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Women as global newsmakers and correspondents
Women as global newsmakers
and correspondents
Does press freedom matter?
The role of women in the news -- both as correspondent and as newsmakers -- is
a rich and enduring source of debate, discussion, and scholarly research.[1]
Indeed, the debate cuts across media, continents, and issues.
Studies often seek to explore the adequacy and extent of coverage about women,
and the recent record in that regard appears mixed. Coverage of the United
Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, for example, has
been criticized for focusing not on the substance of the proceedings but on
peripheral issues such as difficulties in obtaining visas.[2] Other analyses
suggested, however, that the conference was "adequately covered" given
restrictions imposed by China.[3] Another example of an apparently mixed record
can be found in the year-to-year comparative analyses of women cited in front
page stories in twenty newspapers in the United States. Declines from the year
before were reported in 1995 and 1996;[4] however, from 1989 to 1994, women
mentioned in front page reports had more than doubled.[5]
The wide-ranging and at times contradictory discussions about women as
correspondents and newsmakers was among the issues in international
communication that helped give rise to an ambitious and collaborative
multinational analysis of the nature and variety of foreign and international
news in the closing years of the twentieth century. This collaborative analysis,
the Cooperative Study of Foreign News and International News Flow in the 1990s,
was organized by communication scholars in Britain and the United States, and
included contributors from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East,
and Oceania and the Pacific Rim. The International News Flow Study was intended
to expand upon earlier investigations, notably the 1978 UNESCO Foreign Images
study,[6] and to produce an up-to-date, detailed portrait of international news
and the flow of global news.
The quantitative centerpiece of the International News Flow Study was a content
analysis of more than 48,000 foreign and international news reports, published
or broadcast in nearly forty countries during two weeks in September 1995. The
first week of the study coincided with the Fourth World Conference on Women in
Beijing.[7]
Coding for the International News Flow Study was conducted largely by national
teams who were asked to select and code at least three domestic media -- the
country's most influential newspaper, another leading national or regional
newspaper, and a television or radio reaching the country's largest audience.[8]
Participants were to code the entire newspaper and newscast, searching for
reports that contained clear foreign or international elements. In other words,
reports carrying a foreign dateline were to be included in the analysis, as were
stories that originated under a domestic dateline but containing international
content. Participants were not to code reports containing only passing or minor
reference to other countries, such as a story discussing domestic economic
issues that referred to foreign currency exchange rates.[9]
The reports were analyzed individually for the following elements: dateline,
length, source, topic, country or countries cited most prominently, and various
aspects about the news event (such as whether it was about a disruptive event).
The gender of correspondents and the gender of principal newsmakers, or
"actors," in each report also were coded. In instances where the gender of
correspondent or actor was unclear from the report, coders were instructed to
enter "cannot tell." In cases where female and male correspondents shared the
byline or jointly filed the broadcast report, coders were to enter "both."[10]
The content analysis covered a variety of newspapers, including such prominent
or widely-circulating titles as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany, Asahi
Shimbun in Japan, Izvestia in Russia, and the New York Times in the United
States, as well as titles with smaller circulations such as Golos Armenii in
Armenia, the Observer in the Gambia, Republika in Indonesia, Maariv in Israel,
and Sud Quotidien in Senegal. Broadcast media included such voices as the BBC,
CNN, Estonian TV, Mega Channel in Greece, NHK television in Japan, Radio
Nigeria, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
This paper -- among the first submitted for peer review that analyzes data
collected in International News Flow Study -- examines the role of women as
newsmakers and as correspondents. Specifically, the paper is guided by these
questions: (1) To what extent do women figure as the principal newsmakers in
foreign and international news? (2) To what extent are female correspondents
reporting foreign and international news? In addition, this paper seeks to
examine differentiation in the role of women as newsmakers and correspondents.
That is, do women figure more prominently as newsmakers and correspondents in
countries where the media are comparatively free of government and other
controls? And, are women more likely to appear as newsmakers and correspondents
in print or broadcast media?
This paper, to be sure, does not purport to answers conclusively such
intriguing questions. While extensive, the sample of countries in the
International News Flow Study's content analysis is neither comprehensive nor
random, and the capacity to generalize from the data may be limited.
Nonetheless, the scope and design of the International News Flow Study is such
that it can offer fresh and revealing insight into long-debated issues of the
role of women as newsmakers and correspondents in foreign and international
news.
Method
Units of analysis in this study were individual print and broadcast media in
the September 1995 content analysis. This study included 131 media from 36
countries.[11]
Aspects of each medium (print or broadcast) and of each country (comparative
degree of press freedom[12]) were as independent variables in this study.
Measures of media content -- the percentage of international and foreign news
stories in which women were identified as correspondents, and the percentage of
such reports in which women were identified as the main newsmaker or "actor" --
were dependent variables. The percentages were derived from cases in which the
gender of correspondent and the gender of main actor were coded. In most reports
in the International News Flow Study, correspondent gender either was not given
or could not be determined. While the gender of the principal newsmaker was more
readily determined, it was either not given or not clear in many thousands of
reports coded.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess relationships among the
variables. A covariate, the United Nations' Human Development Index,[13] was
incorporated into the ANOVA routine.
Results
The content analysis of the International News Flow Study indicates that women
have a fairly modest role, overall, in making and reporting foreign and
international news. Men clearly are the principal correspondents and principal
newsmakers. As Table 1 indicates, fewer than 10 percent of the correspondents
and main news figures in foreign and international news are women.
[Table 1 about here.]
[Table 2 about here.]
Such a portrait, however, can be differentiated in revealing ways. Women are
significantly more likely to appear as principal newsmakers in foreign and
international reports in countries where media are "free" than they are in
countries with "partly free" or "not free" media, as Tables 3 and 4 show. Media
type -- print or broadcast -- is not a significant variable in that
relationship.
[Table 3 about here.]
[Table 4 about here.]
Incorporating the Human Development Index as a covariate in the ANOVA routine
does not significantly alter the relationship, as Tables 5 and 6 show. Level of
press freedom is significant; media type is not.
[Table 5 about here.]
[Table 6 about here.]
Women reporting about foreign and international news are more likely to work
for broadcast outlets than newspapers, as Table 7 and 8 indicate. The national
level of press freedom is not significant in that relationship.
[Table 7 about here.]
[Table 8 about here.]
Interestingly, that relationship appears to be little altered when a women is
the principal newsmaker. Table 9 shows the relationship among variables when
"female actor" is added as a covariate in the ANOVA.
[Table 9 about here.]
Incorporating the Human Development Index as a covariate does not significantly
alter the relationships of women as correspondents, as Tables 10 and 11
indicate. Type of media is still significant to the relationship; level of press
freedom is not.
[Table 10 about here.]
[Table 11 about here.]
Discussion and conclusions
The International News Flow Study of leading global print and broadcast media
offers several revealing insights into the role and status of women as
correspondents and as newsmakers in foreign and international news. Results of
this paper indicate that:
y women are dramatically overshadowed by men as makers and reporters of foreign
and international news. The result is particularly interesting, given that the
International News Flow Study's content analysis coincided with the opening
sessions of the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women, which
commanded considerable attention from international news-gathering
organizations. The result also challenges anecdotal reports suggesting that
women may be gaining enhanced profiles in reporting international news.[14]
y women are more likely to appear as principal newsmakers in foreign and
international coverage in those countries where political, economic, and legal
controls on the media are comparatively few. That is, women are more likely to
appear as main news figures in "free" media systems. Such a finding is partly
attributable, perhaps, to the comparatively high proportion of women in national
legislatures in northern and western European countries,[15] where media systems
also are ranked "free." Relatively elevated levels of political empowerment
doubtless contributes to the role of women as newsmakers. In any case, that open
media systems appear most receptive to female newsmakers stands as this paper's
most intriguing result.
y women covering foreign and international news are more likely to report for
broadcast outlets than for newspapers.[16] The results also suggest that women
were more likely to report for broadcast outlets regardless of the relative
degree of national media freedom, although those findings were not statistically
significant.
Interestingly, the Human Development Index was not found to be a significant
influencing variable for either women as international newsmakers or as
correspondents. One might have speculated that higher measures of human
development would correlate to enhanced roles for women making or covering the
news.
A derivative of the Human Development Index is the Gender-Related Development
Index and its statistical cousin, the Gender Empowerment Measure. The indexes,
both of which are compiled by the United Nations' Development Program,[17] were
not included in this analysis because they are not calculated for all countries.
The Gender Empowerment Measure, in particular, is missing for many developing
countries.[18] The incomplete data quite would have likely distorted results.
The indexes are nonetheless cited here in that they may represent intriguing
possibilities for expanding comparative research into the roles of women as
makers and reporters of foreign and international news.
Tables
Table 1. Correspondent gender.
