Women’s Media Ownership Matters
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Posted by Carolyn Byerly September 20th, 2006 |
All one has to do to remember why women should own more media companies is to watch some of the TV shows passing for public affairs programming these days.
Last week’s episode of Scarborough Country is fresh in my mind. Host Joe Scarborough brought WIMN’s own Jennifer Pozner, Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar and GOP strategist Jack Burkman to discuss Rosie O’Donnell’s controversial remarks on ABC’s The View (abc.go.com/daytime/theview/) that radical Christianity is as threatening as radical Islam, something that generated heated debate in the blogosphere. Both Jenn and Rachel were incredibly articulate, cool-headed and made good points, in Jenn’s case about the ways that some Christian extremists have terrorized women at health and abortion clinics. I, for one, would have loved to hear more of what Jenn and Rachel had to say about Rosie’s prickly claim, but Scarborough rarely let them finish a sentence before cutting in with a challenge, or a switch of directions. His style (and the program’s atmosphere) is blustery, with guests and perspectives unnecessarily pitted against each other and his manner often confrontational. This public affairs program –even with smart, informed guests – seems ultimately to be about Joe Scarborough and entertainment, not public discourse.
But, let’s not lose track of the original matter of women’s lack of ownership in media and why that matters to content. In my recent analysis of FCC reports, filed by women and minority broadcast owners, I found both groups’ holdings to be low – among the 12,844 companies filing a report for 2004-05, 436 (3.4%) were women-owned and 461 (3.6%) minority-owned. The ownership percentages are probably higher, since FCC’s files turn out to be barely managed and therefore incomplete as regards women’s and minority ownership, as I also learned. But the numbers are still miniscule compared to those companies with male-majority ownership. My analysis also showed that women own primarily FM and AM radio stations, and those tend to be in small towns or rural areas rather than urban centers. (Note: The study, “Questioning Media Access,” Carolyn M. Byerly, can soon be found on the website Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere, at: http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media/.)
Mainstream corporate television which falls outside women’s and minorities’ ownership is a world worth knowing. For example, the cable channel MSNBC, on which Scarborough Country appears nightly, is owned by General Electric, a company that builds not only household appliances but also the F-16 Fighter jet, Abrams tank, Apache helicopter, U2 Bomber, and other weapons systems. GE’s media holdings are also extensive, including 38 TV stations in 23 markets (including the Spanish-language Univision and Telemundo channels), film studios (like Universal Pictures), and a number of online companies (like CNBC.com). Because GE owns various industries, it forms a mixed conglomerate, a complex structure in which the parent company (GE) and its various other companies are all managed by individual boards of directors and chief executives. But these governing entities are eerily similar in their demographics: mostly male and white. GE, for instance, has a white male chairman, Jeffrey R. Immelt, and 25 chief executives, 75% of whom are white and male. GE’s 14 directors, comprising its governing board, are 65% white and male according to the company’s own website.
I don’t think it’s going too far out on a limb to say that we probably aren’t going to see a space for women’s ideas in broadcast until the ownership situation changes. The concerns are, of course, similar and overlapping as regards minority ownership.
A few of us are presently working to reshape ownership regulation, as I will be reporting in future postings.