Women should represent women in media | Megan Kamerick | TEDxABQ
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0:11 - 0:13Like most journalists, I'm an idealist.
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0:13 - 0:18I love unearthing good stories,
especially untold stories. -
0:19 - 0:21I just didn't think that in 2011,
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0:21 - 0:24women would still be in that category.
-
0:25 - 0:28I'm the President of the Journalism
and Women Symposium - JAWS. -
0:28 - 0:29That's Sharky.
-
0:29 - 0:31(Laughter)
-
0:31 - 0:34I joined 10 years ago
because I wanted female role models, -
0:34 - 0:38and I was frustrated by the lagging status
of women in our profession -
0:38 - 0:41and what that meant
for our image in the media. -
0:42 - 0:44We make up half
the population of the world, -
0:44 - 0:47but we're just 24 percent
of the news subjects -
0:47 - 0:48quoted in news stories.
-
0:49 - 0:52And we're just 20 percent
of the experts quoted in stories. -
0:53 - 0:54And now, with today's technology,
-
0:54 - 0:58it's possible to remove women
from the picture completely. -
0:58 - 1:02This is a picture of President
Barack Obama and his advisors, -
1:02 - 1:05tracking the killing of Osama bin Laden.
-
1:05 - 1:07You can see Hillary Clinton on the right.
-
1:07 - 1:09Let's see how the photo ran
-
1:09 - 1:12in an Orthodox Jewish
newspaper based in Brooklyn. -
1:13 - 1:14Hillary's completely gone.
-
1:14 - 1:17(Laughter)
-
1:17 - 1:20The paper apologized,
but said it never runs photos of women; -
1:20 - 1:22they might be sexually provocative.
-
1:22 - 1:24(Laughter)
-
1:24 - 1:26This is an extreme case, yes.
-
1:26 - 1:27But the fact is,
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1:27 - 1:31women are only 19 percent
of the sources in stories on politics, -
1:31 - 1:35and only 20 percent
in stories on the economy. -
1:36 - 1:38The news continues to give us a picture
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1:38 - 1:40where men outnumber women
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1:40 - 1:43in nearly all occupational
categories, except two: -
1:43 - 1:45students and homemakers.
-
1:45 - 1:46(Laughter)
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1:46 - 1:50So we all get a very
distorted picture of reality. -
1:50 - 1:53The problem is, of course,
there aren't enough women in newsrooms. -
1:53 - 1:57They report at just 37 percent of stories
in print, TV and radio. -
1:58 - 2:00Even in stories on gender-based violence,
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2:00 - 2:04men get an overwhelming majority
of print space and airtime. -
2:04 - 2:06Case in point:
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2:07 - 2:10This March, the New York Times
ran a story by James McKinley -
2:10 - 2:12about a gang rape of a young girl,
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2:12 - 2:1411 years old, in a small Texas town.
-
2:15 - 2:17McKinley writes that
the community is wondering, -
2:17 - 2:21"How could their boys
have been drawn into this?" -
2:21 - 2:22"Drawn into this" -
-
2:22 - 2:25like they were seduced
into committing an act of violence. -
2:25 - 2:27And the first person he quotes says,
-
2:27 - 2:31"These boys will have to live
with this the rest of their lives." -
2:31 - 2:33(Groans, laughter)
-
2:34 - 2:37You don't hear much
about the 11-year-old victim, -
2:37 - 2:40except that she wore clothes
that were a little old for her -
2:40 - 2:41and she wore makeup.
-
2:42 - 2:45The Times was deluged with criticism.
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2:45 - 2:46Initially, it defended itself,
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2:46 - 2:48and said, "These aren't our views.
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2:48 - 2:51This is what we found in our reporting."
-
2:51 - 2:53Now, here's a secret
you probably know already: -
2:53 - 2:55Your stories are constructed.
-
2:55 - 2:57As reporters, we research, we interview.
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2:57 - 3:01We try to give a good picture of reality.
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3:01 - 3:04We also have our own unconscious biases.
-
3:04 - 3:07But The Times makes it sound like anyone
would have reported this story -
3:07 - 3:09the same way.
-
3:09 - 3:11I disagree with that.
-
3:11 - 3:13So three weeks later,
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3:13 - 3:14The Times revisits the story.
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3:14 - 3:18This time, it adds another byline
to it with McKinley's: -
3:18 - 3:19Erica Goode.
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3:19 - 3:22What emerges is a truly sad, horrific tale
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3:22 - 3:25of a young girl and her family
trapped in poverty. -
3:25 - 3:28She was raped numerous times by many men.
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3:28 - 3:31She had been a bright, easygoing girl.
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3:31 - 3:33She was maturing quickly, physically,
-
3:33 - 3:37but her bed was still covered
with stuffed animals. -
3:37 - 3:39It's a very different picture.
