always wondered what people did during the day.”33 After a decade in newsrooms she became “jaded.”34 FJ8 said the grind of newspaper reporting was depressing. “I had no life. All I did was work.”35 After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, she heard people saying, “He died doing what he loved.” It was then, she said, that “I realized I was not doing that.”36 FJ17 said that after 10 years in newsrooms . . . I realized that in journalism you spend a lot of time watching what other people do and writing about it. You don’t do anything yourself. I just got tired of watching the world go by.37 She took a pay cut to become a teacher. Other respondents, especially those in big cities with high costs of living, said low journalism salaries drove them out of newsrooms. They said their pay did not match the work they were doing, and they could not afford the kind of lives they wanted. FJ12, the primary breadwinner in a family of five, called journalism “the last legalized form of slavery”38 because of its high demands and low pay. She said she earns a much higher salary in public relations and advertising than in journalism. FJ13 found newspaper salaries insulting and now receives higher pay in advertising.39 The guy emptying my garbage can was making the same amount I was. I went to school, and I was educating a whole population of people, and I was making as much as my garbage man.40 FJ6 changed her career from journalism to advertising because of the salary difference.41 People can barely make a living. As an advertising copywriter I am making at least 30 percent more than I made as a journalist, doing basically the same thing.42 Some respondents said the fact that male co-workers often earned higher salaries contributed to their disillusionment with journalism, including FJ8, now a journalism professor. At one job, she discovered that a male colleague in the same position earned $10,000 a year more than she.43 FJ5, a former radio
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 57 reporter and now a lawyer, said she “was so disappointed by the treatment of women in journalism and the pay.”44 She said discrepancies will not change until women own and operate media companies. FJ9 said her employers “didn’t pay you enough to live well in southern California. You couldn’t afford to buy a house or have a child.”45 She said she saw many women leave the business because “just like men, we didn’t want to stay here and eat dirt for the rest of our lives.”46 FJ9 also noted financial concerns are a major reason women with children leave newspapers: Kids cost money, journalism jobs pay you crap, and for the same economic reasons as men, we want to make more money and work fewer hours.47 FJ4 said she became discouraged when she realized young male journalists had advantages over female journalists. A lot of the young female reporters were lowballed. Young male reporters were consistently offered better jobs and pay than young women. Maybe because the bosses saw them as an investment—they knew a lot of women would leave.48 Several respondents recounted incidents of discrimination and sexism from both male and female managers. FJ1 said managers pushed her to use her looks and her racial background to advance rather than her talent and intelligence.
The women in this study perceived that they were part of a subordinate class at the maledominated news organizations where they worked.
Many of my friends in journalism have achieved success because the first doors that opened for them were purely based on connections and not merit.49 FJ6, who worked in the male-dominated realm of business reporting, said most colleagues’ attitudes about the job were competitive, which “seems to me very male.”50 Men tended to be dismissive of women in the industry. “I used to deal with these white guys in chinos and they used to talk really slowly to me,” although she holds two degrees from Harvard.51 FJ8 pointed out that the content of newspapers reflects the . . .
58 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 typical newspaper reporter and editor—white, middle-aged, middle-class men. It skews the worldview. Go to children and family coverage. They don’t understand issues; they only react as opposed to examining poverty, drug addiction and all the things that lead to abuse. It’s not all neat and tied up; it’s messy and complicated. The public is not getting an accurate reflection of what’s going on.52 Some respondents said an emphasis on male news values prevented them from reporting news they believed was important. FJ14 said she became discouraged because she wanted to change the world through her reporting and realized that would not happen. As an Asian American, she wanted to explain the Vietnamese community in depth to newspaper readers, but quickly learned, I was never going to write the kinds of stories I wanted. They weren’t interested in in-depth psychological stories; they were interested in quick-hit gang stories.53 FJ8 noted that women generally see more detail and complexity in stories than men. There is less nuance in the news, and women are very good at nuance and gray areas. I think it becomes more cut and dry with men, particularly white, middleclass suburban men.54 FJ3 said bluntly: “Men love to talk about themselves and other men.”55 Mentoring, or the lack thereof, was a problem for several of the respondents. FJ17 noted that at her newspaper, I saw young, hungry women and nobody was there to help them. I felt I had to prove myself all over again. As a young woman, that could push you out. I think it might be easier for young men.56 FJ9 said women who worked at the higher levels at her newspaper did not help their counterparts in lower positions. She attributed this to behavior learned on elementary school playgrounds, where more popular girls shunned less popular ones. “Alpha females have not helped lesser-ranking females. They oppress them.”57 Noted FJ15, Women are really abysmal mentors of other women. I don’t know what is going on there. Women need to take a role in mentoring other women.58
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Discussion and Recommendations
This study sought to uncover some reasons—why women who graduated with degrees in journalism eventually left full-time journalism jobs. It provides a window into the experiences and observations of 17 women who excelled in journalism school but found the real world of journalism discouraging. The women in this study perceived that they were part of a subordinate class at the male-dominated news organizations where they worked. The reasons were many—lack of opportunity, low salary, lack of mentors, unwillingness by management to offer flexible work schedules. The women reported managers did not recognize their perspectives as significant or important to the organization. The patriarchal aspects of newsrooms did little to encourage them or accommodate their needs, wants or desires. This was particularly discouraging for young journalists who entered the profession with high expectations. Women who had decided to go into journalism in college to change the world found they could not change the male-oriented culture of most newsrooms. Several of the women said the work was no longer meaningful, in part because their definitions of news differed from those of male managers, similar to Van Zoonen’s “gendered nature of news” concept. Other women reported editors and managers did not support the types of stories they wanted to write because they saw news from a “male” perspective. Several reported editors wanted them to write reactive stories rather than looking in-depth into issues they felt were important. They also felt male editors did not allow them to report news from a women’s perspective that might allow different approaches than traditional news values dictate. Paula Skidmore has noted a “structured inequality” in the news process in which “women journalists are made to feel that their concerns…are