The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism
2013; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 39; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2161-430X
Autores Tópico(s)Media Studies and Communication
ResumoBeasley, Maurine. Women of the Washington Press: Politics, Prejudice, and Persistence. Evanston, Illinois Northwestern University Press, 2012. 425 pp. $29.95.Historian Maurine Beasley has published two books and coauthored two others dealing with the portrayal and participation of women in the media. She understands newsroom gender assumptions from her firsthand experiences working as a Kansas City Star education editor and as a Washington Post staff writer. The title, Women of the Washington Press: Politics, Prejudice, and Persistence, expresses the themes in Beasley's impeccably researched history of the struggle for equity in journalism.In Women of the Washington Press, Beasley bridges the nineteenth century and the present with profiles of fascinating women such as Anne Royall, who was the first female to publish a newspaper and cover politics in the nation's capital. She includes Katharine Graham, who was the first female publisher of a major daily at the Washington Post from 1963 until 1979. Readers learn about a local television reporter from the CBS station WSUA, Andrea Roane, who continues a capital beat she started thirty years ago.Through eight chapters, Beasley traces women's experiences in their battle to report on the same subjects as male journalists. In chapter 1, Prelude, Beasley describes the impact of losing access to the Senate and House press galleries on women's efforts to succeed as political reporters. The ban began in 1880 and lasted roughly thirty-seven years. Chapter 2 introduces many talented women who established professional organizations, including the Women's National Press Club. Beasley observes that the men's ventures, such as the prestigious Gridiron Club, not only excluded female journalists, but also brought politicians and pressmen together over drinks, which reinforced the good old boy network.Chapters 3 examines the impact of Eleanor Roosevelt's weekly press conferences just for female reporters, which forced some editors to hire women to handle this new White House beat.Beasley notes in chapter 4 that although World War II offered women chances to work in jobs formerly considered men's turf, these positions mostly evaporated after the armistice with Germany and then peace with Japan. Nevertheless, women had proven that they could do the same work as men.Chapters 6 and 7 interpret the cultural milieu of the women's liberation movement and the problems women faced in establishing broadcasting careers. Radio executives claimed women's voices were not authoritative or pleasant enough for listeners. Television producers demanded physical perfection that reflected current beauty standards and were reluctant to believe women could cover hard news as well as men. …
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