Today’s stories come from The Seattle Times. There are three of them I’m responding to today – all threaded by a common link: Women and the way they are written about.
The First article is: Charles Gibson to Step Down as Anchor, Diane Sawyer to Take Over. By Bill Carter and Brian Stelter.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009796197_gibson03.html
The second article is: Levi Johnston: Palin Wanted to Adopt Grandchild. By The Associated Press.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009793602_apuspalinlevijohnston.html
And, the last article for today is: Police: ‘Chunky” Escorts Rip Off Intoxicated Men. Posted by John de Leon From Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2009787305_--_from_times_staff_reporter_2.html
The first story is about Diane Sawyer finally making it to anchor on ABC. I quote: “Sawyer, the longtime – some would say long-suffering – co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” was named successor to Charles Gibson, who is stepping down as the anchor of ABC’s “World News.” Barbara Walters called it, “a great day,” and I would have to agree. For the first time ever, two of the three main networks will have a woman at the helm. This is wonderful because, let’s face it, aren’t women the true “anchors” of society anyway – the ones that are constantly holding down the ship, no matter what the weather?
What sticks in my brain most, however, about this article is a quote by Richard Wald. “You’re going to have, for the first time ever, two women competing as solo anchors in the television framework that just – within living memory – sort of destroyed every woman who tried to do it,” said Wald, a former news exec at ABC and NBC. I want to know what he means by that? The article simply puts it out there and then lets it go. And, really, what he means and why he is saying what he is saying is at the crux of this story. Why?
Next, we have an Associated Press story, having also to do with politics and women: Palin, in particular. It lists the complaints of Levi Johnston (the father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild and Palin’s daughter Bristol’s ex-fiancé) about Palin. Johnson, who apparently wants to be a model and an actor, bashes Palin. He says she moped around the house after she lost the election; that she doesn’t really know how to shoot a gun; that she wanted to adopt his and Bristol’s child in order to cover up the pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter. But, what’s really sort of pathetic is when he begins to talk about her parenting skills: “Sarah doesn’t cook…” I don’t even like Palin, but I am setting this out here to make a point, which I will make after setting up the next example.
Finally, the third story is about escorts. It’s about a group of guys in Mountlake Terrace who get drunk and call an escort service. When the escorts get there, they don’t look like the girls in the picture they saw, which had incited them to dial-up for prostitutes in the first place. Instead the escorts look “larger and thicker” than they did in the picture, says one of the men to the police. The escorts, when they got to the men’s house, went about stealing blackberry’s and such instead of giving the boys a blow job. I have to say: good for them. However, the point is this. This is not a story about the fact that these women are selling their bodies for money, or why they are (there’s that question again: why?). This is not a story about a crime. No, this is a story about three drunk-of-their-ass men who are disappointed by their “fat” escorts. The title says it all – Police: ‘Chunky’ escorts rip off intoxicated men. The drunk men then go on to rate the escorts on a scale of one to ten. The writer makes it a point to say that one of the men called the women a “2” while the most drunk called them a “4.”
So, what do we have here – we have a view of women set in today’s paper. I’m not sure who wrote the Associated Press article, whether it was a male or a female. But mostly, what we are getting are men writing about women, and doing it poorly. And, quite honestly, it’s upsetting. The spin all of these articles take is neither funny nor informative, perhaps to the exclusion of the first article on Sawyer, which is why I have placed at the top in order to prove a point about the actual strength, intelligence, and power women can have in the world, when they are not being hit over the head by articles such as the latter two (or pigeon-holed into “long-suffering” jobs for morning shows). And still, even that one leaves questions unanswered.
As for the Palin article – it is important to know that I am a Democrat, that I voted for Obama/Clinton and that I do not agree with any of the things Palin thinks and says. But, I also don’t care whether she “cooks.”
In regards to the third story mentioned above: I believe that escorts should be taken off the streets, because it is an objectifying profession that is detrimental to women. I don’t care if the escorts that are out there are “chunky.” And, finally, I want to know: WHY has the position of anchor on a major network “destroyed” the women that have taken up the job?
Every story has a point of view, no matter how objective a journalist attempts to be. And point of view, is almost always subjective. What does this say about how society regards women, even today?
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