Women Are Half of All Bloggers - But Media Aren't Noticing By Jennifer L. Pozner The Women's Media Center
Wednesday 01 August 2007
If you get your news from, well, the news media, you can be forgiven if you didn't know that nearly 800 women gathered in Chicago last weekend for the third annual convention of BlogHer, an online community of more than 13,000 blogging women diverse in age, ethnicity and political persuasion. According to a search of the Nexis news database, only three Chicago newspapers covered the conference, as if this national assemblage of women writers and videographers were simply a local story. Not one national network or cable news broadcast deigned to mention it.
Compare that to the glut of coverage bestowed on YearlyKos, a conference for left-leaning bloggers made popular by the blustering A-list boys of the "netroots." In the month leading up to Kos's gathering this coming weekend, also in Chicago, the conference's perceived political power has been discussed in print and broadcast outlets from regional newspapers such as the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Austin American Statesman to major dailies such as the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, and debated on MSNBC, ABC, Fox News, PBS and, for the satirically inclined, The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.
Despite Pew research reporting that women are actually 50% of all people who blog, corporate journalists and independent bloggers alike often prefer to fall back on the hand-wringing question, "Where are the women bloggers?" They'd know the answer if they took the time to seek us out as news sources, read our commentaries or cover events such as BlogHer.
If many believe that blogging is a primarily male sport, it is partially because old-school gender disparities in resource allocation, power and popularity long entrenched in traditional news media are replicating themselves online. In the blogosphere, young men - mostly white and mostly economically comfortable - link to, write about, promote and fund their buddies' blogs; and corporate media play star-makers, quoting, profiling and featuring the punditry of this New Boys Network. As is hardly surprising to those of us who monitor media representations of women, women who blog (especially those who write about feminist issues) are off the radar.
Yet, in massive numbers, women are using new media tools including blogs, podcasts, vlogs (video blogs), and other information communication technologies (ICTs) as a means of self-expression (craft bloggers), connection to community (mommy bloggers), political organizing (the "netroots"), and citizen journalism. They're also going online to monitor the media, as dozens of women do every day on WIMN's Voices, the group blog of Women In Media & News, the media analysis, education and advocacy organization I direct.
At BlogHer 2007, young anti-corporate activists and suburban grandmothers, GOP operatives and Democratic pollsters, DIY purse-makers and tenured academics learned new tech skills, built professional and social networks and, of course, partied together. By the end of the weekend, they chose Global Health as a focal point for collective organizing as part of the BlogHers Act initiative, designed to leverage the power of women's blogs to make a positive impact on one major issue each year.
As a speaker in a workshop about strategies to make politicians and the press address women voters' questions throughout Election '08, I offered the recent CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential Debate as a case study of the possibilities - and the pitfalls - of using new media to alter standard corporate media scripts. The partnership, hyped as a revolutionary collaboration between traditional and citizen journalism, offered a unique opportunity for individual Americans to shape media dialog, but also exemplified the limitations of such engagement as corporate media remain the gatekeepers of public debate.
One telling difference between this "real people ask the questions" debate and the usually cozy confabs between politicians and Beltway journalists was illustrated in a question on energy policy recorded by independent documentarian Stephanie Mackley. She addressed the candidates from her bathroom, pointing to the compact fluorescent light bulbs she uses there to "decrease my personal energy use ... But my question for you is, how is the United States going to decrease its energy consumption in the first place? In other words, how will your policies influence Americans rather than just using special light bulbs?"
It was a brilliant moment. By asking about broad policy proposals rather than superficial band-aid approaches to environmental crises, Mackley pierced through the usual government - and media - spin that attempts to frame collective problems as if they are caused, and can be solved, by individuals rather than by wide scale societal responses. Yet when she finished speaking, CNN's Anderson Cooper watered down Mackley's very clear emphasis on policy by rephrasing her question, asking the candidates, "How do you get Americans to conserve?" Then, when Senator Chris Dodd talked about levying a corporate carbon tax on polluters, demanding energy efficient auto standards and moving away from fossil fuels as steps to quell global warming, Cooper rebutted with, "The question was about personal sacrifice."