not what is required of a true news professional.”59 Certainly some male journalists encounter similar problems, but young men are not leaving the business in the same numbers as young women. Some married women might have more flexibility than unmarried women to leave jobs, especially if their husbands or partners have well-paying jobs. The unmarried women in this study expressed particular exasperation at the lack of respect, encouragement and compensation they received on the job. They left newsrooms for positions that offered better pay, more flexible schedules and greater respect. The results here could be interpreted as a warning to news organizations as they face shrinking profits and decreasing readership. If newspapers want to appeal to a broader audience and stay healthy financially, they must change their business strategies. One way to do this is to appeal to more female readers. Female journalists might have a better understanding of what it takes to reach these readers. For this reason alone, newspapers need to do a better job of persuading women to stay in newsrooms. The problems cited by the women interviewed here can be addressed by news organizations. In the 21st century, companies can provide arrangements
60 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 like job sharing, part-time work, telecommuting and on-site day care to accommodate families. They can provide equitable pay and mentoring programs. They can allow women freedom to write about topics they think are interesting and important. These changes will not be easy. They will require newsroom managers to rethink many of their fundamental approaches. But these changes are necessary if newspaper companies want to retain women in newsrooms, according to the results of the interviews. In addition, it is essential that journalism educators inform female students of problems they may face in newsrooms so they can help prepare their students. With knowledge, female students can arm themselves to face potential obstacles and male students can better understand the needs of female colleagues. The researchers’ classrooms have employed new curriculum elements, including information on sex discrimination and the masculine natures of many newsrooms. They have also introduced strategies on salary and promotion negotiation, suggested young women seek out mentors and provided information on balancing family and work responsibilities. This study has limitations. First, 17 subjects is a relatively small study sample, and it is possible the women in this study are simply a group of disgruntled journalists. However, the researchers are confident the themes expressed by the women ring true among female journalists. Second, the pool of respondents could have been more diverse. The interview subjects were primarily Caucasian, four were Asian and one was black. None was Hispanic or Native American. In the future, researchers could cast a wider net and obtain a larger sample by employing a survey method. Third, this study looked only at women who had quit full-time jobs in newsrooms, not at women who stayed in newsrooms; the latter group could provide different perspectives. Still, these results echo the discouragement women journalists reported in the 1996 Walsh-Childers et al. study on discrimination. Taken together, the costs of lost or burned-out employees, wasted talent, lost readers, and, in some cases, the legal fees and other costs associated with sex discrimination lawsuits must be formidable. As newsroom budgets tighten, it seems increasingly obvious that sex discrimination is a cost newspapers can no longer afford.60 Results suggest that many newsroom managers have yet to grasp the impact of sex discrimination.
Notes 1. Lee B. Becker, Tudor Vlad, Amy Jo Coffey and Maria Tucker, “Enrollment Growth Rate Slows; Field’s Focus on Undergraduate Education at Odds with University Setting,” Journalism and Mass Communication Educator 60, no. 3 (fall 2005): 286-314. 2. “ASNE annual survey, 2005” ASNE.org, <http://www.asne.org> (16 April 2005).
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3. David Weaver et al., “The American Journalist Survey,”Poynter.org, 2003, <http:// www.poynter.org> (18 July 2005). 4. Weaver et al., “The American Journalist Survey.” 5. Regarding pay, a 1996 survey found that nearly half of female journalists reported lower salaries than male journalists with equivalent jobs. See Kim Walsh-Childers, Jean Chance and Kristin Herzog, “Women journalists report discrimination in newsrooms,” Newspaper Research Journal 17, no. 3/4 (summer/fall 1996): 86-88. As for family concerns, research by the Newspaper Association of America supports the premise that the journalism workplace “is not conducive to a good work/family balance.” See Mary Arnold Hemlinger and Cynthia C. Linton, “Women in Newspapers 2002: Still Fighting an Uphill Battle,” Media Management Center at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.: Media Management Center, 2002), 27. Regarding the glass ceiling, statistics published in 2005 showed that men occupy 65.2 percent of all supervisory positions at daily newspapers, 78.7 percent of news directors at U.S. television stations and 75.3 percent of news directors at radio stations. See “ASNE annual survey, 2005,” and Bob Papper, “Running in Place: Minorities and women in television see little change, while minorities fare worse in radio,” RadioTelevision News Directors Association Communicator, July/August 2005, 28. 6. Linda Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” in News, Gender and Power, eds. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allen (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 146-159; Lisbet Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls? The Changing Gender of Journalism,” in News, Gender and Power, eds. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allen (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 36. 7. Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” 158; Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 3637. 8. Paula Skidmore, “Gender and the Agenda,” in News, Gender and Power, eds. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allen (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 207-209. 9. Lee B. Becker, Tudor Vlad, Heidi Hennink-Kaminski and Amy Jo Coffey, “2003-2004 Enrollment Report: Growth in Field Keeps Up with Trend,” Journalism & Mass Communication Editor 59, no. 3 (fall 2004): 289. 10. Josephine Donovan, Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions of American Feminism (New York: Continuum, 1992), 187-190. 11. Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” 146-159. 12. Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 36. 13. Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 36. 14. Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” 158; Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 3637. 15. Walsh-Childers, Chance and Herzog, “Women Journalists Report Discrimination in Newsrooms,” 68-87. 16. Thomas R. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995), 163-196. 17. The interview subjects lived in the following cities: New York; Deptford, N.J.; Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Carrollton, Texas; Lakewood, Colo.; Phoenix; Burbank, Calif.; and South Pasadena, Calif. 18. Lindlof Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 164. 19. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 127-128. 20. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 197-243. 21. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. Born 1973, Caucasian, married, one child. Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She worked for 10 years as a reporter at the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W.Va., USA Today, the News-Press in Fort Meyers, Fla., and the South Florida Sun Sentinel. At the time of study, she worked part-time for the Sun Sentinel. 22. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005.
