Divided Media Gender Gap

The Women’s Media Center examined 20 of the most widely circulated, read, viewed and listened to US based TV networks, newspapers, news wires and online news sites.

The Women’s Media Center commissioned Global News Intelligence (GNI) researchers to analyze 27,000 pieces of content from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013. The survey focused on the gender breakdown of full-time newsroom staffers, paid freelance journalists and non-paid content contributors from the following news organizations: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Chicago Sun-Times, The Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN.com, Daily Beast, FOXNews.com and The Huffington Post. The research findings tell a stark story about where women stand across every platform in the 24/7 news cycle.

We conducted this research in order to shine a light on how well American news media -- the shaper of images, ideologies, and ideals -- allow women to craft our own narrative and include our voices in a wide-ranging public discourse over the airwaves, in print and online. The report summarizes the most recent available statistical data on:

• Representation of women in media occupations associated with determining content of news
• Representation of women in media occupations associated with determining content of television and film entertainment
• Gender equity in film reviews
• How women are depicted on entertainment television and film
• Women and digital news consumption
• Representation of women for online-only sites and in video games
• Recommendations to news organizations, producers and interview bookers

Our conclusion: American media have exceedingly more distance to travel on the road to gender-blind parity.