Facing inequality in the newsroom
By: Matthew J. Long
Situation Definition
Like any other workplace, newsrooms are a professional work setting that require a certain degree of professionalism on the part of those working there. Journalists, reporters and editors respect one another as they would with their audience, but also like other industries, there are sometimes unsavory indiscretions from the employees.
Julia Wallace, former Atlanta-Journal Constitution editor, spoke at Penn State on Nov. 14, 2019 on her book “There’s No Crying in Newsrooms: What Women have Learned About What It Takes To Lead” and her experience with sexual harassment and gender discrimination within the news industry. Wallace detailed several stories from other female news industry professionals on how they have been mistreated in terms of physical contact from their male counter parts and being denied leadership roles based on their gender. This type of behavior in the newsroom raises several ethical concerns regarding both issues.
Analysis
During her speech, Wallace described Kate O’Brian’s experience of being physically assaulted in a newsroom as a female journalist, while all the other journalists watched and did nothing. Not only could the man who assaulted her have faced charges in this instance, but one could see this act as a reflection of how female journalists are treated in the newsroom.
Dunja Antunovic, assistant professor of sports communication at Bradley University, reported in her peer-reviewed article published in Feminist Media Studies that over 90% of sports editors, and over 85% of sports columnists and reporters are men (Antunovic, 2019, p. 4).
Antunovic follows up on this statistic, stating “The masculine culture of sport and journalism intersect to maintain the marginalization of women…” and that “women report various forms of discrimination, including sexual harassment, lack of advancement opportunities, pay inequality, and isolation”(Antunovic, 2019, p. 4).
What is clear is that educators, like Antunovic, have noticed that gender discrimination has become a problem in the news media industry. Dan Cassino and Yasemin Besen-Cassino report in their peer-reviewed article how this problem could have originated. “Harassment can result from employers creating a hostile work environment by, for instance, making disparaging remarks about women in general” (Cassino & Besen, 2019, pg. 2).
This supposition can lead one to think that through actions and behavior, similar to that of Kate O’Brian’s situation, newsrooms are hostile work environments, even ones that discriminate against women regarding positions of power. Having a hostile work environment in a newsroom is problematic and unethical as it prevents a core duty of journalists from being carried out: reporting news to the public in an objective and efficient manner. If employees are preoccupied with personal engagements, then news can’t be relayed efficiently, which would be a disservice to the public.
Conclusion
Letting behavior as described in the examples above happen in any kind of workplace is unacceptable and those responsible should be held accountable for their actions. Journalists, in particular, should act accordingly as it is their duty to remain as objective as possible. If journalists are committing acts of sexual misconduct, it not only reflects poorly on their character and sense of professionalism, but it shows they are not being as objective as possible in their work.
Moving forward, the news media industry should be mindful as to the inappropriate behavior happening in newsrooms and be a leader in the workforce in combating sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
References
Antunovic, D. (2019). “We wouldn’t say it to their faces”: online harassment, women sports journalists, and feminism. Feminist Media Studies, 19(3), 428–442. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1080/14680777.2018.1446454
Cassino, D., & Besen, C. Y. (2019). Race, threat and workplace sexual harassment: The dynamics of harassment in the United States, 1997–2016. Gender, Work & Organization, 26(9), 1221–1240. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1111/gwao.12394