“When Anchormen Attack!” — WIMN’s fall lecture tour: MA 9/23, NH 9/24, NY 9/26-27
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Posted by Jennifer L Pozner September 21st, 2008 |
If you’re in MA or NH, I’d love to see you this week when WIMN’s fall lecture tour will bring me to your backyard. I’ll be delivering “When Anchormen Attack: Gender, Race & the Media in Election 2008“ — the newest program in Women In Media & News’s multimedia lecture series (see below for program details) — at:
1. Worcester State College, Worcester, MA
September 23, 11:30am; Student Center blue lounge.
Lecture is free and open to the public.2. Colby Sawyer College, New London, NH
September 24, 7pm; Wheeler Hall at the Ware Campus Center.
Lecture is free and open to the public.3. Next stop: back home to NY on September 26 - 27 to speak on a panel at what promises to be a fascinating conference at St. John’s University: “Making History: Race, Gender and the Media in the 2008 Election” (click on the previous link or this PDF for registration information). As a panelist, I’ll offer a quick-hits excerpt of my larger election-year media lecture — I’m calling this panel presentation, “White Male Electile Dysfunction: Misogyny, Bigotry and the Media in Campaign 2008.”
See my prior post for a complete list of WIMN’s fall lecture tour dates — chances are good that I might be coming to a city near you in the not-too-distant future.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
When Anchormen Attack!: Gender, Race and the Media in Election 2008
For the first time in history, American voters had the opportunity to choose between a white woman and an African American man to be the Democratic presidential nominee — and the Republicans have selected their first female vice presidential nominee — much to the media’s chagrin. In this multi-media lecture, I document how sexist backlash and racial prejudice have dominated and distorted media coverage of one of the most important moments in U.S. history.
When Sen. Clinton forgot to leave her breasts at home before giving a Senate speech, The Washington Post ran a 746-word article on the political significance of “Hillary’s cleavage.” The New York Times condemned Clinton’s “cackle,” pundits questioned whether an “emotional” “weepy” woman was fit to lead after she got choked up on the campaign trail, numerous commentators branded her a “bitch,” and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said he “hates” the NY politician, branding her an “uppity,” “witchy,” “scolding,” “anti-male,” “she-devil” who can “grate on some men” like “fingernails on a blackboard.”
At the same time, early campaign headlines like Time’s “Is Obama Black Enough?” were followed by a constant refrain of “Is America ready for a Black president?” from the mostly-white newsmen of CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and FOX. ABC debate moderator George Stephanapoulos wondered if Barack’s “cool style” is “tied to [his] race,” while cable news anchors and analysts insinuated that Obama may be a “secret Muslim,” has an “angry,” “un-American” minister, and (gasp!) doesn’t wear a flag pin. Put that all together, we learned from Fox News, and we find out that Obama “has come out of the closet” as a “domestic insurgent.” Cal Thomas warned that Michelle Obama would be our first “angry Black woman first lady,” Fox News labeled her “Obama’s Baby Mama,” and the National Review featured her frowning face on a cover story headlined, “Mrs. Grievance.”
Meanwhile, within days of Sarah Palin’s selection as John McCain’s running mate, Yahoo News encouraged readers to click on the words “Her workout, eating habits” which brought readers to a Wall Street Journal Magazine article about the potential veep’s cuisine and exercise preferences, while hundreds of news outlets weighed in on her hair, her body and her “naughty librarian” demeanor… for which CNBC’s Donny Deutsch decreed Palin the ideal way to “sell a woman in power,” because “I want her laying next to me in bed.”
None of this, of course, has anything to do with how any of our presidential and vice presidential candidates’ policy positions will affect health care, education, two wars, the economy, reproductive rights, poverty or any other issue important to women, people of color, or our country as a whole. For all the talk about “race and gender” in the 2008 campaign, why has the media been focusing so heavily on the ethnicity and biology of the candidates and failing to substantively investigate Obama, Clinton, McCain and Palin’s legislative records and policy positions on crucial race and gender issues?
In “When Anchormen Attack,” I use a multimedia clip reel (which I put together with the help of WIMN’s friends at Media Matters) news footage to expose and challenge the media’s irresponsible preference for regressive stereotypes over substantive reporting. My goal is to help audiences unpack the biases underlying this increasingly contentious election cycle, helping concerned citizens critically analyze journalism and pop culture in this election year.