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23. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. A single mother of two, she was born in 1960 and is Chinese-American. Bachelor’s degree in environmental biology from the University of California at Berkeley and master’s degree from the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She worked as an intern at the San Jose Mercury News and as a reporter for the Oakland Tribune and Orange County Register. At the time of study, she worked in her family’s business, architecture and property management. 24. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 25. Female Journalist 4, interview by author, 8 January 2005. Born in 1972, is Caucasian and married with one child. Bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communication from University of California-Santa Barbara and master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University. She worked for the UC-Santa Barbara newspaper and radio station in college and interned at the Syracuse HeraldJournal during graduate school. She worked at The Los Angeles Times, two community newspapers in California and the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif. At the time of study, she worked in public relations for a Catholic university in southern California. 26. Female Journalist 16, interview by author, 22 June 2005. Born in 1965, Caucasian and married with two children. Bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She worked as a reporter for college newspaper, The Daily Texan, and interned at the Houston Chronicle. She worked as a reporter for the Amarillo Globe News, Texas Lawyer in Dallas and Legal Times in Washington, D.C. She also worked for a public relations firm representing lawyers. At the time of study was a full-time mother doing freelance public relations work in Dallas. 27. Female Journalist 13, interview by author, 4 January 2005. Born in 1979, Caucasian and single with no children. Bachelor’s degree in communication from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisc. During college and after graduation, worked as an editorial assistant for the Milwaukee JournalSentinel. She later moved to Texas and worked as a reporter for D/FW Community Newspapers. At the time of study, she worked in advertising in Chicago. 28. Female Journalist 7, interview by author, 7 January 2005. Born in 1977, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degrees in communication and political science from Northwestern University and master’s degree in journalism from Medill School of Journalism. Interned at the Courier and Press in Evansville, Ind., and worked as a reporter for the Quincy (Mass.) Patriot-Ledger in Washington, D.C., bureau. At the time of study, she worked in public relations for Pepsico in Chicago. 29. Female Journalist 7, interview by author, 7 January 2005. 30. Female Journalist 11, interview by author, 11 June 2005. Born in 1962, Caucasian, married with one child. Bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Missouri School of Journalism. She worked in computerassisted reporting at USA Today, as a reporter in Pullman, Wash., for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in Colorado and the Denver Post. At the time of study, she was a public information officer for the city of Lakewood, Colo. 31. Female Journalist 11, interview by author, 11 June 2005. 32. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. 33. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. 34. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. 35. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. Born in 1967, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in communication from Villanova University and master’s degree in journalism through the Casey Journalism Fellowship at the University of Maryland. She worked for her college newspaper, then in entertainment public relations. Later she worked as a stringer for Phildelphia Inquirer, a reporter for the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina, Daytona Beach News Journal, the Orlando Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. At the time of study she worked as a journalism professor in Deptford, N.J. 36. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005.
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37. Female Journalist 17, interview by author, 24 June 2005. Born in 1964, African American, married and two children. Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Delaware, where she worked for her college newspaper and radio station. She was a traffic and overnight reporter for a radio station in Philadelphia, reporter for the Des Moines Register in Iowa and a reporter for The Dallas Morning News. She then worked as a schoolteacher in Dallas. At the time of the study, she was a school district administrator in Carrollton, Texas. 38. Female Journalist 12, interview by author, 3 January 2005. Born in 1960, Caucasian, married, one child and two stepchildren. Bachelor’s degree in English/medieval literature from Vanderbilt University. She worked for the Evansville Courier and Press in Indiana during high school. After college she worked in Dallas for the Richardson Daily News, Downtown News and D magazine. At the time of study she worked in marketing and public relations for Dallas advertising agencies. 39. Female Journalist 13, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 40. Female Journalist 13, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 41. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. Born in 1968, Asian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University and law degree from Harvard Law School. She interned at American Lawyer and worked as a reporter for Electronic News magazine, covering the semiconductor industry. She later wrote reports for a research firm and researched and wrote for two Internet companies. At the time of study she worked for an advertising agency in New York City. 42. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 43. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. 44. Female Journalist 5, interview by author, 4 January 2005. Born in 1955, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Texas at Arlington and law degree from Southern Methodist University Law School. In high school she worked for her hometown newspaper in Kansas. After college she worked as a radio reporter and anchor for five years. At the time of study, she was a lawyer in Dallas. 45. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 46. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 47. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 48. Female Journalist 4, interview by author, 8 January 2005. 49. Female Journalist 1, interview by author, 12 February 2005. Born in 1982, Asian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She worked for her college newspaper and interned at the St. Petersburg Times. At the time of study, she attended law school in Chicago. 50. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 51. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 52. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. 53. Female Journalist 14, interview by author, 10 June 2005. Born in 1965, VietnameseAmerican, married, no children. Bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and master of fine arts in creative writing from New York University. She worked as a reporter for the Orange County Register, a freelance writer, a waitress and a journalism instructor at California State University-Fullerton. At the time of study she was a writing instructor at Parson’s School of Design in New York City. 54. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. 55. Female Journalist 3, interview by author, 16 November 2004. Born in 1979, Caucasian, married, one child. Bachelor’s degree from Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University. She worked as a reporter for her college newspaper and for the Killeen Daily Herald in Killeen, Texas. At the time of study, she taught high school journalism in Marietta, Ga. 56. Female Journalist 17, interview by author, 24 June 2005. 57. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005.
