Real Alternatives: Women Organizing in Media
Feminists within the Media
An edited version of a discussion of women and broadcasting tal<en from The Report of t he Women and t he Media Conference held at Bristol U.K. on 6th July 1974.
Though this discussion took place some time ago we feel that the points made by these women are still very valid.
HELEN. Mary, is there any advice you could give to women who don't work in the media but who are active in the Movement, as far as getting information across is concerned? Is i t worth giving interviews to the press? For instance this week I've given press interviews over this conference and wasted a lot of time answering their questions about why men weren't allowed in. What I mean is that in the Women's Movement, we've got to get across what we're doing to other women, and we must use the communications channels which are available — we can ' t always make our o w n tapes or writ e our own articles.
MARY . I'm not at all surprised that many members of the Women's Liberation Movement won't talk to the press, radio or TV at all . They have been so insulted, so denigrated. But somehow or other we've got to get over this, and I think the best way is to get onto your side women members of the staff. That's a first essential.
TAMAR . That's what I was going to say, in part. No matter what you do , you don't have to refuse. But another thing you can do is to seek out people - even if they haven't solicited interviews - who you know are sympathetic. The Women's Centre to which I belong made sure that we all gradually got to know the local Women's Page reporters who have now all written very good stories on everything to do with our centre — and they have been around when we needed t h em for other things. Like when some of our members got arrested {nothing to do with the Centre) they were the only papers which reported it correctly . One gets to know them
over time.
To sum up : you should get to know women on the staff of local papers, and secondly, when you have a particular event, pre-select who you want to talk to .
MARY. I'd like to supplement what Tamar's just said. We do not give interviews, articulate ladies though we are, o n behalf of W.I.M. We refer everybody to our Co-ordinator — we don't want any of us being trapped into making a statement which other members of the group might disagree with . You must be very careful, and if you have someone in your group who is reliable, you must say " No , I don't want to say any thing — ring her " — that is a safeguard against silly stories.
MARY . Remember, it's men who write the headlines.. Q. The thing to do is to draw up a press statement and keep to it. If they're not interested in publishing that , don't bother.
ROSE. There's another thing. If you're trying to talk about Women's Liberation as such, it's hopeless in a 3-minute radio interview. If we go along and want to talk about SPARE RIB , and they say " What is SPARE RIB ? " we say " It's a Women's Liberation magazine" — which is the first mistake because you're then asked "What is Women's Liberation? It's impossible to sum up Women's Liberation in 3 minutes, whereas if you're talking about something concrete, like equal pay or some action which you've started with a group of people, all t h e ideas you're talking about fit into everybody's frame of reference — and it seems it's then much easier to get across your information without distortion.
RENEE. I'd like to make a distinction between journalism and broadcasting. Broadcasting is a very different operation from writing . The journalists who write for newspapers are writing for people who can read the stuff . In t he 25 years of broadcasting, it's been the people who are literate, who can read and write , who get the jobs in current affairs, news, etc. And these are people who are broadcasting to people who are not used to reading things much. We need a completely new generation, a new attitude .
I entered broadcasting as an administrator, and became Head of a Scripts Department — though in fact I didn't have to read scripts.
What I soon learned was that the people who provide programmes in television and probably in radio are very different from their audience - in mass terms. And my advice to people who wish to use t he media to talk about what they feel about the world is to simply ignore their interviewers, get on there, get in there, but do your own thing. Don't copy the style, don't fall into the trap of the " question tree " or whatever these literary people get up to . Just talk about what you think people want to hear about.
I've tried to say this to Women in Media: there are no women in broadcasting that matter. Of course it matters if there are women news announcers — but what really matters is who chooses the people who make the programmes. And women ought to be up there somewhere in the choice of the content of programmes
Recently, as you know, the Government voted for commercial radio stations, and I thought that with this new service, every woman in the street should get t en women together, go to their local Adult Education Department, and ask to use equipment to do with radio - and then decide if there was anything they would want to contribute to their local radio station. And if they are then refused, they have something to fight with. You have to avoid being told, "Well, you're not trained enough, so we have to have these men."
