Gender, Politics and Media Redux

One topic that spawned plenty of conversation during the race for the presidency, was the
role of gender. Last week, New York Women In Communications presented The Spin Room: Gender, Politics & Media in the 2008 Election. The panel of four, Geraldine Ferraro, Arianna Huffington, Lesley Jane Seymour, and Marie Wilson -- with moderator Carol Jenkins at the helm -- dug into a range of issues navigating territory that has been well-trod, albeit without resolution.

Jenkins, President of the Women's Media Center, kicked off the dialogue with the question, "Was the reaction to Palin of 'Sarah, be quiet' the same dynamic that had happened with Hillary?" Ferraro, the first female Vice-Presidential nominee (1984) jumped in to field the question. "What's going on with Sarah didn't go on for me," she said. "She's in a different place. She's come out with a lot of negatives." Despite her ideological differences with Palin, Ferraro stressed, "She has to speak up. She's a sitting governor."

The inevitable topic of the $150,000 wardrobe surfaced, along with the unattributable quotes that surfaced about Palin's aptitude and behavior. Huffington offered, "The media has a responsibility not to repeat stuff that is anonymous and can't be validated. But let us not forget
the reality about Sarah Palin. She's an arrogant know-nothing. She must take responsibility for the negative stuff she said. That is who she is." Huffington added, "We don't have to defend her because she is a woman."

Wilson, Founder and President of The White House Project -- which works to get women into leadership roles -- steered the discourse back to the press. "We're here to discuss the media's role," she said. Wilson saw the press as "enabling" Palin through it's "chivalrous" approach, which she equated with "paternalism.' Wilson pointed out, "People think because she [Palin] is a leader, she is a feminist." She continued, "What I feel didn't get focused on in the media was Sarah Palin getting people revved up around race, especially in a time [when] we need to make connections."

Editor-in-Chief of More Magazine,
Lesley Jane Seymour, spoke about Palin in the context of politico-tainment. "She is the people's version of politics. She can connect." Seymour acknowledged to the room full of women in the communications field, "We live in a bubble. [Palin] is a post-feminist feminist. I would put her on the cover, because I am interested in any woman over 40." She referenced the empathy factor for Palin, and that women could identify with her. Suggesting a converse aspect to the outrage about Palin's clothing allowance and make-up artist, Seymour offered the premise that the McCain campaign had been "dressing her like a little doll." Hadn't the McCain advisors in essence diminished Palin with their own sexist treatment?

The general consensus was that Palin had to be separated from her views, in order to accurately assess how the media treated her. Ferraro, who believes there was pervasive sexism during the primary debates, repeatedly stated that there needed to be an "independent," non-partisan study on sexism during the 2008 election. Wilson suggested, "Numbers matter." While there was a net gain of four women in the Congress, American women still rank 69th in government representation compared to women globally (Rwanda is in the top position for the highest percentage of women representatives).

Huffington singled out Campbell Brown's contributions to mainstream media as "very significant." Coming from an online independent media point of view, Huffington appreciated Brown's approach of "challenging the concept of journalism" -- from the tradition based model of "telling a story" to "ferreting out the truth." Ferraro disagreed. "What is happening in this country?" she asked. "When you are writing news, you should be reporting." She reflected on how the tone of articles and opinion columns has become indistinguishable, and proposed that was part of the underlying problem.

"This is about the culture," Wilson flatly stated. "It's bigger than the media." She continued,
"You can't talk about gender and race without examining class. The base in the Republican Party is about abortion and gay rights. The Palin choice was about the base and recouping it."

Questions from the audience reflected a hunger to examine a wider range of issues. One frustrated attendee prefaced her query with, "Look how much time we're spending on Sarah Palin, and what does it say with her as a choice?" The composition of Obama's future cabinet came up, specifically the consideration of Larry Summers. "We're all scanning Obama's choices," said Seymour. "We have to make our voices known." Wilson noted that seven out of ten members of Obama's transition team were women. "We need to put out the name of two or three women who should be in the job," she said.

