Lauren Kastner | Sept. 19, 2011
 |
| Photo by Thomas Miller |
| From left, Myrna Oliver, BA'64, Wendy Wallace, BA'85, and journalism lecturer Nancy Comiskey, BA'74, were panelists for Are We There Yet? Women in Media. |
Related
|
As part of the IU School of Journalism Centennial Weekend, the workshop was designed to draw on the knowledge and experiences of women who have worked in the historically male-dominated field.
Panelists were Myrna Oliver, BA’64, retired from the Los Angeles Times; Virginia Fielder, MA’74, PhD’76, who retired as vice president for research at Knight Ridder; Nancy Comiskey, BA’74, former managing editor at the Indianapolis Star and current journalism lecturer; Carolyn Washburn, BA’84, editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer; Wendy Wallace, BA’85, director of high school programs at the Poynter Institute; and Carrie Ritchie, BAJ’08, reporter at the Indianapolis Star.
Journalism professor emerita Christine Ogan started the session with description of her research from the 1970s and ‘80s that found only 2.4 percent of all top-level positions in daily newspapers were held by women, and that newspaper management positions were primarily held by white, Protestant, married men in their late 40s with at least one child and a college degree.
Ogan’s research confirmed the gender inequality that Myrna Oliver said she experienced in her career at the Los Angeles Times.
“We were passed over for manager positions,” Oliver said. “Women were told ‘you’re doing a good job at what you’re doing, so keep doing it.’”
Those who did achieve management status, such Comiskey, still faced discrimination and, she said, felt like their ideas were not always recognized. Comiskey was the only female managing editor at the Indianapolis Star in the late 1980s.
“Even when I had a seat at the table, it didn’t mean I had an equal voice,” Comiskey said.
According to Wendy Wallace, women who came 20 years before her are to thank for her career success. Now the director of the Poynter Institute’s high school program in St. Petersburg, Fla., Wallace said had more flexibility in crafting a job she wanted due to the perseverance of women like her fellow panelists.
While progress has been made, Virginia Fielder pointed out, “Answering the question ‘are we there yet?’ depends on who ‘we’ are and where ‘there’ is.”
If the current enrollment of women in the IU School of Journalism is any indication of how far women have come in the field, the numbers look promising. According to enrollment records, 75 percent of students in the School of Journalism this semester are female.
 |
| Photo by Thomas Miller |
| Myrna Oliver, BA'64, worked at the Los Angeles Times and recalls when women never were considered for managerial positions. “Women were told ‘you’re doing a good job at what you’re doing, so keep doing it.’” |
“I have had many sources call me ‘hon,’” Ritchie said. “A local political candidate even asked me out on a date.”
In agreement with Ritchie, Carolyn Washburn said women in modern journalism still face objectification and criticism of their appearance. She recalled her own embarrassment when, as moderator of the 2008 presidential debates in Des Moines, Iowa, she drew more comments from bloggers and commentators about her physique and apparel than about her ability to ask targeted questions.
The session wrapped up with a few questions from the audience, which included alumni and students from two of the school’s gender and media classes.
Questions? Comments? Email the Web editor.