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58. Female Journalist 15, interview by author, 21 June 2005. Born in 1971, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in political science from Arizona State University, law degree from Arizona State University Law School and master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University. She worked as the editor of her college newspaper and as a reporter for the Phoenix Gazette and Arizona Republic. At the time of study, she served as corporation commissioner for Arizona, an elected position. 59. Skidmore, “Gender and the Agenda,” 205, 209. 60. Walsh-Childers, Chance and Herzog, “Women Journalists Report Discrimination in Newsrooms,” 86.
Women Leave Journalism For Better Pay, Work Conditions
by Tracy Everbach and Craig Flournoy
Women leave full-time news jobs because of a lack of opportunity, low salaries, lack of mentors, inflexible work schedules and differing perspectives on news from male-oriented newsrooms.
ince the 1980s, women have composed a majority of undergraduate students in university journalism and mass communication programs, and their numbers are growing. In their most recent survey of journalism and mass communication college students, Becker and his co-authors reported that nearly two-thirds of undergraduates and master’s students are women.1 Yet the ratio of women to men working in professional newsrooms remains the reverse of college classrooms. The American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in its 2005 annual survey that only 37 percent of newsroom employees are women.2 The most recent American Journalist Survey also reported that one-third of fulltime journalists are women, a percentage that has remained the same since the early 1980s.3 The same survey noted that women constitute the majority of journalists with fewer than five years of work experience—54.2 percent.4 This is the first time in the ongoing survey that women have outnumbered men in that category. Obviously, something is driving women from newsrooms. Therefore, the research question was: Why do some women who study journalism in college later decide to leave full-time newsroom jobs? Various studies have documented factors that could be driving women out of the journalism workforce, including low pay, family concerns, unusual and irregular working hours and a glass ceiling in newsrooms.5 Other research has shown that male and female journalists define journalism differently but that in
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Everbach is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and the Mayborn Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas. Flournoy is an assistant professor in the Division of Journalism at Southern Methodist University.
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 53 most newsrooms, men construct hierarchical and bureaucratic structures to enforce their definition of news.6 Women’s journalistic work goals sometimes conflict with masculine ideals of important journalism7 and female journalists often feel pressure to prove themselves as “one of the men,” even though they may have different social and personal concerns than do men and different definitions of what is news.8 It is crucial that both journalism educators and newsroom managers understand why women leave newsrooms so they can find ways to retain them. The trend of female students dominating journalism programs shows few signs of diminishing. In 2004, women received 65.4 percent of journalism bachelor’s degrees, the highest percentage since the end of World War II.9 But many female journalism graduates eventually forsake the profession. Professors must understand why women leave newsroom jobs so they can help their students succeed as journalists. Therefore, the reasons behind female journalists’ exits from newsrooms were studied by talking to the sources—the women who left.
Women’s Journalistic Standpoint
During the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, women believed and were told that they could have successful careers and families, as many men do. By the 1990s, many women were questioning this premise, saying women had different concerns and responsibilities than did men. During the third wave of feminism, cultural feminists maintained women were a separate cultural group from men, with different values and practices. Women have their own “standpoint” in a patriarchal society that emphasizes male needs, desires and accomplishments.10 In the male-dominated world of journalism, women’s needs often conflict with the demands of the newsroom. Newsrooms have hierarchical and bureaucratic structures constructed historically by male desires, needs and definitions of news.11 Female journalists have reported different conceptions and constructions of news than have men, a phenomenon Van Zoonen calls a “gendered nature of journalism.”12 Female and male journalists perceive journalism differently; that is, they consider different topics, angles, sources and ethics to be important. For example, socalled “masculine” journalism focuses on politics, crime, finance, education and upbringing, while “feminine” journalism involves human interest, consumer news, culture and social policy.13 Achievement in many journalism jobs is defined by production, which sometimes conflicts with women’s ethical commitments to serve their audiences and personal responsibilities at home. Women have long struggled to show their commitment to their jobs while also doing meaningful work, goals that sometimes conflict with masculine ideals of important journalism.14 Female journalists also perceive newsrooms as malebiased workplaces, as Walsh-Childers, Chance and Herzog showed in a survey of 277 female reporters, editors and graphic artists at 120 small, medium and
54 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 large newspapers.15 One in four of the women said discrimination was a significant or very serious problem.