No, actually, it wasn't - not by a long shot. The issue of collective, societal responsibility was obfuscated, and this time the politicians didn't have to bury political policy and corporate responsibility under the sheen of personal choice; CNN's silver-haired golden boy did it for them.
Worse yet, during a campaign in which a woman is for the first time considered the front-runner for a major party's presidential nomination, only 11 of the 39 questions CNN selected were asked by women. Not surprisingly, issues affecting women's economic, social, sexual, reproductive and political rights were ignored or given short shrift. The fact that YouTube and CNN would bill their debate as a bold new step for participatory democracy yet would choose not to balance the participation of women and men indicates the need for media accountability in this brave new world of online communication, despite the much-ballyhooed gender equity it was supposed to bring.
As Cooper's reframing of Mackley's question - and CNN's choice to allow men to ask 70% of all questions - demonstrates, the Internet will not "liberate us" from sexist, racist or otherwise commercially compromised media. After all, the top 10 most popular news websites include most of the same corporate outlets that have marginalized and misrepresented women for decades: NYTimes.com, CNN.com, FoxNews.com, and their competitors. This is why, as I told BlogHer conference participants, we still need to invest time, energy and resources into long-term strategies for improving mainstream media content, production and policy. There is no simple, "five minutes a day" way, no Improving Election Coverage for Dummies booklet, to transforming the media. But as bloggers and as activists, we can use the Internet and ICTs as key components of a larger, multi-layered strategy for media justice.
To preserve our democracy and to advance women's rights, our agenda must include critical content analysis, media literacy, strategic communications, support of independent, community and ethnic media and - as blogger Elizabeth Edwards declared during her closing keynote for the conference - media policy reforms such as reversing the anti-democratic effects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and fighting for Net Neutrality.
The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 (31 Cha. 2 c. 2) is an English statute passed during the reign of King Charles II to define and strengthen the ancient prerogative writ of habeas corpus, whereby persons unlawfully detained can be ordered to be prosecuted before a court of law.
The Act is often wrongly described as the origin of the writ of habeas corpus, which had existed for at least three centuries before. The Act of 1679 followed an earlier act of 1640, which established that the command of the King or the Privy Council was no answer to a petition of habeas corpus. Further Habeas Corpus Acts were passed by the British Parliament in 1803, 1804, 1816 and 1862, but it is the Act of 1679 which is remembered as one of the most important statutes in English constitutional history. Though amended, it remains on the statute book to this day.
PLEASE repost this. scream about this. write your politicians, e-mail them. Protest, blog this. put it on MySpace, post it on LJ... this is crucial!!
if you have not already heard, benji was in a serious car accident in florida and is currently in intensive care. his family is traveling to be with him, but if you know him please take a moment to pray/contemplate/hope/meditate for his quick recovery.
we need volunteers to sell beer during the bout on Sunday. if you volunteer, this means you get to ride the party bus up (beer!), get into the bout for free (beer!), and get to help the lovely and VERY talented (in so many ways) Brat Pack girls sell beer during the bout and intermission.
if you're up for it, PLEASE message me! i need at least ONE person to help out otherwise i have to take off my skates in the third and LAST period of our CHAMPIONSHIP bout this season to sell beer to you crazed fans.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. i will be eternally grateful!
in the next few days, i will be severely downsizing my friends list.
some of you i've had an amazing relationship with in the past, but i don't think i can devote the time and attention to reading your entries. and it's even more than time management or care or keeping ties between friends. it may be your ideas about something, the way you approach a topic, or your entire perspective on life.
do not take this as an insult, or that i don't care to communicate with you again, i'm just cleaning out my life right now and this is a necessary step.
