Media industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Media industry - Essay Example(Ross 2004). The situation is not very different in the advertising industry, as we get out see in the discussion on the industry.Women in British Media Many media commentators described the 1990s as the decade of women. The (then) Conservative government in Britain initiated plausive action to employ women in large numbers in all sectors including the media industry. There was an apprehension that there would not be enough female graduates to get job demand. In 1990, three women were actually appointed as editors of national rude(a)spapers. This is not to say that the atmosphere of gender discrimination has totally changed.Soft Jobs and the light Sex Even in the allocation of routine jobs, there is a gender divide. By convention men journalists covered news stories concerning politics, crime, finance, education and procreation women covered human interest, consumer news, culture and social policy. Men covered the facts, sensation and male angles w hile women covered the background and effects, compassion, general and female angles. The sources for men were men and women were women. The ethics behind mens stories were detached while those of womens were base on social needs. (Carter 1998 36 - Adapted from table)Is it different in the U.S. ... Broadcast journalism employs 26% women as local TV news directors, 17% as local TV managers and 13% as general managers in radio stations. The silver lining of the situation according to Byerly is that many male journalists today let out with feminism and indeed, have taken their feminist colleagues side to protest sexist news coverage as well as to demand more equalitarian newsroom policies. (Byerly 2004 113) And Internationally The situation is not much different internationally. A survey by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), worlds largest journalists association, shows that the number of women journalists varies widely from 6% in Sri Lanka to near 50% in Finland. But at higher - decision making - levels like editors, department heads and media owners, the numbers are very low and account for and 6%. The percentage is highest (10-20) in Cyprus, Costa Rica, Mexico and Sweden. (Byerly 2004 109-126)Social Milieu and Women in Media When we seek to analyze the levels at which women are employed by the media industry, it is important to realise the socio-political milieu in which the industry functions and the power the industry wields. This is because media too is a product of the socio-political milieu and cannot be considered in isolation.The social power of the communication (media) industries has prospicient been recognised as being at the heart of contemporary societies industrially, economically, politically and culturally (Marris et. al. (eds.) 1999 13). Electronic age and the advent of the internet have added a new powerful thrust to traditional media, which primarily consisted of print media, radio and motion pictures and