The Year of Women & The Media
December 23, 2008
If ever there were arguments for the work we do here at The Women's Media Center, the events of 2008 provided them. We saw, as crystal clear as never before, what having a fair and inclusive media means to our lives -- and what happens if it doesn't exist. We were proud to be one of the most persistent voices of resistance to bias and exclusion in the media. We thank you for your support this year! Because of you, we've posted hundreds of commentaries by women, media trained and pitched some brilliant women experts, mounted several conferences on bias in the media -- and consistently "pitched a fit" (what we call our advocacy work) on behalf of women everywhere. Along with these accomplishments and because of your support, there were notable victories for women in the media to be sure: Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Campbell Brown and Soledad O'Brien finished the year in greatly improved status. Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation, Arianna Huffington at The Huffington Post, Joan Walsh at Salon, Tina Brown at The Daily Beast, and Leslie Stahl and crew at wowOwow.com roared ahead in the web world. Women reporters and analysts were in greater demand. Helene Cooper and Rachel Swarns, two women of color at The New York Times, deserve particular distinction. But we can't say there were clear victories for women, women of color and for people of color generally. And as we look ahead to 2009 we have the vision of media companies caving into themselves with the loss of thousands of jobs. The Women's Media Center sees its work cut out for itself: helping to make sure women's voices are not washed away in the deluge of bad news, and that, indeed, we can improve on the numbers. Especially in lean times, inclusive media is critical for changing the conversations in our largest public education vehicle. It's not too late to make a tax deductible gift to support our efforts: we need you more than ever. Please consider a gift to WMC so together we can start 2009 boldly! Donate! Thanks so much again for a great 2008! Wishing a wonderful holiday to all, Carol Jenkins and the Staff of The Women's Media Center PS. One of the highlights of 2008: The Women's Media Center is thrilled to be one of the recipients of The North Star News Prize, awarded by the North Star Fund. We would love to have you join us on January 15th in New York City for the ceremony-and an important discussion by leading progressive journalists on the challenges we face, post election. With: Laura Flanders, Joe Conason, Maria Hinojosa and Katrina vanden Heuval. You won't want to miss this!
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