Women and The News 12 3 News reporters are gatekeepers decide what is important and what is irrelevant This results in agenda setting Agenda Setting says these are the things you should know and all the rest is unimportant Ex The Clinton Scandal reported so frequently that it made it seem as if it was something people should think about but didn t help them make a decision on what to do If you are not a gatekeeper usually a white male then nothing that has to do with your race or gender will ever make news Newspapers WMC 2013 Women s Media Content make women more powerful and prevalent in the media Report reveals there is no gender differences in amount of time people spend consuming the news Gaping divide in who the gatekeepers are Always at least 60 men Mostly men were talking about issues in the presidential election that Women have a 50 50 chance of citing men or women but men always cite actually affected women men Almost all media broadcasting majors in college are women Television News When women anchor they become the news PBS and NBR are government run and don t have that fear of hiring women as primetime reporters Katie Couric The Discipline Function of the Press o How media discourse trivializes women s accomplishments and reinforces traditional gender roles by sexualizing and personalizing women who challenge ideas about gender o The way media treated Katie ensured she would fail o Sexualizing o Personalization ditzy gossipy maternal o What saved her job was Katie s interview with Sarah Palin most quoted and cited interview Effects of Frames on Audience Women anchors perceived as less credible Less memory for news Grabe and Samsin 2011 o Randomly assigned participants to watch a news broadcast featuring a sexualized or nonsexualized anchor o Men perceived the sexualized anchor as less credible and less suited for the job o Encoded less information about the news when she was sexualized o Opposite found for women Solicited some kind of comparison and o Found that it is important for women news anchors to not be all absorbed more news vamped up Women as Newsmakers Most talked about women in the news are celebrities Issues about women s well being only constituted 10 worldwide Barriers to Women in News Survey from Engstom and Ferri 500 tv news anchors female and male Asked what there barriers were Number 1 for women was physical appearance then work life balance then having to relocate For men it was lack of professional networking work life balance then appearing younger than co anchor When women are in charge The nature and framing of the news changes o Fluff pieces Things are slow to change o Gender bias is deeply rooted o Woman may be reluctant to admit sexism exists