What I was so impressed with this morning was Jekka's saying that the WOMEN had the ideas for the programmes — and I'm not surprised. I think it's just a question of using broadcasting — and broadcasting is something you can use much more easily than the newspapers.
CYNTHIA. The other half of your question was how the ordinary person sitting in his/her sitting room can protest at what they see on television. It always amazes people when they realise the power of one little letter. The BBC gets 5 letters — 5 cranks; 10 letters, 5 cranks, 5 ordinary people; 50 letters and they're quaking in their shoes. It's true — if they get 50 letters from all over the country, not just from one little group; if they get irate phone calls (and don't be thrown by answering machines — be ready with what you want to say) - if, as I say, they get 6 or 20 or 50 of these, they have their meeting the next day and they say "We must do something about this." They really are frightened, so that's the thing to do
BRENDA. I wonder what we mean by "getting a good press". After all, isn't what we're asking for democratic access to newsprint - we are asking that we be recognised as a political movement. Just like the Trade Union Movement in this country — where do they get a good press? When are their political struggles properly reported in the press? We have many of the same problems as the Trade Union Movement, and of course, we are providing our own alternatives.
MARY. Unfortunately, women In the Movement - except through SPARE RIB and WOMEN'S REPORT and other feminist journals - have no money to run their own newspaper. But I do urge all of you, all the time to write letters - not only to the newspapers, and particularly to local papers, which have more space and receive less mail - but for God's sake write to women's magazines — and I don't believe they are totally resistant to our ideas. Write a letter saying how your son has shown himself not to be a male chauvinist pig — that sort of thing would get printed. Write letters on our sort of theme, but show them that you can provide material which is acceptable in their terms. We've got to make use of the possibilities we have.
LEE. What we find in the North - in relation to both broadcasting and the press - is that when they come to YOU, they have a predetermined, pre-structured idea about what they're going to do, and they're darned well going to fit you into it whatever you say. But on the other hand, if you want to tape an item and take it to them, or offer to write an article, if it's for the press, and also take your own photographs, then they'll accept it and won't mess about with it at all. So now we just go along with our own news and materials.
RENEE. Just remember, there are NO WOMEN in broadcasting. I know that there are 50% women working in broadcasting, but they are nowhere where any decision is made. So the whole atmosphere is against you — it doesn't matter what sort of woman you are
But you can do so much more in radio. Make your own radio programmes, even on a little cassette. Take that along rather than give in to the style to which you'll be subjected. HELEN. It would be interesting if people only knew how broadcasters are trained. I recently went on a Freelance Broadcasters course at Radio Bristol, and it was the BBC at their glorious best. They tell you, all those nice BBC professional ladies, that when you go into a situation to do an interview you must be in CONTROL of everything. When you walk into someone's house to interview him/her, you throw out of the room anything which might make a noise
They have been trained fairly carefully in interview techniques, although they'll try to convince you they're just going to chat (obviously to put you at your ease). So they will be asking questions which can't be answered by Yes or No; they will ask Why when they can't think of another question; they will look constantly fascinated by what you say; and they'll be looking for a stunning last line they can fade you out on. Remember, they'll want 3 minutes at most out of you, so talk for only 3 minutes and they'll have to use it. Ten, and they've got lots they can cut out.
What we as women need to do is learn the tricks of the broadcaster's game so we can beat them at it. I'd love you all to see the list of instructions they gave me on that course. (Included at the end of this article. Points on how to interview and how to be Interviewed.)
RENEE. Forget about their ways of doing things — make up your own.
Q. But you have to know the enemy.
CYNTHIA. Helen, the only reason they tell you at the BBC - and I work there and am professionally trained — to take the phone off the hook and to put clocks out of the room — is not because they're conspiring to turn a home into a studio, but because the nature of a microphone is such that it picks up every sound in a room, so you can't hear what the person is saying.
HELEN. Yes, of course I realise that, but don't you see how that business could intimidate somebody?
