ABSTRACT

Women television journalists have long faced criticism and harassment regarding their appearance. The normalization of social media engagement in newsrooms, where journalists are expected to interact with their audience, creates new challenges for women journalists by providing forums for public judgment that was once a private matter. Research suggests that receiving harassing or abusive comments from audience members online can cause harm to the health, wellbeing, and careers of women television journalists. The public goods that are generated through such interaction are opaque at best. This essay focuses on three intersecting areas of concern pertaining to this issue: (1) The tension between journalistic standards and the requirements to engage in personal branding through social media; (2) The practice of requiring journalists to take their personal branding online, which exposes women journalists, in particular, to potentially harmful statements; and (3) The perpetuation of gender-based stereotypes and inequalities in television journalism, which we argue constitutes a social harm. We discuss these issues with reference to the existing empirical literature and an illustrative qualitative analysis of audience comments left on women news anchors’ Facebook pages. We also offer recommendations for news organizations, grounded in their duties to their workforces.

摘要

女电视台记者长期以来一直面临着批评和骚扰。社交媒体在新闻编辑室中的参与正常化，在这种情况下，新闻工作者被期望与听众互动，这为女性新闻工作者提供了新的挑战，因为它提供了曾经是私人事务的公共判断论坛。研究表明，在线接收听众的骚扰或侮辱性评论可能会对电视女记者的健康，福祉和职业造成伤害。通过这种互动产生的公共物品充其量是不透明的。本文着眼于与此问题有关的三个相互交叉的领域：（1）新闻标准与通过社交媒体进行个人品牌建设的要求之间的紧张关系；（2）要求新闻工作者在网上进行个人品牌宣传的做法，这尤其使女新闻工作者容易受到潜在有害言论的侵害；（3）电视新闻中基于性别的陈规定型观念和不平等现象长期存在，我们认为这构成了社会危害。我们将参考现有的经验文献以及对女性新闻主播Facebook页面上留下的观众评论的说明性定性分析，来讨论这些问题。我们还根据对员工的职责为新闻机构提供建议。我们将参考现有的经验文献以及对女性新闻主播Facebook页面上留下的观众评论的说明性定性分析，来讨论这些问题。我们还根据对员工的职责为新闻机构提供建议。我们将参考现有的经验文献以及对女性新闻主播Facebook页面上留下的观众评论的说明性定性分析，来讨论这些问题。我们还根据对员工的职责为新闻机构提供建议。