If you’re based on a college or high school campus and want to bring WIMN’s lecture on gender and race issues in media coverage of this historic presidential cycle to your community, please contact WIMN via this form or by emailing an inquiry to info[at]wimnonline[dot]org. There are still plenty of dates available for the fall, and winter and spring are wide open if you’d like to plan ahead.
Also, feel free to contact WIMN if you’re interested in other lectures or media trainings in our media literacy/media education program, including topics such as:
“Bachelor Babes, Bridezillas & Husband-Hunting Harems: Decoding Reality TV’s Twisted Fairy Tales”;
“Condoleezza Rice is a Size Six, and Other Useless Things I Learned from the News: Challenging Media Misrepresentations of Women”;
“Race, Class, Gender & Katrina: The Human Impact of Disastrous Reporting”;
“Women, Media & War: How Does the Silencing of Women’s Voices in War Coverage Shortchange America?”…
among others.
September 24th, 2008 07:34
I just wanted to thank you for your presentation today and for your willingness to take so much time to answer questions afterward. As an avid supporter of independent media myself, I thought it was great that you are actually out there giving talks about this issue, and I thought it was even better that a fairly small school like Worcester State got to host it. Criticism of the corporate media is not something most people are normally exposed to (it’s hard when the corporate media is all most people normally see), and I think When Anchormen Attack! provides a well informed and well presented primer on the subject.
The use of actual news clips and quotes helps immensely in exposing the gender and racial biases in the media. Although I was already fairly familiar with many of the sexist and racist remarks made during the 2008 election, even I was astounded by some of the clips. I couldn’t believe that some of them were spoken aloud on air — well, I could, but still … they were outrageous. By taking these clips and showing them on there own, not within their natural habitat of twenty-four hours of punditry, you made clear how inappropriate the comments truly were. This is something that most watchers of news media might not normally pick up on, but your presentation made it easily apparent.
What I really appreciate is that there are people like you watching the media. While I love The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and I do think that they are often one of the biggest checks against the corporate news media, they are also comedy shows, and like you said at one point today, it shouldn’t be their job to be the reliable source of news. I’m glad that there are organizations and people like yourself keeping track of the media and calling them out when they fail to uphold journalistic integrity.
So thank you again for your presentation. I hope you continue giving it and inform people around the country, and I especially hope you can do more talks in Massachusetts and Worcester State College in the future. You’re doing an important thing.
Thank you,
Chris Goff
Class of ‘09
Worcester State College
October 12th, 2008 16:33
[…] I’ve been on the road a ton for WIMN over the last two months. These talks come on the heels of recent lectures at James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Worcester State (read a student’s response), Colby Sawyer College, Bridgewater College and Oklahoma City Community College between September 9 and today… and an invigorating, astute conference at St. John’s University, “Making History: Race, Gender and the Media in the 2008 Election,” where I presented along with fellow WIMN’s Voices blogger Carolyn Byerly and media justice allies including Leonard Baynes (left), Janai Nelson, Jordan Berg, Cathy Sandoval and many others. (A highlight of the event was a brilliant and extremely funny keynote address by Donna Brazile, who — while offering sharp political insights and media criticism from her unique position as one of the only African American women to regularly wear a “pundit” hat — also sprinkled in various recipes for Southern food… who says Sarah Palin’s the only “folksy” politico out there?) […]
July 8th, 2009 15:07
[…] Unfortunately, ethics and policy positions often take a backseat to… other positions in pundits’ fantasies. Just after Palin burst onto the national stage, Deutsch decreed her “the new feminist ideal” to “sell a woman in power,” because “women want to be her, men want to mate with her.” Though critics will attack her on “issues,” Deutsch told CNBC, “It doesn’t matter… I want her laying next to me in bed. That’s the way people vote.” (More wisdom from Deutsch-land? Hillary Clinton lost because “She didn’t put a skirt on!”) […]
July 9th, 2009 20:35
[…] The ugly, nonpartisan truth is that corporate media have always seen women in power as threatening. That’s why they trivialize women who dare seek office by obsessing over their bodies, hair, shoes, makeup, and motherhood – as if these have anything to do with their abilities and track records. Whether it’s cable news branding Hillary Clinton a “bitch,” the New York Times reporting that Condoleezza Rice wears a size six, or the Washington Post detailing Loretta and Linda Sanchez’ hairstyles, housekeeping preferences and “hootchy shoes,” journalistic double standards condition us to consider women as ladies first, leaders a distant second — and inherently less qualified. We’ll never know how many talented people were dissuaded from politics because they knew it would be significantly harder for them to run, win, and govern. […]