Like It Is

Reading (and writing) about Nancy Pelosi’s appointment yesterday and the media reporting of women appointed to positions of power reminded me of this article I wrote back in August 2006 on the appointment of Katie Couric to CBC, the first anchor woman and the highest paid news anchor of any gender. This is the article:

And Now For Katie Couric - Gender Bias Is Alive And Well in The US

I referred to it today and thought, for those who hadn’t had the opportunity to read it back then, it’s worth revisiting. It remains one of my most popular articles, but the reason I think it’s important is to once again remind ourselves of how differently from men women are treated in the media when they achieve positions of power. And it isn’t even subtle. Bringing your kids along to a political appointment doesn’t help, but Katie did not do that. I said then and I say now, that the media should be, collectively, ashamed. While this continues, articles like this can never be old news.
But I also wonder, don’t women read and watch the same media? Maybe we should be demanding equal treatment when reporting on our female counterparts. Perhaps then there’ll be a change. Here’s an excerpt:

And it’s bordering on the ridiculous on USA Today where the focus of recent stories on Katie Couric have been on how she’ll wear her makeup, her hair colour, her toned legs, the merits of her “over-bubbly personality” and whether she’ll be wearing stillettos. Not a word about her accomplishments as a reporter. However old, handsome or balding her male counterparts are, I hardly think this would be the focus had one of them been appointed.

She will have to not only perform, but outperform her predecessors. If ratings at CBS News don’t increase, we know who’s getting the blame. You wait, it’ll all be the fault of her hair. Or the fact that she’s beautiful.

Good luck Katie Couric. Looks like you’re going to need it in buckets since your myopic peers still seem to believe your ability to do your job is wholly dependent on your hair, your legs, and your personal life.