-
3:39 - 3:43Perhaps the addition of Ms. Goode
is what made this story more complete. -
3:43 - 3:47The Global Media Monitoring Project
has found that stories by female reporters -
3:47 - 3:50are more likely to challenge stereotypes
than those by male reporters. -
3:51 - 3:52At KUNM here in Albuquerque,
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3:52 - 3:55Elaine Baumgartel
did some graduate research -
3:55 - 3:57on the coverage of violence against women.
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3:57 - 4:00What she found was many of these
stories tend to blame victims -
4:00 - 4:02and devalue their lives.
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4:02 - 4:05They tend to sensationalize,
and they lack context. -
4:05 - 4:07So for her graduate work,
-
4:07 - 4:09she did a three-part series
on the murder of 11 women, -
4:09 - 4:12found buried on Albuquerque's West Mesa.
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4:12 - 4:15She tried to challenge those patterns
and stereotypes in her work -
4:15 - 4:18and she tried to show
the challenges that journalists face -
4:18 - 4:22from external sources,
their own internal biases -
4:22 - 4:23and cultural norms.
-
4:24 - 4:27And she worked with an editor
at National Public Radio -
4:27 - 4:29to try to get a story aired nationally.
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4:29 - 4:33She's not sure that would have happened
if the editor had not been a female. -
4:33 - 4:35Stories in the news
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4:35 - 4:38are more than twice as likely
to present women as victims than men, -
4:38 - 4:43and women are more likely to be defined
by their body parts. -
4:43 - 4:46Wired magazine, November 2010.
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4:46 - 4:50Yes, the issue was about
breast-tissue engineering. -
4:51 - 4:53Now I know you're all distracted,
so I'll take that off. -
4:53 - 4:55(Laughter)
-
4:55 - 4:56Eyes up here.
-
4:56 - 4:59(Laughter)
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4:59 - 5:00So -
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5:00 - 5:04(Applause)
-
5:04 - 5:05Here's the thing:
-
5:05 - 5:08Wired almost never puts
women on its cover. -
5:08 - 5:10Oh, there have been some gimmicky ones -
-
5:10 - 5:12Pam from "The Office,"
-
5:12 - 5:14manga girls,
-
5:14 - 5:17a voluptuous model
covered in synthetic diamonds. -
5:18 - 5:21Texas State University professor
Cindy Royal wondered in her blog -
5:21 - 5:25how are young women like her students
supposed to feel about their roles -
5:25 - 5:27in technology, reading Wired.
-
5:27 - 5:30Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired,
defended his choice -
5:30 - 5:33and said there aren't enough women,
prominent women -
5:33 - 5:36in technology to sell a cover,
to sell an issue. -
5:37 - 5:38Part of that is true,
-
5:38 - 5:40there aren't as many
prominent women in technology. -
5:40 - 5:43Here's my problem with that argument:
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5:43 - 5:45Media tells us every day what's important,
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5:45 - 5:48by the stories they choose
and where they place them; -
5:48 - 5:50it's called agenda setting.
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5:50 - 5:53How many people knew
the founders of Facebook and Google -
5:53 - 5:55before their faces
were on a magazine cover? -
5:55 - 5:58Putting them there
made them more recognizable. -
5:59 - 6:01Now, Fast Company magazine
embraces that idea. -
6:01 - 6:04This is its cover from November 15, 2010.
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6:04 - 6:09The issue is about the most prominent
and influential women in technology. -
6:09 - 6:11Editor Robert Safian
told the Poynter Institute, -
6:11 - 6:14"Silicon Valley is very white
and very male. -
6:14 - 6:17But that's not what Fast Company thinks
-
6:17 - 6:19the business world
will look like in the future, -
6:19 - 6:23so it tries to give a picture
of where the globalized world is moving." -
6:23 - 6:26By the way, apparently,
Wired took all this to heart. -
6:27 - 6:28This was its issue in April.
-
6:28 - 6:30(Laughter)
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6:30 - 6:33That's Limor Fried, the founder
of Adafruit Industries, -
6:33 - 6:35in the Rosie the Riveter pose.
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6:35 - 6:39It would help to have more women
in positions of leadership in media. -
6:39 - 6:40A recent global survey
-
6:40 - 6:43found that 73 percent
of the top media-management jobs -
6:43 - 6:45are still held by men.
-
6:45 - 6:48But this is also about something
far more complex: -
6:48 - 6:51our own unconscious
biases and blind spots. -
6:51 - 6:53Shankar Vedantam is the author
-
6:53 - 6:57of "The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious
Minds Elect Presidents, -
6:57 - 6:59Control Markets, Wage Wars,
and Save Our Lives." -
6:59 - 7:03He told the former ombudsman
at National Public Radio, -
7:03 - 7:06who was doing a report
on how women fare in NPR coverage, -
7:06 - 7:09unconscious bias flows
throughout most of our lives. -
7:09 - 7:13It's really difficult
to disentangle those strands. -
7:13 - 7:15But he did have one suggestion.
