The majority of news coverage in the United States is still written or produced by men, according to a report released today by the Women’s Media Center.
At 20 of the nation’s top media outlets, men produce about 62.3 percent of news coverage, according to the report, which examined 24,117 pieces of content from newspapers, wire services, television and internet media.
The report, the fifth annual edition of its kind, has found “areas of progress, regress and, sadly, outright pushback,” Julie Burton, the president of the Women’s Media Center, wrote in a foreword to the report.
“Too many male CEOs, producers and editors remain in their comfort zones and default to hiring and promoting those who are like them,” Barton wrote. “Male executives must be willing to intentionally chart a different course, expand the talent pool without trepidation and develop a more concerted and, perhaps, radical strategy for equally sharing power with women.”
The lack of gender parity is most evident at major TV news networks, where men report three times as much of the news as women do, according to the report. At ABC, CBS and NBC, work by women field reporters and correspondents has decreased to 25 percent in 2016 from 32 percent in 2015.
At newspapers and internet media, the story is a little better. Men produce 62 percent of the news at major print outlets and 54 percent in digital media. The biggest gender disparities at America’s major newspapers are at the New York Daily News (76 percent male), USA Today (70 percent male) and The Denver Post (66 percent male).
The greatest gender parity among major newspapers is at the San Jose Mercury News (56 percent), The Washington Post (57 percent) and the Los Angeles Times (60 percent). The New York Times, which has been criticized recently for promoting men over women, has made some progress over the last year: Last year’s survey found that female bylines comprised 32 percent of its news report; this year they comprised about 39 percent.
You can read the full report here.
