Washington Post Ombudsman on Gender Bias: ‘We’re Losing a Critically Important Readership Group—Women’
In Sunday’s Washington Post, ombudsman Andrew Alexander takes on the ongoing criticism of his newspaper for sexism—most recently, for its cutting review of the new PBS public affairs program, “Need to Know,” in which author Tom Shales declares that cohost Alison Stewart, an award-winning journalist, looks, during a “fawning” interview with Bill Clinton, “as though she would have been much more comfortable in Clinton’s lap.”
Shales apologized last week, but Alexander goes on to cite other stories in which the Post has been accused of sexism: A recent column that said Rielle Hunter, John Edwards’ mistress, had spoken “blondely”; a description of Sarah Palin that referenced her “pumps and black nylons” and said she “sashayed” into a courtroom and smiled “demurely”; a 2007 story about Hillary Clinton that focused entirely on her cleavage.
“References like these don’t typically prompt canceled subscriptions,” Alexander writes. “But the consistent negative response to them surely works against efforts to retain or attract a critically important readership group: women.”
In 2008, an internal Post newsroom study noted a drop in female readership that “began accelerating in 2003.” The study also said a content analysis of roughly 1,200 Post stories found that women were the focus of only 18 percent of them, although they comprised slightly more than half the area’s population. The same analysis found that “men are quoted almost three times as often as women in the paper.”
Sound familiar? Once again, it seems media outlet after media outlet is examining themselves—and finding that, well, um, we’re failing when it comes to showcasing women’s voices.
How to solve the problem? Well, you could follow the Post’s internal Stylebook, which says:
“References to personal appearance — blond, diminutive, blue-eyed — should generally be omitted unless clearly relevant to the story.” It cautions to “avoid condescension and stereotypes.”
Or you could check out this gem, from the Newsweek library, on nonsexist writing. Perhaps more rationally, we could, um, put more women in power. A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that only 30 percent of news stories include even a single female source, and only five of 20 magazines considered “thought leaders” have ever had a woman in the top editorial spot.
To be fair, the Washington Post is better than most: founded by Katharine Graham, the paper has a female publisher, managing editor and deputy managine editor.
But we could still be doing better.
