The document discusses the history of feminism and women in the broadcasting industry. It notes that the industry was historically male-dominated and women faced barriers to being taken seriously. While some women made progress in the 1930s, they still faced discrimination and received little air time. The document also discusses how sexual harassment has been a significant issue for women in broadcasting, with many facing unwanted sexual advances, comments and pressure. It provides several examples of high-profile sexual harassment cases in both broadcasting and sports broadcasting.

1. Feminism in the Broadcasting Industry
By: Rachelle Mannor
(Chapter 6)

2. Feminism or a feminist:
a belief that emancipation for women can
occur only through the destruction of male
dominated institutions or through total
separation of women from these institutions.

3. History of women
in Broadcasting

4. Being a women in the broadcasting industry hasn’t always been
common, the broadcasting industry was once male
dominated. It was believed that women in broadcasting
wouldn’t be taken seriously. Some even saying if a women's
voice came on, the radio or television would be shut off
because a woman in this industry couldn’t be taken seriously.

5. Many women in the broadcasting industry were
considered feminist. Back even in the 1930’s women
were fighting to get the equal opportunity to
perform these jobs and prove that they could be
taken seriously in this industry. In 1937 NBC a huge
broadcasting company, finally hired their very first
female broadcaster Lisa Sergio. This paved way for
women wanting to be in this industry.

6. • Although women were beginning to be accepted
into this industry was a huge step, it was just one
step of many. Back in the 1930’s when the first
women were finally hired into the broadcasting
industry, they were put on back burners, they
were still getting very little air time, and were
only being used as back ups. In July of 1937 a CBS
official told the New York Times that in
broadcasting men were more successful than
women because “mens voices carry authority”

7. In the 1970’s, Reuven Frank, the president of NBC
news told a Newsweek interviewer “I have a
feeling that audiences are less prepared to accept
new from a women's voice than from a mans, a
women's voice is not authoritative.

8. • In 1974 Laura Lipton became the first female new
anchor for top forty station and she recalled that
once she was hired and working that the program
director had told her he was happy they were getting
a positive response to her because they were
worried people would hear a women's voice and
turn their stations right off.

9. Sexual Harassment in the
Broadcasting Industry

10. Sexual Harassment is defined as
harassment (typically of a
woman) in a workplace, or
other professional or social
situation, involving the making
of unwanted sexual advances
or obscene remarks.

11. Sexual Harassment framing devices
• Accepting dominant interest
Sexual harassment accepted or justified as a less important problem
• Simple misunderstanding
Sexual harassment or justified as “mere flirting”
• Reification
Sexual harassment accepted or justified as the way things are
• Trivialization
Sexual harassment accepted or justified as a harmless joke
• Denotative Hesitancy
Sexually harassing encounter not defined by the term sexual harassment
• Public/Private expression/ Public Private domain
Sexual harassment described as part of a private rather than public life or
descried using private forms of expression

12. Sexual Harassment Cases in
Broadcasting
Being a women in any profession can lead you to being sexually harassed, especially
in a male dominated industry. Unfortunately in the broadcasting industry many
women become sexually harassed by men that are higher up in the industry and
they can do nothing about it because they do not want to be fired or written up.
Many women in this industry are also sexually harassed because of the way that
these women have to showcase themselves. Being a female broadcaster means
you must look your best at all times and wearing dresses and high heels at your
profession can attract negative male attention at times even when a women is not
looking for the attention but simply dressing the way that she is required to do so
for her job.

13. In July of 2016 a broadcaster by the name of Gretchen Carlson
spoke up about being sexually harassed by the chairman of
fox news Roger Ailes. Carlson ended up leaving the news
station and filed a lawsuit against Ailes saying he had called
her “sexy” countless times and accusing Ailes of trying to
enter a sexual relationship with her in a meeting. Mr Ailes
claimed that these reports are fake and if anything were just a
simple misunderstanding between the two of them. This
means that Mr Ailes is using the framing device of a simple
misunderstanding.
Roger Ailes Gretchen Carlson

14. Sexual harassment of female sports
broadcasters
It is unfortunate that being a female sports broadcaster
is one of the most risky jobs when it comes to sexual
Harassment. Female sports broadcasters are named one
of the most sexually harassed professions today. Being
surrounded by male athletes at their and their coaches
at their job and being asked to cover male sport games is
what causes so much harassment to these women.

15. Female sports broadcaster sexual
harassment cases
• “At one point there was an NHL player who pulled her aside to say that one of
his teammates was telling everyone on the team she covered that they had
slept together”
All of these cases were submitted by anonymous female sports reporters to ESPN in 2015
• When a female sports reporter who works for a major east coast
outlet was new to the business, an MLB team employee asked for her
phone number, which he said was for another media outlet who
wanted to have her on one of their shows. Turned out, it was for a
starter on the team. She didn't know this until the player started calling
and texting her, asking her to send photos and to talk to him before
games. She tried to explain the boundaries, but he kept contacting her
regularly, despite her pleas to him and to the team employee who had
passed on her number.

16. • I've been invited to hotel rooms while on the road more times than I can
count,” said one east coast-based female sports reporter who has worked
for newspapers and websites. “One agent was fixated on me giving him a
number of how many penises I had seen in locker rooms through the years
and how they compared. I eventually stopped calling him, which mean
that sometimes I was unable to get information I needed.
• There’s a female sports reporter based in a major
market who has been asked out repeatedly by
coaches, agents and players of various sports. Once,
an NFL player told her that it was cool she was
married because so was he. There was also the time
a source offered to let her sleep in his hotel room
during a championship game. Then there was the
time the Division I basketball coach hit on her.

17. • While covering hockey, one west coast-based sports television reporter
recalled a player skating by during a practice to say, “Nice lip gloss, it'll
look good on me tonight.” There were the GMs over the years who told
the woman that females should not be sports reporters. When traveling
on the road with pro teams, the reporter said she had players knocking on
her door at 4 a.m.
• “I follow athletes for information on twitter,
they follow me back, they message me,
continue to message me, etc. I've had a lot of
good interactions on Twitter with athletes,
professional relationships, but lots take them
too far. They call at 5 a.m. They Snapchat
inappropriate things. On the road, I make sure
to not even make eye contact with players or
even really talk to them unless I'm doing an
interview. You block everything out or else you
become a ‘whistle blower’ and no one wants
to have you around.”

18. In any workplace it is very common for women at some
point to be sexually harassed. Here is a study that I
found based on 272 women who were asked question
on sexual harassment in the work place.
• 54% out of 272 had experienced some form of workplace sexual
harassment.
• 27% of the 272 respondents experienced harassment by their
colleague, while 17% were harassed by their superior.
• 79% of the victims are women; 21% were men.
• 12% had received threats of termination if they did no comply with
the requests of the sexual harassers

19. Works cited
• Aware Association for Women. "Statistics."
AWARE RSS. N.p., 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
• Deitsch, Richard. "Sexual Harassment of
Female Sports Reporters." Sports Illustrated.
N.p., 16 Aug. 2015. Web. 23 Oc

20. • Irvin, Mariah. "Women in TV Broadcasting
News." Http://www.inquiriesjournal.com.
N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
• Kolbin, John. "Gretchen Carlson, Former Fox
Anchor Speaks Publicly about Sexual
Harassment." Http://www.nytimes.com. N.p.,
12 July 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.