Ferraro stressed, "I believe every time a woman runs, we win. It's a pebble falling into a lake.
If we get nothing else out of her [Palin's] candidacy and Hillary's, we may have gotten a little bit of sensitivity." When I spoke with Ferraro on the telephone to find out more about her concerns, she reiterated the need for a study and mentioned the work that has been done by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard. Nancy Palmer, the Center's Executive Director, referred me to the conference that had been held in November 2007 entitled Women and News: Expanding the News Audience, Increasing Political Participation, and Informing Citizens.

There is still much more that needs to be done to rectify gender bias. "We've got to give a heads up to the nation," Ferraro said. "Women have to be treated the same as the guys."

Photo: (c) 2008 Maryanne Russell

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Comments

[Glooscap]

Reporting the news as Walter Cronkite once did so brilliantly is largely obsolete in 2008 --- viewers now see news events for themselves: live, on 24 hour news channels, and of course via the web and YouTube. We the people no longer need to simply hear or read the events of the day --- but we do need a diverse and vigorous free press to bring added value to the events and issues before us. We also need bright and tenacious journalists to ferret out the truth as they see it and seasoned analysts to bring wisdom to the debate.

Yes it is different from how it used to be, but unlike Ms Ferraro, I think it is true progress despite the fact that I still miss Walter.

[rixter1965]

All "isms" have some ambiguity and are open to interpretation, but, to me (Yes, I am a man!), feminism combines two ideas: (1) Men and women are different biologically and contend with different cultural understandings of those differences and gender roles, but (2) should enjoy equality before the law and equality of opportunity. Somehow those things have to be balanced in feminism and that can be difficult. A feminist perspective is not inherently leftist, but since conservatives so often double as traditionalists -- a subordinate role for women often ends up winning out over meritocracy: individual achievement regardless of gender (or race or...).

Media coverage awkwardly attempted to deal with the challenge inherent in feminism: difference and equality. Hillary Clinton -- according to Chris Matthews -- only got to the Senate because of her husband Caught up in the celebrity that erupted around Sarah Palin even beyond the Republican base, talking heads labeled "sexist" criticism of the "wardrobe malfunction" to the tune of $150K because "women on television have to look good." Really? So a candidate for Vice President of the United States can be bowled over by campaign staffers -- dressed in a way that goes against her image/identity -- but can reassert herself once in office and be a leader? The problem with the coverage, for me, was being someone's wife (a traditional role) negates the achievement of the individual in the case of Hillary Clinton, whereas being a woman excuses individual choices in the case of Sarah

[weatherwaxx]

If Ferraro thinks every time a woman runs, we win -- she's mistaken. Palin said she was not a feminist, and her antedeluvian views on women's rights says that for one brief moment, she spoke the truth.

Women like Palin damage the credibility of every genuinely qualified woman. She's a front for oil money in Alaska. She speaks for no one but herself. (For a wonderful video, search "don't speak for me, Sarah Palin) on Youtube...)

[EStreetShuffler]

Ferraro is right about one thing: the line between opinion and straight news reporting has blurred considerably in print and in the electronic media -- and the voices on the Right and Left are equally to blame.

I hope the pendulum eventually swings back to where the reporters, editors and anchors focus on objective reporting and the columnists, editorial writers and pundits do their thing on the other side of the newsroom wall.

We need to hear and read the facts, but editorials are important too, to help provide context and to give people something to think about beyond the facts and figures. Let's just provide a little separation between those two missions.

[weatherwaxx]

The definition of journalism has blurred because during Reagan-era deregulation, the law limiting media holdings was destroyed. Half a dozen corporations own 95% of the media, and they are the source of the 'blurring.' It is convenient for the corporate bosses to be able to spin the truth so it makes them look pretty.

It's no wonder they're trying to create a panic about restoring the "Fairness Doctrine." Big-money media has no wish to see any fairness that might interfere with profit$.

[abirato]

Where was Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild?