Defense paper

Sabrina Williams

UWRT 1102

During the research of my topic on Women in Journalism, I came across a myriad of

jokes. The more I saw, the funnier they got, and the more apparent the lack of seriousness about

women in the workplace was. I enjoy the news, I enjoy any kind of written word as well and

truthfully I do not pay attention to which gender is behind them. But the people sitting behind

their desks writing the material that millions of people like me read and listen to, do. The

constant slander against women in the workplace of Journalism is shocking. There are comments

made that make no sense and are still said to demean the credibility of a woman sitting in the

same seat as a man and doing the same things. The most appalling display of sexism to me, is on

news segments like in CNN, FOX and MSNBC, where people are throwing out comments about

women being mean because its that time of the month or you know how pregnant women

can get, and my favorite, Its just because she hasnt been laid in a while. Because of this I

chose to make my product a combination of two things. The fist being a bottle of chill pills for

people to take to refrain from discriminating against women in the workplace and in general. The

second will be a poster to market and advertise the product to men in a way that will get their

attention. The purpose of the poster and chill pill product is to be comedic. I want to sexualize

the poster to appeal to women on one side and men on the other to show them the unfair and

negative connotations surrounding women in the workplace. I understand that not all men view
women in a certain light to where they cannot be taken seriously, but it is important to

understand that in the newsroom and in journalism, this is an ongoing battle and just because

myself or someone in the audience would not treat someone this way, some people do. And that

shouldnt be ignored.

My product is an online newsletter to CNN (Cable News Network) employees. I

originally began my project wanting to do a lot of different things, such as the Chill pill or a

commercial. But as I started giving the product life, I realized that part of the problem with

sexism in journalism (and the workplace) were the jokes. And when my mason jar of chill pills

broke last week, it was kind of the final straw on that idea. In making the newsletter I wanted to

show the corporate importance of communication about sexism in the workplace of journalism

and news. I incorporated CNNs logo, as well as photos of two of the most influential reporters

in my eyes. Zain Asher and Jim Acosta are both hard-hitting reporters with big roles in CNN. i

included an article by Christiana Amanpour about sexism in the brain, as well as an article

written by myself on Helen Gurley Brown, the creator of Cosmopolitan magazine. Highlighting

sexism in this way was to show that although the newsletter is trying to open a conversation (is it

really?) theyre still taking a detached approach from employees to do so. I added in at the end of

the Helen Gurley Brown piece that Due to inappropriate wear, we cannot display any covers of

the magazine on the company newsletter . For any questions or comments please contact HR. I

made sure to add this statement because of the stigma in company etiquette in a setting much like

news and journalism. The stigma is that telling on a coworker or complaining about rude

comments from a coworker, will get you either fired or be the subject of less air time and silence

in the workplace.
 My product from my research stemmed from the earlier research I had done during my

inquiry. I began my research by looking at how women in journalism had evolved through the

womens rights movement and social issues. I began looking into publications run by women

like Cosmopolitan Magazine created by Helen Gurley. I then looked into real life situations that

led women to take charge in the workplace like Good Girls Revolt. Both the story of Helen

Gurley and Good Girls Revolt revolve around the need to stand tall in a career field dominated

by men and societal norms that tell you not to be in charge. Helen Gurley made womens health,

sex life and lifestyles a priority to the public by creating a magazine for them. There were a lot of

opposing views at the time. The magazine first hit stands in July of 1965, it featured the first ever

written article about the birth control pill (cite). A lot of people blamed their failing marriages

and the rise of womens sexuality on publications like Cosmopolitan. Public opinion was

changing about women and Cosmopolitan was right in the middle of it.

My target audience with my product is the workforce and people of age to be in the

corporate world, so anywhere from 23-65. While there are quite a few people in the news and

journalism world over the age of 65, Im just staying with the common retirement age. Its

important that my audience be in the workplace of journalism and news because thats who Im

targeting to cut back on sexism and sexual harassment while at work. Whether it be on air or

behind the scenes, the blatant sexism taking place is being ignored all too often.

Through this project, I have an entirely different outlook on sexism in the workplace and

women being in news, media and journalism. I began this project focusing so much on the

challenges women faced and why men made it hard for them but instead found that sexism

comes in many different forms. Society has formed its own opinion around an entire gender and
displays this opinion in almost all forms of media, negatively more than positively. The more

sexism I saw, the more jokes surrounding it there were. With having to expand my way of

thinking to complete this, I gained an entirely new outlook. Which is why I believe my product

changed. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and Im glad that I had to do it in a way that I

really do think will help me in my thinking throughout college and shape how I see things later

in life.