The Shop Talk panelists discuss surveys that show men run the vast majority of newsrooms in local radio and TV. The same is true of daily newspapers.
Monica Anderson of the Pew Research Center also pointed out that when Deborah Turness becomes the president of NBC News, she will become the first women to head a network news division in the U.S.
Anderson also referred to an RTDNA survey from 2012 that found less than 20% of general managers at local TV stations were women, even though women accounted for 40% of the staff. In radio, around 19% of general managers were women.
Shop Talk panelist Lisa Kernek is a bit surprised by the figures because women continue to outnumber men in journalism classrooms. She suspects women are eventually choosing to pursue careers in more “family-friendly” fields such as advertising and public relations.
Panelist Mike Murray said at least half of the students in his introductory broadcasting classes are women. He said most want to go into TV, but he doesn’t know why most don’t end up with careers in the field.