Method
The researchers conducted individual, in-depth, standardized-question interviews16 with 17 women who had worked full-time in journalism after college and subsequently decided to leave their jobs. The interview method was chosen because it provides rich detail and description. Although only 17 women were interviewed, the sample members’ demographics varied greatly. Their journalism experience ranged from one year to 30 years, and their years of birth ranged from 1949 to 1982. Thirteen of the women were Caucasian, four were Asian and one was black. Nine were married and eight were unmarried. Nine had children and eight did not (although the married women not always were the same women who had children). The women lived throughout the United States.17 Because of the diversity of the sample chosen, 17 in-depth interviews substantiated enough data for a clear picture of women who left journalism jobs. In telephone interviews of one hour to two hours during 2004 and 2005, the respondents were asked a consistent list of questions. Many of the respondents talked about subjects beyond the set of questions, and follow-up questions based on these topics were asked. Most questions sparked discussion—a “conversation with a purpose”—as described by Lindlof.18 Interview subjects were located through snowball sampling, which was chosen because it provided a wide cross-section of women.19 The women were promised anonymity in compliance with human subjects approval from the University of North Texas Institutional Review Board and the Southern Methodist University Institutional Review Board. To protect their identities, respondents were coded FJ1 through FJ17 (Female Journalist 1 through Female Journalist 17). After completing the interviews, characteristics of each respondent were identified and the data were analyzed. Transcripts of the interviews were examined and patterns and themes were identified, employing inductive reasoning to find answers to the research question.20
Results
Several respondents expressed passion for journalism but said they were disappointed by newsroom cultures that failed to accommodate their needs and desires. They said they enjoyed journalism as a career but the hours and demands of the newsroom did not fit well within their lives. “It’s very difficult to lead a balanced life in the newspaper business, especially in a competitive market,” said FJ2.21 “You were supposed to give your blood to the news, and after 10 years of that, it took its toll.” A cultural shift in
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 55 newsrooms allowing flexibility in work schedules might help retain more women, but managers resist such changes with “a subtle, dismissive attitude, more than anything else, that I think finally pushes women out the door.”22 FJ9 said newspaper work hours became incompatible with her family responsibilities.23 “It was an intolerable work environment. I had a 2-year-old child who I rarely saw because he was in day care.”24 When FJ9’s father offered her a job in the family business with more stable hours, she accepted. FJ4 left the newsroom because she wanted to have a child: The intensity I used in my job, I didn’t think it was compatible with having a family. Whatever my vision was of being a wife and mother wasn’t compatible with my vision of being a newspaper reporter. I think of the types of women in newsrooms, and there weren’t a lot who were happily married and had children.25 FJ16 left to stay home with young children. There are days when I think I’ve got the best of all possible worlds because I get to make my own schedule and do what I want to do. However, when you decide you want to ramp down your professional life in favor of family, you don’t have the same challenges.26 Indeed, several women said their new professional roles did not ignite the same passion they felt for journalism. FJ13 said that while her newspaper company was skimpy on resources and pay, the higher-paying advertising agency where she now works is “too fake, too commercial” compared with journalism.27 FJ13 said she might eventually return to a newsroom. FJ7 said the culture of her newsroom made her nervous—the “unpredictability of it, the long hours, not knowing each day what you’re getting into.”28 She now works in corporate public relations, which is more predictable, but “I don’t know that I have a passion for this the way that I hoped to have.”29 FJ11 reported that she became disillusioned with newspapers after recognizing managers singled out reporters, most of them male, anointing them “golden boys” and giving them choice assignments. Many of the editors are men and it’s the human condition to relate to people who are most like you. The only people the top editor would come out into the newsroom to talk to about sports and other stuff like that were the ones considered the good reporters because they were brash and had bravado. My reaction to that is that the reporters with brash and bravado were the ones I trusted the least.30
56 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 Now a city spokeswoman, FJ11 said public relations “is not something I am passionate about. But journalism careers are not conducive to having a balanced or family life.”31 Some respondents said newsroom demands were unreasonable. FJ2 said most newspaper managers look down upon reporters and editors who choose to put their families first. “And usually, that’s women.”32 Her current part-time job in public relations allows her to have a more balanced life with her child. “Now I see all kinds of things that people do. I always wondered what people did during the day.”33 After a decade in newsrooms she became “jaded.”34 FJ8 said the grind of newspaper reporting was depressing. “I had no life. All I did was work.”35 After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, she heard people saying, “He died doing what he loved.” It was then, she said, that “I realized I was not doing that.”36 FJ17 said that after 10 years in newsrooms . . . I realized that in journalism you spend a lot of time watching what other people do and writing about it. You don’t do anything yourself. I just got tired of watching the world go by.37 She took a pay cut to become a teacher. Other respondents, especially those in big cities with high costs of living, said low journalism salaries drove them out of newsrooms. They said their pay did not match the work they were doing, and they could not afford the kind of lives they wanted. FJ12, the primary breadwinner in a family of five, called journalism “the last legalized form of slavery”38 because of its high demands and low pay. She said she earns a much higher salary in public relations and advertising than in journalism. FJ13 found newspaper salaries insulting and now receives higher pay in advertising.39 The guy emptying my garbage can was making the same amount I was. I went to school, and I was educating a whole population of people, and I was making as much as my garbage man.40 FJ6 changed her career from journalism to advertising because of the salary difference.41 People can barely make a living. As an advertising copywriter I am making at least 30 percent more than I made as a journalist, doing basically the same thing.42 Some respondents said the fact that male co-workers often earned higher salaries contributed to their disillusionment with journalism, including FJ8, now a journalism professor. At one job, she discovered that a male colleague in the same position earned $10,000 a year more than she.43 FJ5, a former radio
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 57 reporter and now a lawyer, said she “was so disappointed by the treatment of women in journalism and the pay.”44 She said discrepancies will not change until women own and operate media companies. FJ9 said her employers “didn’t pay you enough to live well in southern California. You couldn’t afford to buy a house or have a child.”45 She said she saw many women leave the business because “just like men, we didn’t want to stay here and eat dirt for the rest of our lives.”46 FJ9 also noted financial concerns are a major reason women with children leave newspapers: Kids cost money, journalism jobs pay you crap, and for the same economic reasons as men, we want to make more money and work fewer hours.47 FJ4 said she became discouraged when she realized young male journalists had advantages over female journalists. A lot of the young female reporters were lowballed. Young male reporters were consistently offered better jobs and pay than young women. Maybe because the bosses saw them as an investment—they knew a lot of women would leave.48 Several respondents recounted incidents of discrimination and sexism from both male and female managers. FJ1 said managers pushed her to use her looks and her racial background to advance rather than her talent and intelligence.