Gender
Percent
Female
8.4
Male
28.1
Shared byline/Joint report
0.4
Not given/cannot tell
63.0
N=48,209
Table 2. Gender of main actor (principal newsmaker)
Gender
Percent
Female
8.4
Male
50.6
Both as "main actor"
2.2
Not given/cannot tell
38.8
N=48,136
Table 3. Cell means. Women as principal news figure ("main actor") in foreign
and international news, by media type and comparative level of press freedom.
Total population.
16.98
Media type.
Print
Broadcast
17.65
15.98
Press freedom
Free
Partly free
Not free
18.94
15.01
12.49
Media Type
Print
Broadcast
Press freedom
Free
19.40
18.73
Partly Free
16.58
11.19
Not Free
13.03
11.81
Table 4. ANOVA summary table.
Experimental sums of squares.
Sum of squares
df
Mean Square
F
Significance of F
Correlations
Main effects
878.721
3
292.907
6.096
.001
Press freedom
796.759
2
398.380
8.291
.000
B=.35*
Media type
118.643
1
118.643
2.469
.119
B=.14*
2-way interactions
92.505
92.505
2
2
46.253 46.253
.963
.963
.385
.385
Explained
971.226
5
194.245
4.043
.002
Residual
5525.519
115
48.048
Total
6496.746
120
54.140
R2=.368
*adjusted for other elements in model
Table 5. Cell means. Women as principal news figure, by media type and
comparative level of press freedom. Human Development Index as covariate
Total population.
16.99
Media type.
Print
Broadcast
17.79
15.82
Press freedom
Free
Partly free
Not free
18.94
14.86
12.49
Media Type
Print
Broadcast
Press freedom
Free
19.40
18.37
Partly Free
16.94
9.68
Not Free
13.03
11.81
Table 6. ANOVA summary table.
Experimental sums of squares. Covariate HDI entered with main effects.
Sum of squares
df
Mean Square
F
Significance of F
Correlations
Main effects
919.349
4
229.837
4.788
.001
Press freedom
360.667
2
180.333
3.757
.026
B=.34*
Media type
153.441
1
153.441
3.197
.077
B=.16*
HDI (covar)
.989
1
.989
.021
.886
r=.001
2-way interactions
173.875
173.875
2
2
86.938 86.938
1.811
1.811
.168
.168
Explained
1093.225
6
182.204
3.796
.002
Residual
5327.963
111
48.000
Total
6421.188
117
54.882
R2=.378
*adjusted for other elements in model
Table 7. Cell means. Women as correspondents in foreign and international news,
by media type and comparative level of press freedom.
Total population.
28.13
Media type.
Print
Broadcast
23.35
35.31
Press freedom
Free
Partly free
Not free
27.00
29.44
30.34
Media Type
Print
Broadcast
Press freedom
Free
22.40
32.94
Partly Free
25.70
38.58
Not Free
21.94
40.84
Table 8. ANOVA summary table.
Experimental sums of squares.
Sum of squares
df
Mean Square
F
Significance of F
Correlations
Main effect
4564.951
3
1521.650
5.990
.001
Press freedom
443.152
2
221.576
.872
.421
B=.12*
Media type
4333.336
1
4333.336
17.059
.000
B=.36*
2-way interactions
249.924
249.924
2
2
124.962
124.962
.492
.492
.613
.613
Explained
4814.875
5
962.975
3.791
.003
Residual
28958.689
114
254.024
Total
33773.563
119
283.811
R2=.368
*adjusted for other elements in model
Table 9. ANOVA summary table.
Experimental sums of squares. Covariate "female actor" entered with main
effects.
Sum of squares
df
Mean Square
F
Significance of F
Correlations
Main effect
5227.802
4
1306.950
5.226
.001
Press freedom
815.801
2
407.901
1.631
.200
B=.17*
Media type
4707.421
1
4707.421
18.822
.000
B=.38*
Covariate
662.851
1
662.851
2.650
.106
r=.347
2-way interactions
284.898
284.898
2
2
142.449
142.449
.590
.590
.567
.567
Explained
5512.699
6
918.783
3.674
.002
Residual
28260.864
113
250.096
Total
33773.563
119
283.811
R2=.155
*adjusted for other elements in model
Table 10. Cell means. Women as correspondents by media type and press freedom.
Covariate HDI.
Total population.
27.57
Media type.
