Women On The News, Then And Now (Hint: There Are More Now)

[Demeter]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lynn-sherr/women-on-the-news-then-a_b_30368.html

Lynn Sherr, author of "Outside the Box":

The other day, in the midst of my book tour, someone in Kansas City asked me if I thought there were any obstacles left for women in television news. "Yes," I told him. "Understanding that it wasn't always the way it is today." As I travel the country, frequently being interviewed by female anchors, I'm struck by the perception that the battles are over, that the doors are wide open, that we should just get on with covering the news and forget about such ancient history as sex discrimination. Well, okay by me. But don't forget that history - don't for a minute think that there was always a seat for a woman on the six o'clock news. I know because I was there, and because I like to think I helped make those seats more available. One incident stands out. It was 1980, and I had been a correspondent at ABC News for three years. What happened next was the subject of a memorable headline:

Sherr Gives the 'Woman's Speech'
ABC correspondent criticizes Sexism in broadcasting
--Broadcasting, December 8, 1980


An executive called to ask whether I was free to go to Hollywood, Florida, for a speech to the Radio-Television News Directors Association, a group composed of the folks who run local news operations. A group the networks like to please. A group that included the fine fellows who had once fired me from Channel 2. He added, almost as an aside, "They asked for a woman."

"Sure," I said, thinking that something was wrong with the terms of the request, something I couldn't put my finger on. But who was I to turn down a trip to the sun in December?

It wasn't until I sat down to write the speech that I realized how angry the invitation had made me. "A woman"? Any woman? Were we really interchangeable? Et cetera.

I pulled up my typewriter and pounded out some sentences, then telephoned some of my colleagues to get their input. Catherine Mackin, who had broken barriers as a tough political reporter at NBC, and then ABC, asked me to remind the local news guys that without good (female) reporters covering city hall today, they wouldn't have seasoned (female) anchors tomorrow. Barbara Walters worried that the women doing the morning newscasts at that time (Today, Good Morning America) seemed to be going backward, doing more light features while their male coanchors were interviewing the heavyweights. I drew on their complaints and on my own background, and when I put it all together, I showed it to my husband.

"Not bad," he said. "But you're letting them off the hook. You're starting too slow and being too nice. Drop the first paragraph and start with your second."

Larry, himself a television executive, knew these guys and what made them tick. He understood and supported my complaints. And he was a lifelong tilter at social conventions. He was also the best editor I have ever had in my life. Thanks to him, this is how I started my speech to the RTNDA on December 4, 1980:


CLICK ON LINK TO READ HER MOST MEMORABLE SPEECH!


--from "Outside the Box: A Memoir" by Lynn Sherr (Rodale)