This paper seeks to address the gap in Australian media studies and feminist media scholarship relating to the way newsroom culture is embodied. How does the numerical dominance of men in journalism, particularly in decision-making roles, affect newsroom culture? How do male and female journalists understand this inequality? The paper first briefly attends to research into occupational culture and feminist theories of the body to address the central question ‘How is newsroom culture embodied?’ It then engages with this question more thoroughly via an analysis of my own interviews with 17 Australian male and female print news media journalists. It finds that, even though women have entered the industry in unprecedented numbers, a ‘blokey’ or hegemonic masculinity continues to shape news newsroom culture.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AckerJoan1990, ‘Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations’, Gender and Society, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 139–58.
2.
AldridgeMeryl2001a, ‘Lost Expectations? Women Journalists and the Fall-out from the “Toronto Newspaper War”’, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 607–24.
3.
AldridgeMeryl2001b, ‘The Paradigm Contingent Career? Women in Regional Newspaper Journalism’, Sociological Research Online, vol. 1, no. 3, www.socresonline.org.uk/6/3aldridge.html
4.
AltmannCarol2006, After Port Arthur: Personal Stories of Courage and Resilience Ten Years on from the Tragedy that Shocked a Nation, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
5.
BeasleyMaurine H.1993, ‘Newspapers — Is There a New Majority Defining the News?’ in CreedonPamela J. (ed.), Women in Mass Communication, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 118–33.
6.
ByerlyCarolyn2004, ‘Feminist Interventions in Newsrooms’, in RossK.ByerlyC. (eds), Women and Media: International Perspectives, Blackwell, London, pp. 109–31.
7.
ByerlyCarolynRossKaren2006, Women & Media: A Critical Introduction, Blackwell, Malden, MA.
8.
CarterCynthiaBranstonGillAllanStuart (eds) 1998, News, Gender and Power, Routledge, London.
9.
CockburnCynthia1986, Machinery of Dominance: Women, Men and Technical Know-How, Pluto Press, London.
de BruinMarjan2000b, ‘Gender, Organisational and Professional Identities in Journalism’, Journalism, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 217–38.
13.
de BruinMarjan2004, ‘Organizational, Professional, and Gender Identities — Overlapping, Coinciding and Contradicting Realities in Caribbean Media Practices’, in de BruinMarjanRossKaren (eds), Gender and Newsroom Cultures: Identities at Work, Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ, pp. 1–16.
14.
de BruinMarjanRossKaren (eds) 2004, Gender and Newsroom Culture: Identities at Work, Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ.
15.
Djerf-PierreMonikaLofgren-NilssonMonica2001, ‘Sex-typing in the Newsroom: Feminisation of Swedish Television News Production, 1958–2000’, paper presented to the 15th Nordic Conference on Media and Communication Research, Reykjavik, Iceland.
16.
GallagherMargaret1987, Women and Media Decision-Making, UNESCO, Paris.
17.
GallagherMargaret1995, An Unfinished Story: Gender Patterns in Media Employment, UNESCO, Paris.
Higgins-MelinMargareta2004, ‘Coping with Journalism: Gendered Newsroom Culture’, in de BruinMarjanRossKaren (eds), Gender and Newsroom Culture: Identities at Work, Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ, pp. 197–222.
MacLeanSue2006, ‘Paper Sales Defy Internet Growth’, The Australian, 23 February, p. 17.
22.
McIlweeJudith S.RobinsonJ. Greg1992, Women in Engineering: Gender, Power and Workplace Culture, State University of New York, New York.
23.
MahtaniMinelle2005, ‘Gendered News Practices: Examining Experiences of Women Journalists in Different National Contexts’, in AllanStuart (ed.), Journalism: Critical Issues, Open University Press, Berkshire, pp. 299–310.
24.
MartinPatricia Yancy1996, ‘Gendering and Evaluating Dynamics: Men, Masculinities, and Management’, in CollinsonDavidHearnJeff (eds), Men as Managers, Managers as Men: Critical Perspectives on Men, Masculinities and Managements, Sage, London, pp. 186–209.
25.
MEAA and IFJ (Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and International Federation of Journalists)1996, Women in the Media in Asia: Participation and Portrayal, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Sydney.
26.
MeadeAmanda2007, ‘Cooper in Fiery Farewell’, The Australian, Media, 7 June, p. 40.
27.
NorthLouise2007, ‘“Just a Little Bit of Cheeky Ribaldry”? Newsroom Discourses of Sexually Harassing Behaviour’, Feminist Media Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 81–96.
28.
NorthLouise2009, The Gendered Newsroom: How Journalists Experience the Changing World of Media. Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ.
29.
PatemanCarole1988, The Sexual Contract, Polity Press, Cambridge.
30.
PetersBettina2001, Equality and Quality: Setting Standards for Women in Journalism, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) survey, www.ifj.org/pdfs/ws.pdf
31.
PutnisPeterAxfordBeverly2002, ‘Communication and Media Studies in Australian Universities’, Australian Journal of Communication, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 1–20.
32.
RoseGillian1999, ‘Women and Everyday Spaces’, in PriceJanetShildrickMargrit (eds), Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 359–70.
33.
van ZoonenLiesbet1989, ‘Professional Socialisation of Feminist Journalists in the Netherlands’, Women's Studies in Communication, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 1–22.
34.
van ZoonenLiesbet1994, Feminist Media Studies, Sage, London.
35.
van ZoonenLiesbet1998, ‘One of the Girls? The Changing Gender of Journalism’, in CarterCynthiaBranstonGillAllanStuart (eds), News, Gender and Power, Routledge, London, pp. 33–46.
