Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives

One of the orthodoxies of communication scholarship is that much of the gender-based differences between males and females with regard to experiences in newsrooms can be attributed to demographics. The discussion presented in this paper challenges this claim by comparing the findings of two national...

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Main Author: Gertrude J. Robinson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Saint Paul University 2008-01-01
Series:Global Media Journal: Canadian Edition
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/0801/inaugural_robinson.pdf
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author Gertrude J. Robinson
author_facet Gertrude J. Robinson
author_sort Gertrude J. Robinson
collection DOAJ
description One of the orthodoxies of communication scholarship is that much of the gender-based differences between males and females with regard to experiences in newsrooms can be attributed to demographics. The discussion presented in this paper challenges this claim by comparing the findings of two national surveys that measured the professional progress of Canadian press and television journalists. The first survey was undertaken in 1975, and the second in 1995. While the historical evidence points to reductions in gender-based structural inequalities over time, it also identifies the continued presence of gender-based assumptions about how work and family obligations should be combined. Such assumptions, it is argued, help to foster and reproduce systemic biases in the newsroom culture that still resonate today in the journalism profession and which can be best understood as a manifestation of the meaning of gender at three levels: as a classifying system, as a structuring structure, and as an ideology.
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spelling doaj.art-ab3cee7fae6f4be193e3cc991b0532dc2022-12-21T20:31:37ZengSaint Paul UniversityGlobal Media Journal: Canadian Edition1918-59012008-01-011Inaugural123136Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian PerspectivesGertrude J. RobinsonOne of the orthodoxies of communication scholarship is that much of the gender-based differences between males and females with regard to experiences in newsrooms can be attributed to demographics. The discussion presented in this paper challenges this claim by comparing the findings of two national surveys that measured the professional progress of Canadian press and television journalists. The first survey was undertaken in 1975, and the second in 1995. While the historical evidence points to reductions in gender-based structural inequalities over time, it also identifies the continued presence of gender-based assumptions about how work and family obligations should be combined. Such assumptions, it is argued, help to foster and reproduce systemic biases in the newsroom culture that still resonate today in the journalism profession and which can be best understood as a manifestation of the meaning of gender at three levels: as a classifying system, as a structuring structure, and as an ideology.http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/0801/inaugural_robinson.pdfGenderCanadian PressCanadian TelevisionCanadian JournalistsInequalityBiasIdeology
spellingShingle Gertrude J. Robinson
Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives
Global Media Journal: Canadian Edition
Gender
Canadian Press
Canadian Television
Canadian Journalists
Inequality
Bias
Ideology
title Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives
title_full Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives
title_fullStr Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives
title_full_unstemmed Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives
title_short Feminist Approaches to Journalism Studies: Canadian Perspectives
title_sort feminist approaches to journalism studies canadian perspectives
topic Gender
Canadian Press
Canadian Television
Canadian Journalists
Inequality
Bias
Ideology
url http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/0801/inaugural_robinson.pdf
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