New Zealand is unique in that sports make up a disproportionate amount of news and media coverage with 44% of televisions stories being about sports or celebrities, compared to 10% worldwide (Comrie & McMillan, 2013). Males sports teams make up most of the high profile sports teams both worldwide and within New Zealand, and this reduces the proportion of women appearing in the media. Over thirty years of research on gender and sports in the media in New Zealand, men have constantly made up over 80% of sports coverage, and women less than 10% (Bruce, 2008). The coverage of women presents them as extra, or abnormal, with men’s sport being the usual. Worldwide, the main sporting teams are almost always male, such as the All Blacks and the Black
…show more content…
“Inevitably journalists, their interests, backgrounds, intellectual capacity and prejudices shape what they consider we need to know” (Goward, 2006). Therefore, if there are more men than women within journalism, and especially in the higher decision making positions, then the media presented is likely to be skewed to the perspective of males. In New Zealand, there is a discrepancy in the gender representation within public broadcasting boards compared to within private broadcasting boards. Due to a commitment by successive governments to ensure gender equality in crown owned companies, public broadcasting company’s boards are considerably more egalitarian, with 35% of board members being female, than their private counterparts with only 8% of board members being women (McGregor, 2006) . It is also very difficult for women to achieve the top position as major editors, with only 19% of editors in New Zealand newspaper’s being women, and those positions being in provincial newspapers. An interesting element that illustrates the biases and disadvantages within the Media in New Zealand is that significantly more women than men enter training to become journalists, and yet they are underrepresented in the higher positions. Consequently, this discrepancy suggests that the journalism industry is not friendly to women, either by discouraging them, not recognising …show more content…
Views held about women held within culture transfer into the news media and its portrayal of women, which further intensifies stigmas and negative perceptions of women by those in the public. Implicit biases and prejudices are a difficult thing to change, however it is possible. Potential avenues to investigate could involve encouraging women to enter a more diverse range of careers, greater public campaigns about gender equality, and focussed training of journalists to attempt to overcome their implicit biases. While difficult, studies around the retraining of implicit biases have found it is possible, especially on a more individual basis, which could be easily achieved with workplace training. If the news media works to resist the implicit biases within society, then society will not receive reinforcement from the media, which may assist in reducing gender based bias throughout
“Inevitably journalists, their interests, backgrounds, intellectual capacity and prejudices shape what they consider we need to know” (Goward, 2006). Therefore, if there are more men than women within journalism, and especially in the higher decision making positions, then the media presented is likely to be skewed to the perspective of males. In New Zealand, there is a discrepancy in the gender representation within public broadcasting boards compared to within private broadcasting boards. Due to a commitment by successive governments to ensure gender equality in crown owned companies, public broadcasting company’s boards are considerably more egalitarian, with 35% of board members being female, than their private counterparts with only 8% of board members being women (McGregor, 2006) . It is also very difficult for women to achieve the top position as major editors, with only 19% of editors in New Zealand newspaper’s being women, and those positions being in provincial newspapers. An interesting element that illustrates the biases and disadvantages within the Media in New Zealand is that significantly more women than men enter training to become journalists, and yet they are underrepresented in the higher positions. Consequently, this discrepancy suggests that the journalism industry is not friendly to women, either by discouraging them, not recognising …show more content…
Views held about women held within culture transfer into the news media and its portrayal of women, which further intensifies stigmas and negative perceptions of women by those in the public. Implicit biases and prejudices are a difficult thing to change, however it is possible. Potential avenues to investigate could involve encouraging women to enter a more diverse range of careers, greater public campaigns about gender equality, and focussed training of journalists to attempt to overcome their implicit biases. While difficult, studies around the retraining of implicit biases have found it is possible, especially on a more individual basis, which could be easily achieved with workplace training. If the news media works to resist the implicit biases within society, then society will not receive reinforcement from the media, which may assist in reducing gender based bias throughout