The women in this study perceived that they were part of a subordinate class at the maledominated news organizations where they worked.
Many of my friends in journalism have achieved success because the first doors that opened for them were purely based on connections and not merit.49 FJ6, who worked in the male-dominated realm of business reporting, said most colleagues’ attitudes about the job were competitive, which “seems to me very male.”50 Men tended to be dismissive of women in the industry. “I used to deal with these white guys in chinos and they used to talk really slowly to me,” although she holds two degrees from Harvard.51 FJ8 pointed out that the content of newspapers reflects the . . .
58 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 typical newspaper reporter and editor—white, middle-aged, middle-class men. It skews the worldview. Go to children and family coverage. They don’t understand issues; they only react as opposed to examining poverty, drug addiction and all the things that lead to abuse. It’s not all neat and tied up; it’s messy and complicated. The public is not getting an accurate reflection of what’s going on.52 Some respondents said an emphasis on male news values prevented them from reporting news they believed was important. FJ14 said she became discouraged because she wanted to change the world through her reporting and realized that would not happen. As an Asian American, she wanted to explain the Vietnamese community in depth to newspaper readers, but quickly learned, I was never going to write the kinds of stories I wanted. They weren’t interested in in-depth psychological stories; they were interested in quick-hit gang stories.53 FJ8 noted that women generally see more detail and complexity in stories than men. There is less nuance in the news, and women are very good at nuance and gray areas. I think it becomes more cut and dry with men, particularly white, middleclass suburban men.54 FJ3 said bluntly: “Men love to talk about themselves and other men.”55 Mentoring, or the lack thereof, was a problem for several of the respondents. FJ17 noted that at her newspaper, I saw young, hungry women and nobody was there to help them. I felt I had to prove myself all over again. As a young woman, that could push you out. I think it might be easier for young men.56 FJ9 said women who worked at the higher levels at her newspaper did not help their counterparts in lower positions. She attributed this to behavior learned on elementary school playgrounds, where more popular girls shunned less popular ones. “Alpha females have not helped lesser-ranking females. They oppress them.”57 Noted FJ15, Women are really abysmal mentors of other women. I don’t know what is going on there. Women need to take a role in mentoring other women.58
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Discussion and Recommendations
This study sought to uncover some reasons—why women who graduated with degrees in journalism eventually left full-time journalism jobs. It provides a window into the experiences and observations of 17 women who excelled in journalism school but found the real world of journalism discouraging. The women in this study perceived that they were part of a subordinate class at the male-dominated news organizations where they worked. The reasons were many—lack of opportunity, low salary, lack of mentors, unwillingness by management to offer flexible work schedules. The women reported managers did not recognize their perspectives as significant or important to the organization. The patriarchal aspects of newsrooms did little to encourage them or accommodate their needs, wants or desires. This was particularly discouraging for young journalists who entered the profession with high expectations. Women who had decided to go into journalism in college to change the world found they could not change the male-oriented culture of most newsrooms. Several of the women said the work was no longer meaningful, in part because their definitions of news differed from those of male managers, similar to Van Zoonen’s “gendered nature of news” concept. Other women reported editors and managers did not support the types of stories they wanted to write because they saw news from a “male” perspective. Several reported editors wanted them to write reactive stories rather than looking in-depth into issues they felt were important. They also felt male editors did not allow them to report news from a women’s perspective that might allow different approaches than traditional news values dictate. Paula Skidmore has noted a “structured inequality” in the news process in which “women journalists are made to feel that their concerns…are not what is required of a true news professional.”59 Certainly some male journalists encounter similar problems, but young men are not leaving the business in the same numbers as young women. Some married women might have more flexibility than unmarried women to leave jobs, especially if their husbands or partners have well-paying jobs. The unmarried women in this study expressed particular exasperation at the lack of respect, encouragement and compensation they received on the job. They left newsrooms for positions that offered better pay, more flexible schedules and greater respect. The results here could be interpreted as a warning to news organizations as they face shrinking profits and decreasing readership. If newspapers want to appeal to a broader audience and stay healthy financially, they must change their business strategies. One way to do this is to appeal to more female readers. Female journalists might have a better understanding of what it takes to reach these readers. For this reason alone, newspapers need to do a better job of persuading women to stay in newsrooms. The problems cited by the women interviewed here can be addressed by news organizations. In the 21st century, companies can provide arrangements
60 - Newspaper Research Journal • Vol. 28, No. 3 • Summer 2007 like job sharing, part-time work, telecommuting and on-site day care to accommodate families. They can provide equitable pay and mentoring programs. They can allow women freedom to write about topics they think are interesting and important. These changes will not be easy. They will require newsroom managers to rethink many of their fundamental approaches. But these changes are necessary if newspaper companies want to retain women in newsrooms, according to the results of the interviews. In addition, it is essential that journalism educators inform female students of problems they may face in newsrooms so they can help prepare their students. With knowledge, female students can arm themselves to face potential obstacles and male students can better understand the needs of female colleagues. The researchers’ classrooms have employed new curriculum elements, including information on sex discrimination and the masculine natures of many newsrooms. They have also introduced strategies on salary and promotion negotiation, suggested young women seek out mentors and provided information on balancing family and work responsibilities. This study has limitations. First, 17 subjects is a relatively small study sample, and it is possible the women in this study are simply a group of disgruntled journalists. However, the researchers are confident the themes expressed by the women ring true among female journalists. Second, the pool of respondents could have been more diverse. The interview subjects were primarily Caucasian, four were Asian and one was black. None was Hispanic or Native American. In the future, researchers could cast a wider net and obtain a larger sample by employing a survey method. Third, this study looked only at women who had quit full-time jobs in newsrooms, not at women who stayed in newsrooms; the latter group could provide different perspectives. Still, these results echo the discouragement women journalists reported in the 1996 Walsh-Childers et al. study on discrimination. Taken together, the costs of lost or burned-out employees, wasted talent, lost readers, and, in some cases, the legal fees and other costs associated with sex discrimination lawsuits must be formidable. As newsroom budgets tighten, it seems increasingly obvious that sex discrimination is a cost newspapers can no longer afford.60 Results suggest that many newsroom managers have yet to grasp the impact of sex discrimination.
