Current Event 2

Sexism in news broadcasting has been an issue since the late 1960s and early 70s all the time until now. The position has male-dominated in the past but in the #MeToo era more and more women have obtained these position but of course once again in subordinate position compared to their male-counterparts. The two main traits of sexism in the news broadcasting industry are; aesthetics and power. In other words, women are subject to strict physical standards that usually cost them the job, they might be pushed out for not looking young enough, thing or even facially attractive which is ridiculous since their male-counterparts face almost no physical requirements apart from dress-code. Secondly, television news heavily focuses on celebrity anchors (usually men) who make sexist comment on air but face no repercussions because of their value to the networks and the female co-workers rarely speak out of fear of the consequences that may follow. Since television is a visual medium, women must adhere to a particular beauty standard on television that isn’t required of their male counterparts. And for some reason it is believed it is all done in the hopes of ‘bettering the news product’. This goes as far as female anchors asking to edit shots of the broadcast to visually enhance physical features and make them look more appealing, these anchors do this to protect themselves in an industry where they could get dumped easily for not adhering to the code. According to 2017 Women’s Media Center report men report 3 times as much as women do on ABC, CBS and NBC and it’s all out of choice.(Yarrow, 2018) Choice of the male anchors that is.

Sexism in the News Broadcasting Industry