As you watch primary coverage, remember: few women gatekeep in news media

Posted 18 weeks 2 days ago by Jill Miller Zimon

As you consider the output of the coverage you watch over the next few days related to the remaining primaries and their results in the Democratic presidential nominee race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, keep in mind this lengthy list of data and statistics that show how poorly the news media reflects the female population - especially among the gatekeepers.

Three of my favorites:

In newspapers, 38 percent of journalists working in daily newspapers are women; 65 percent of all supervisors are men. American Society of Newspaper Editors, 2006 census http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=6506
Women who enter newsrooms are leaving prematurely. In 1992, nearly 42 percent of journalists with five to nine years of experience were female. Ten years later, that group was only 26 percent female. As of 2002, more than half (54 percent) of women in newsrooms have fewer than five years experience. The American Journalist in the 21st Century.
Only 3 percent of clout positions in mainstream media are held by women. “The Glass Ceiling Persists,” Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2003.

There are 25 more where those came from.

Cross-posted at The Moderate Voice.