Women, Sexism, and Misogyny in the Media: The New Agenda
By SantaFeK on September 30, 2008 at 1:30 PM in Current Affairs, NoQuarter Radio
[Note: Amy Siskind of The New Agenda is the special guest on DCMediaGirl's Hour of Power, Tuesday, September 30, at 10:30pm ET on NQR.]
There has been a great deal of concern here and on many other blogs about the MSM and their over-the-top political bias, as well as their sexism and misogyny. I would like to give a heads-up on the work of a recently formed organization, The New Agenda.
This organization’s non-partisan aims are spelled out in their mission statement:
“The New Agenda, through its members and partner organizations, seeks to advance women’s rights. The New Agenda will bring about a systemic change in the way women are treated in the media, by the government, at the workplace, and at home. To achieve our goals, we will empower women by working towards parity in the government and in the workplace. The New Agenda will also formulate an agenda based on core women’s issues which we will promote in a non-partisan fashion. The New Agenda will speak out for the millions of women in this great country who often have no voice.”
Among the good deeds done so far are calling out the WSJ on labeling Sen. McCaskill “shrill” (9/20/08), and calling out Sen. Harry Reid’s press secretary’s characterization of Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech as “shrill” (9-04-8). (Don’t you wish these guys could find some other term besides “shrill?”) They also are “raising our collective eyebrow in puzzlement” at NOW’s endorsement of Obama. All letters are posted on their web site.
Their latest action is a letter sent to NBC which aims to bring to account the very not-endearing Chris Matthews for his egregious sexism and misogyny.
The letter was sent to NBC’s President and CEO, Jeff Zucker. In it, The New Agenda demands that action be taken against Matthews “to insure that this type of sexist journalism is no longer part of the NBC brand.”
They document the “on-air degradation of girls and women,” illustrating numerous examples of “deeply disrespectful, demeaning treatment of females.” Examples (edited) include:
- Viewers have watched Matthews call Hillary Clinton a “she devil,” and repeatedly refer to her as “Nurse Ratched”
- Matthews demeaned the accomplishments of Hillary Clinton by saying, “The reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around” and that “[s]he didn’t win [New York] on her merits.”
- Chris Matthews also demeaned the accomplishments of all women stating he couldn’t think of a single female governor eligible to run for president.
- Matthews’ sexist comments and critical comments are not limited to Clinton alone. He infamously asked Nancy Pelosi if she was “going to castrate Steny Hoyer.”
- Sexist references abounded during MSNBC’s April 26 coverage of the first Democratic presidential candidates debate in the context of discussions about the only female candidate, Hillary Clinton. MSNBC host Chris Matthews focused on the appearances of Clinton and of Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, to the point that NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell reminded him that they are Yale and Harvard-educated lawyers, respectively.
- According to a Media Matters study, Matthews made 10 negative remarks about Hillary Clinton for every negative remark he made about Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, and nearly three times as many positive remarks about the former New York City mayor as about Clinton, despite his professed neutrality.
NBC has not replied to the letter.
But a few days after receiving it, they asked Amy Siskind, co-founder of The New Agenda, to appear on David Gregory’s “Race for the White House” program on MSNBC. The discussion was to be about NOW’s endorsement of an all-male ticket. According to the member newsletter:
“Amy said no. Not without the requested meeting with NBC’s Zucker and the public apology from Matthews for on-air sexism. Amy also let Gregory’s representative know that, until such time as Mr. Zucker and Mr. Matthews follow through on our requests, we would certainly be hypocritical to appear on any MSNBC show.
“Until we get that meeting and big public apology from Chris Matthews, it’s no way, no how to MSNBC. That should go for all of us and anyone we think values the fair treatment of women by the media. Spread the word.”
The New Agenda invites you to sign up and be a member, whether you’re male or female, Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Green. It is heartening to see a non-partisan effort being made on the media issues.
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