Women and Journalism

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Gendered newsroom cultures and values

Although the conventional view of journalism is that it involves and requires ‘objectivity’, some feminist scholars and women journalists argue that news values would be transformed if women formed a critical mass in the profession (van Zoonen 1998: 34). Some activists and scholars have long claimed that women are likely to have distinct values and perspectives but that the experiences and demands of white men are privileged over those of women, people of colour and political dissenters within mainstream journalism. Can we argue that women journalists are challenging the mainstream worldview? This chapter considers the extent to which the professional culture has changed women's working practices and, ...