Notes 1. Lee B. Becker, Tudor Vlad, Amy Jo Coffey and Maria Tucker, “Enrollment Growth Rate Slows; Field’s Focus on Undergraduate Education at Odds with University Setting,” Journalism and Mass Communication Educator 60, no. 3 (fall 2005): 286-314. 2. “ASNE annual survey, 2005” ASNE.org, <http://www.asne.org> (16 April 2005).
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3. David Weaver et al., “The American Journalist Survey,”Poynter.org, 2003, <http:// www.poynter.org> (18 July 2005). 4. Weaver et al., “The American Journalist Survey.” 5. Regarding pay, a 1996 survey found that nearly half of female journalists reported lower salaries than male journalists with equivalent jobs. See Kim Walsh-Childers, Jean Chance and Kristin Herzog, “Women journalists report discrimination in newsrooms,” Newspaper Research Journal 17, no. 3/4 (summer/fall 1996): 86-88. As for family concerns, research by the Newspaper Association of America supports the premise that the journalism workplace “is not conducive to a good work/family balance.” See Mary Arnold Hemlinger and Cynthia C. Linton, “Women in Newspapers 2002: Still Fighting an Uphill Battle,” Media Management Center at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.: Media Management Center, 2002), 27. Regarding the glass ceiling, statistics published in 2005 showed that men occupy 65.2 percent of all supervisory positions at daily newspapers, 78.7 percent of news directors at U.S. television stations and 75.3 percent of news directors at radio stations. See “ASNE annual survey, 2005,” and Bob Papper, “Running in Place: Minorities and women in television see little change, while minorities fare worse in radio,” RadioTelevision News Directors Association Communicator, July/August 2005, 28. 6. Linda Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” in News, Gender and Power, eds. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allen (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 146-159; Lisbet Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls? The Changing Gender of Journalism,” in News, Gender and Power, eds. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allen (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 36. 7. Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” 158; Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 3637. 8. Paula Skidmore, “Gender and the Agenda,” in News, Gender and Power, eds. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allen (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 207-209. 9. Lee B. Becker, Tudor Vlad, Heidi Hennink-Kaminski and Amy Jo Coffey, “2003-2004 Enrollment Report: Growth in Field Keeps Up with Trend,” Journalism & Mass Communication Editor 59, no. 3 (fall 2004): 289. 10. Josephine Donovan, Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions of American Feminism (New York: Continuum, 1992), 187-190. 11. Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” 146-159. 12. Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 36. 13. Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 36. 14. Steiner, “Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work,” 158; Van Zoonen, “One of the Girls?” 3637. 15. Walsh-Childers, Chance and Herzog, “Women Journalists Report Discrimination in Newsrooms,” 68-87. 16. Thomas R. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995), 163-196. 17. The interview subjects lived in the following cities: New York; Deptford, N.J.; Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Carrollton, Texas; Lakewood, Colo.; Phoenix; Burbank, Calif.; and South Pasadena, Calif. 18. Lindlof Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 164. 19. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 127-128. 20. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 197-243. 21. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. Born 1973, Caucasian, married, one child. Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She worked for 10 years as a reporter at the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W.Va., USA Today, the News-Press in Fort Meyers, Fla., and the South Florida Sun Sentinel. At the time of study, she worked part-time for the Sun Sentinel. 22. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005.
