Women in Media:
Facts & Figures

Thanks to the Women, Action, & the Media community for generating this information.

WHAT’S HAPPENING:

In print media:
The op-ed pages of national newspapers are about 75-85% male bylines (various sources).

MISSING: Information on Women’s Lives
A Report from the National Council for Research on Women, written by Mary Thom, about the W administration’s sudden efforts to alter, bury, distort, and stop collecting data about women and girls.
March 2004

The NYT’s Woman Problem
Is The New York Times still pro-choice? You wouldn’t know it from reading the op-ed page.
By Garance Franke-Ruta, The American Prospect. Posted March 22, 2006.

Men Dominate U.S. Newspaper Coverage, MU Researcher Finds
“COLUMBIA, Mo. - According to census statistics, women account for more than half the U.S. population, but a study from a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism shows that newspaper coverage does not reflect those numbers. María Len-Ríos, assistant advertising professor at MU, found that men appear more frequently than women by a ratio of 4-to-1 in news stories and a ratio of 2-to-1 in photographs.” [opening paragraph ]

“Women’s Writing Often Gets Lost in Translation,” by Anna Clark. Published in Women’s eNews, June 28, 2007.

On television:
In 2005, The White House Project did a study and found that 11% of the talking heads on highly influential Sunday morning political talk shows—that is, the experts on TV who debate the news—were female. A 2006 follow up study found 14%. (The White House Project)

Only 5 percent, or 67 of the television stations in this country, are owned by women. Women of color own less than one half of one percent. Those numbers come from the Free Press study aptly titled “Out of the Picture.” The percentage of women who have a majority stake in radio is a mere 3.4 percent—or 483 of 11,884 stations. Those numbers come from the group of top women working in radio, Mentoring and Inspiring Women, which, against the odds, they do… And we refer to another statistic—this one from an Annenberg study— that sums up our problem: in mainstream media, we hold about 3 percent of titles that could be described most effectively as “clout” positions. (cited by the Women’s Media Center)

Locked Out: The Lack of Gender and Ethnic Diversity on Cable News Continues
From May 2007 — three cable channels post and pre Imus controversy.

Out of the Picture
On minority and women ownership of TV stations.

In film:
Martha Lauzen, of San Diego State University, tracks the number of women producers, writers, directors and editors working in Hollywood. It declined to 15 percent last year, and we lost 3 of 4 women heads of studios—all replaced by men. (citation from Carol Jenkins, Women’s Media Center)

Joining Audience to Filmmaker by Ariel Dougherty
On problems women filmmakers are having with funding.
Published on the Women’s Media Center website on June 28, 2007

Women Directors Shine, But Numbers Still Low
By Christy Lemire
August 01, 2007

In radio:
90% of the program directors are men; 85% of the general managers to whom they report are men. Going up the chain, of the major publicly traded radio companies, collectively owning 2,364 radio stations, 86% of their top officers are men. (Source: MIW Radio group).

Talkers Magazine’s “Heavy Hundred” list, dated March 2007, includes 85 male hosts, 15 female hosts. Talkers’ full list of 250 talk show hosts: 86% men, 14% women. (Citation from the Women’s Media Center)

Stats on women in management positions in radio here and here. (click on press releases)

WHERE TO LOOK FOR MORE:

Visit the Media Report to Women and click on Industry Statistics

Resources from Mother Jones.

Alternet published this speech Jane Fonda gave on behalf of the Women’s Media Center. It has lots of good stats (short on citations) but also good stories.

Two good reports from Media Matters on race and gender here.

Who Makes the News? Global Media Monitoring Project, 2005
Analysis written by Margaret Gallagher — This report is global and comprehensive.

Numerous reports and studies on the International Women’s Media Foundation website.