always feel free to e-mail to talk, or to ask any questions: v_herself@hotmail.com
i couldn't even begin to accurately describe my state of mind in the past two days without filling up my eyes and thinking of my cat, hai hwai (mandarian chinese for "black flower"). i've had him since i was five years old, walking down my street where he came skittering out of some bushes and followed me all the way home. i begged my parents to let me keep him, and it wasn't until he continued to follow me for the next two days that we let him into our home and cared for him. he has always been at the door when i've come home, or keeping my comforters warm by curling up at the head of my bed. he's sunbathed on the front porch while i've painted, sat in my lap when i cried watching movies, and curled up in my arms as i've slept. he has been my confidant, my comfort, my constant companion who has never once given up on me.
in these last years, i could tell he was aging and i've been preparing myself for the day when he would come to pass, but it still hurt as if i'd heard of the passing of a close friend.
now who am i going to hold hostage in my arms when i come home drunk?
Calling all artists! Hospitals have no power. Families forced from their homes. The drinking water is polluted.The death count rises. This is not a third world contry your watching on T.V, This is the United States, our home. People need our help. Help to survive and rebuild.
Grab a pen, a pencil or your brush, and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina!
Charity isn't always about dropping a buck in a coffee can and right now it's about picking up a pen and lending your talent.
Project HeART is asking artists from tattooists to painters to pick up a 4x6 index card and give heART! Design a realistic heart, paint a sacred heart, sketch a traditional heart- whatever your style may be, we want to combine your amazing talent with that of other great artists to help the victims of Katrina that have lost everything. We'll be gathering all works of art into one large piece for a charity auction on eBay, with all profits going to Habitat for Humanity. Don't have an index card? Or prefer working on another material? Any 4x6 paper will do! Your contribution is more appreciated than you will know! Participants are asked to include their name, website, company, or other information that they would like attached to their work. Also send your email address to be made aware of the upcoming auction!
Spread the word and send your submissions by September 16, 2005 to:
Project HeART c/o Brandon 1885 California Ave. Corona, CA 92881
Let us know you're participating! Email ProjectHeART@hotmail.com for more information or to sign up!
mandy called me today with the best idea i've heard in ages:
we are going to match eachother in donations each week out of our paychecks to send in one lump-sum to the affected areas in louisiana. every pay period we will donate the same amount until we have at least $500 (ideally, more, but we still have to live).
please be socially conscious during this time and consider giving those few dollars you would have for your daily coffee, lunch, or cigarettes to a worthy fund that is helping the crisis situation right now.
here is a LIST of legitimate charities that are currently accepting donations.
i'm trying to work through this, i really am. this feeling of disconnect, of being outside the box. my interactions have been so strained and unfulfilling these past couple of days - i just can't put my finger on it. words spoken from earlier this week keep ringing through my head, and even though i thought the silence would help the situation, it seems to have rendered it completely useless. i am floating alone in this stale state of mind. everyone else remains unaffected.
yet again, another example of how i take on situations and decide to remain passive-aggressive about it until it just becomes too much and i fucking explode.
i'm going to wear short shorts today (for the first time in ten years) because it's going to be so hot today (110 degrees, not since 1999!) and i just don't give a fuck.
Palliard album release party Open End Gallery (2000 W. Fulton) Doors open at 9pm All ages, BYOB $6
featuring...
Palliard Lesser Birds of Paradise Manatella DJ Mary Nisi from WLUW
This Saturday night the wonderful Chicago band Palliard is having their CD release party and they have kindly asked us to take part in the evening's festivities. So....Saturday May 14th at Open End Gallery. Come on out. The evening will start off with the ladies of Manatella, followed by Palliard and then the Lesser Birds. There will probably be some record spinnin' and iPod blastin' between sets and if all goes well, and the beer don't run out, we plan on having a post-show dance party with DJ Mary Nisi. So yeah, the beer not running out...Its BYOB but we'll be providing a good amount of ammunition for you. But it wouldn't hurt to bring your hip flask or your 40s.
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