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23. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. A single mother of two, she was born in 1960 and is Chinese-American. Bachelor’s degree in environmental biology from the University of California at Berkeley and master’s degree from the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She worked as an intern at the San Jose Mercury News and as a reporter for the Oakland Tribune and Orange County Register. At the time of study, she worked in her family’s business, architecture and property management. 24. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 25. Female Journalist 4, interview by author, 8 January 2005. Born in 1972, is Caucasian and married with one child. Bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communication from University of California-Santa Barbara and master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University. She worked for the UC-Santa Barbara newspaper and radio station in college and interned at the Syracuse HeraldJournal during graduate school. She worked at The Los Angeles Times, two community newspapers in California and the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif. At the time of study, she worked in public relations for a Catholic university in southern California. 26. Female Journalist 16, interview by author, 22 June 2005. Born in 1965, Caucasian and married with two children. Bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She worked as a reporter for college newspaper, The Daily Texan, and interned at the Houston Chronicle. She worked as a reporter for the Amarillo Globe News, Texas Lawyer in Dallas and Legal Times in Washington, D.C. She also worked for a public relations firm representing lawyers. At the time of study was a full-time mother doing freelance public relations work in Dallas. 27. Female Journalist 13, interview by author, 4 January 2005. Born in 1979, Caucasian and single with no children. Bachelor’s degree in communication from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisc. During college and after graduation, worked as an editorial assistant for the Milwaukee JournalSentinel. She later moved to Texas and worked as a reporter for D/FW Community Newspapers. At the time of study, she worked in advertising in Chicago. 28. Female Journalist 7, interview by author, 7 January 2005. Born in 1977, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degrees in communication and political science from Northwestern University and master’s degree in journalism from Medill School of Journalism. Interned at the Courier and Press in Evansville, Ind., and worked as a reporter for the Quincy (Mass.) Patriot-Ledger in Washington, D.C., bureau. At the time of study, she worked in public relations for Pepsico in Chicago. 29. Female Journalist 7, interview by author, 7 January 2005. 30. Female Journalist 11, interview by author, 11 June 2005. Born in 1962, Caucasian, married with one child. Bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Missouri School of Journalism. She worked in computerassisted reporting at USA Today, as a reporter in Pullman, Wash., for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in Colorado and the Denver Post. At the time of study, she was a public information officer for the city of Lakewood, Colo. 31. Female Journalist 11, interview by author, 11 June 2005. 32. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. 33. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. 34. Female Journalist 2, interview by author, 8 Feb. 2005. 35. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. Born in 1967, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in communication from Villanova University and master’s degree in journalism through the Casey Journalism Fellowship at the University of Maryland. She worked for her college newspaper, then in entertainment public relations. Later she worked as a stringer for Phildelphia Inquirer, a reporter for the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina, Daytona Beach News Journal, the Orlando Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. At the time of study she worked as a journalism professor in Deptford, N.J. 36. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005.
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37. Female Journalist 17, interview by author, 24 June 2005. Born in 1964, African American, married and two children. Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Delaware, where she worked for her college newspaper and radio station. She was a traffic and overnight reporter for a radio station in Philadelphia, reporter for the Des Moines Register in Iowa and a reporter for The Dallas Morning News. She then worked as a schoolteacher in Dallas. At the time of the study, she was a school district administrator in Carrollton, Texas. 38. Female Journalist 12, interview by author, 3 January 2005. Born in 1960, Caucasian, married, one child and two stepchildren. Bachelor’s degree in English/medieval literature from Vanderbilt University. She worked for the Evansville Courier and Press in Indiana during high school. After college she worked in Dallas for the Richardson Daily News, Downtown News and D magazine. At the time of study she worked in marketing and public relations for Dallas advertising agencies. 39. Female Journalist 13, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 40. Female Journalist 13, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 41. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. Born in 1968, Asian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University and law degree from Harvard Law School. She interned at American Lawyer and worked as a reporter for Electronic News magazine, covering the semiconductor industry. She later wrote reports for a research firm and researched and wrote for two Internet companies. At the time of study she worked for an advertising agency in New York City. 42. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 43. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. 44. Female Journalist 5, interview by author, 4 January 2005. Born in 1955, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Texas at Arlington and law degree from Southern Methodist University Law School. In high school she worked for her hometown newspaper in Kansas. After college she worked as a radio reporter and anchor for five years. At the time of study, she was a lawyer in Dallas. 45. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 46. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 47. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005. 48. Female Journalist 4, interview by author, 8 January 2005. 49. Female Journalist 1, interview by author, 12 February 2005. Born in 1982, Asian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She worked for her college newspaper and interned at the St. Petersburg Times. At the time of study, she attended law school in Chicago. 50. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 51. Female Journalist 6, interview by author, 4 January 2005. 52. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. 53. Female Journalist 14, interview by author, 10 June 2005. Born in 1965, VietnameseAmerican, married, no children. Bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and master of fine arts in creative writing from New York University. She worked as a reporter for the Orange County Register, a freelance writer, a waitress and a journalism instructor at California State University-Fullerton. At the time of study she was a writing instructor at Parson’s School of Design in New York City. 54. Female Journalist 8, interview by author, 5 January 2005. 55. Female Journalist 3, interview by author, 16 November 2004. Born in 1979, Caucasian, married, one child. Bachelor’s degree from Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University. She worked as a reporter for her college newspaper and for the Killeen Daily Herald in Killeen, Texas. At the time of study, she taught high school journalism in Marietta, Ga. 56. Female Journalist 17, interview by author, 24 June 2005. 57. Female Journalist 9, interview by author, 20 June 2005.
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58. Female Journalist 15, interview by author, 21 June 2005. Born in 1971, Caucasian, single, no children. Bachelor’s degree in political science from Arizona State University, law degree from Arizona State University Law School and master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University. She worked as the editor of her college newspaper and as a reporter for the Phoenix Gazette and Arizona Republic. At the time of study, she served as corporation commissioner for Arizona, an elected position. 59. Skidmore, “Gender and the Agenda,” 205, 209. 60. Walsh-Childers, Chance and Herzog, “Women Journalists Report Discrimination in Newsrooms,” 86.