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7:15 - 7:18He used to work for two editors
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7:18 - 7:22who said every story had to have
at least one female source. -
7:22 - 7:23He balked at first,
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7:23 - 7:26but said he eventually followed
the directive happily, -
7:26 - 7:28because his stories got better
-
7:28 - 7:30and his job got easier.
-
7:30 - 7:32Now, I don't know if one
of the editors was a woman, -
7:32 - 7:34but that can make the biggest difference.
-
7:34 - 7:39The Dallas Morning News
won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 -
7:39 - 7:41for a series it did on women
around the world, -
7:41 - 7:43but one of the reporters told me
-
7:43 - 7:46she's convinced
it never would have happened -
7:46 - 7:49if they had not had
a female assistant foreign editor, -
7:49 - 7:51and they would not have gotten
some of those stories -
7:51 - 7:54without female reporters
and editors on the ground, -
7:54 - 7:57particularly one
on female genital mutilation - -
7:57 - 8:00men would just not be allowed
into those situations. -
8:00 - 8:02This is an important point to consider,
-
8:02 - 8:05because much of our foreign policy
now revolves around countries -
8:05 - 8:08where the treatment of women is an issue,
-
8:08 - 8:10such as Afghanistan.
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8:11 - 8:15What we're told in terms of arguments
against leaving this country -
8:15 - 8:18is that the fate of the women is primary.
-
8:19 - 8:24Now, I'm sure a male reporter in Kabul
can find women to interview. -
8:24 - 8:27Not so sure about rural,
traditional areas, -
8:27 - 8:30where I'm guessing
women can't talk to strange men. -
8:30 - 8:34It's important to keep talking about this,
in light of Lara Logan. -
8:35 - 8:37She was the CBS News correspondent
-
8:37 - 8:40who was brutally sexually assaulted
in Egypt's Tahrir Square, -
8:40 - 8:42right after this photo was taken.
-
8:42 - 8:44Almost immediately, pundits weighed in,
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8:44 - 8:47blaming her and saying things like,
-
8:47 - 8:51"You know, maybe women shouldn't
be sent to cover those stories." -
8:51 - 8:55I never heard anyone say this
about Anderson Cooper and his crew, -
8:55 - 8:58who were attacked covering the same story.
-
8:58 - 9:00One way to get more women into leadership
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9:00 - 9:02is to have other women mentor them.
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9:02 - 9:06One of my board members is an editor
at a major global media company, -
9:06 - 9:08but she never thought
about this as a career path, -
9:08 - 9:12until she met female role models at JAWS.
-
9:12 - 9:14But this is not just a job
for super-journalists -
9:14 - 9:16or my organization.
-
9:16 - 9:19You all have a stake
in a strong, vibrant media. -
9:20 - 9:21Analyze your news.
-
9:21 - 9:24And speak up when there are gaps
missing in coverage, -
9:24 - 9:26like people at The New York Times did.
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9:26 - 9:29Suggest female sources
to reporters and editors. -
9:30 - 9:33Remember - a complete picture of reality
may depend upon it. -
9:33 - 9:35And I'll leave you with a video clip
-
9:35 - 9:39that I first saw in [1987]
when I was a student in London. -
9:39 - 9:41It's for The Guardian newspaper.
-
9:41 - 9:44It's actually long before I ever thought
about becoming a journalist, -
9:44 - 9:48but I was very interested
in how we learn to perceive our world. -
9:49 - 9:54Narrator: An event seen from one
point of view gives one impression. -
9:59 - 10:00Seen from another point of view,
-
10:00 - 10:03it gives quite a different impression.
-
10:05 - 10:07But it's only when you get
the whole picture, -
10:07 - 10:10you can fully understand what's going on.
-
10:13 - 10:16[The Guardian]
-
10:16 - 10:18Megan Kamerick: I think you'll all agree
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10:18 - 10:20that we'd be better off
if we all had the whole picture. -
10:20 - 10:22(Applause)
- Title:
- Women should represent women in media | Megan Kamerick | TEDxABQ
- Description:
-
How do you tell women’s stories? Ask women to tell them. At TEDxABQ, Megan Kamerick shows how the news media underrepresents women as reporters and news sources, and because of that tells an incomplete story.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 10:27
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Women should represent women in media | Megan Kamerick | TEDxABQ | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Women should represent women in media | Megan Kamerick | TEDxABQ | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Women should represent women in media | Megan Kamerick | TEDxABQ | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Women should represent women in media | Megan Kamerick | TEDxABQ |