Print
Broadcast
23.30
33.93
Press freedom
Free
Partly free
Not free
27.00
27.25
30.34
Media Type
Print
Broadcast
Press freedom
Free
22.40
32.94
Partly Free
25.79
30.90
Not Free
21.94
40.84
Table 11. ANOVA summary table.
Experimental sums of squares. Covariate HDI entered with main effects.
Sum of squares
df
Mean Square
F
Significance of F
Correlations
Main effect
3361.688
4
840.422
3.783
.006
Press freedom
107.486
2
53.743
.242
.786
B=.12*
Media type
3118.883
1
3118.883
14.039
.000
B=.36*
HDI
1.487
1
1.487
.007
.935
R=.001
2-way interactions
484.150
484.150
2
2
242.075
242.075
1.090
1.090
.340
.340
Explained
3845.838
6
640.973
2.885
.012
Residual
24437.985
110
222.163
Total
28283.823
116
243.826
R2=.345
*adjusted for other elements in model
[1]
Endnotes
See, among others, Maurine H. Beasley and Shelia J. Gibbons, Taking Their
Place: A Documentary History of Women and Journalism (Washington, D.C.: American
University Press, 1993); Kay Mills, A Place in the News: From the Women's Pages
to the Front Page (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990); Pamela J.
Creedon, ed., Women in Mass Communication: Challenging Gender Values (Newbury
Park, CA: Sage, 1989); and Julia Edwards, Women of the World: The Great Foreign
Correspondents (New York: Ivy Books, 1988).
[2] See, for example, "Coverage of Beijing '95: 'We were airbrushed out of the
picture,'" Media Report to Women 24, 1 (winter 1996): 1-4.
[3] "Frustrated news media persevered to cover world conference, NGO Forum in
Beijing," Media Report to Women 23, 4 (fall 1995): 1-3.
[4] "Women and Media," WIN News 22, 3 (summer 1996): 49, and "Slipping from the
Scene: front-page coverage of women declines," Media Report to Women 23, 2
(spring 1995): 2-4.
[5] Debra Gersh Hernandez. "Good and the bad about women's news in newspapers,"
Editor and Publisher 127, 21 (21 May 1994); 17-19.
[6] See Robert L. Stevenson and Donald L. Shaw, eds., Foreign News and the New
World Information Order (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1984).
[7] The content analysis included these dates: Sunday, September 3, through
Saturday, September 9, and Sunday, September 17, and Saturday, September 23,
1995. The data collection and compilation is virtually complete, although it is
still underway for a few countries, such as Brazil and China.
[8] In some cases -- such as Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, and Senegal -- fewer
than three media were available to coders.
[9] "Project Proposal -- Cooperative Study of Foreign News and International
News Flow in the 1990s," 3-4.
[10] "Project Proposal -- Cooperative Study of Foreign News and International
News Flow in the 1990s," 6.
[11] The countries were: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Benin,
Bulgaria, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, the Gambia, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon,
New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain,
Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela.
[12]
The 1995 comparative ratings of press freedom, compiled by Freedom House, were
applied here. Countries are ranked in the Freedom House ratings as "free,"
"partly free," or "not free." Freedom House, which is based in New York City,
says its ratings are derived from analysis of political and economic pressures
on national news media, legal restrictions on national news flow, and incidents
of harassment, intimidation, and jailing of journalists. See Leonard R. Sussman,
"The Press: Pressed and Oppressed," Freedom House
[13]
The Human Development Index is compiled by the UN Development Program from
indices measuring life expectancy at birth, literacy and educational attainment,
and inflation-adjusted gross domestic product per capita. See, "Computing the
Human Development Index," Human Development Report (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1996), 106
[14]
See, "Women are laying claim to international reporting beats," Media Report to
Women 25, 1 (winter 1997): 5-6.
[15]
For example, women hold 39.4 percent of the seats in Norway's national
legislature, 33.5 percent in Finland's, 25.5 percent in Germany's, and 23.2
percent in Austria's. (The share of seats women hold in the U.S. Congress is
10.4 percent.) See "Gender empowerment measure," Human Development Report 1996,
141.
[16] This finding tends to contradict a narrower study of U.S. foreign
correspondents conducted early in the 1990s which indicated that "[t]elevision
correspondents abroad are ... less likely [than print correspondents] to be
women." See Stephen Hess, International News and Foreign Correspondents
(Washington: Brookings Institution, 1996), 51.
[17]
See, "Computing the GDI and the GEM," Human Development Report, 107
[18]
See, "Table 3: Gender Empowerment Measure," Human Development Report, 142-143.
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