LYNNE. For goodness sake don't get paranoid about the media. Whatever they try to do to you, you can be your own worst enemies. And really, things are changing - not fast enough and not for enough people - but things are beginning to change
The other thing - which is a practical thing - is, don't get uptight. Keep bashing at them, keep saying what you want to say in interviews, and keep writing letters to those who misreport. As many of you as can should write saying "He has got it all wrong" - start by making him as nervous as you can - "What an absolute hash your writer made of it today"... Go right in there fighting and say, as briefly as you can, 'This is what the conference was about. Now print my but they have an impact on the Editor and they get sent through to the writer. The Department Head gets them as well — they have far more impact than you would think. Do do it - it does work in the long ru
HELEN. I know it may be seen as my paranoia, or women's paranoia, but I think it's important for women to realise that when a reporter comes into your home, or your Women's Centre, it isn't just a casual conversation — it's a very carefully structured, well thought out technique. So if you think, "What a nice reporter - we'll have a long sympathetic chat" - that's very foolish
LYNNE. If you think that, just be wary. If you think that, be doubly suspicious, because she's doing her job too well...
JAN. Yes, I'm sure Lynne is right. And remember, our Movement is living - their scene is dead. As more women learn how to speak, we will be able to say more things.
CYNTHIA. There aren't any women at the top in television, and they don't put on your sort of programme because they say women don't want that kind of thing - and don't want to know. So you must write and tell them that you DO want to know.
Q. I wanted to back up Helen and say that media are essentially manipulative in the way they deal with you. I'd like to tell you a quick anecdote. I appeared on television once, and was with another lady from the Married Women's Association
- and the first thing that happened was that we were whipped into the make-up room although I had made up fairly care-
- and the first thing that although I had made up fairly carefully for the occasion. I had got blusher on my cheeks and lipstick and lots of mascara - I didn't want to look washedout in front of the cameras. In the make-up room, the lady from the Married Women's Association had her hair set and lots of make-up put on. I had white powder applied all over my face and my lipstick wiped off. I didn't look like the media image of Women's Liberation until I'd been made to look like it. I didn't realise what was happening until afterwards - it all happened in such a rush.
LYNNE. That also happened to me when I appeared on television. They tried to scrape my hair off my face;when I told them to stop it, I was told I could do my own hair. But I said "It's your job; you do it as I want it" - so you see, it does happen.
MAUREEN. May I make a suggestion that - instead of writing to radio stations, or approaching them - because I've tried that with films and they say, "Oh that's too radical - it'll unbalance what we're trying to do" — in the end it's pointless, as you won't get material accepted... It seems to me that the only way we will make changes is by having our own radio station and programmes. Women must go and demand air-time so they can discuss their own issues and make their own statements. Because, quite frankly, most of the women who work in media are not sympathetic anyway — their loyalties are not with me nor the Women's Movement — and we shouldn't waste our time, but demand our own air space on the existing broadcasting networks.
HELEN. We have done this in Bristol with some success. On Bristol Channel cable television we have run almost weekly half-hour programmes on women's issues, called Women's Platform, with no editorial control from outside. So the programmes have been largely on feminist issues - abortion, contraception, lesbianism, women at work, soon a programme we've helped 2 local nurses to make about their working conditions.
Someone accused us of making all the programmes deal with some aspect of sex - so we told him that for most women, their sexuality is of supreme, central importance —and is rarely given air-time
We also made a tape for an "Access" programme on BBC Radio Bristol - it's certainly worth trying local radio stations, as they are often hungrier for material and there's often a sympathetic woman freelance on the staff, if you can find her...
GAEL. What do you do in the case of documentary films, when you don't want to do something from the inside, when you're making an independent film? How d'you know which are the key programmes which might be interested, how do you know where the women are — so you can go straight to them with an idea. How do you know whom to approach? Surely there are enough women who are sympathetic who could create for us, in booklet form, an explanation of how the BBC breaks down, who is who, and who you go to for certain sorts of outlet.
RENEE. You have to be clever. There are no women in broadcasting who are talking to one another sympathetically. There are a few women who are researchers, a few appearing on the screen, but little else. The women who run the women's programmes are not likely to be sympathetic to you. They've had a tough time getting there and they've been told what to put out. They may be sympathetic to issues of wife-bashing or pensions or some startling thing which affects even them, but that's about it.
So you have to be clever. Look up who runs particular programmes in Radio Times or T V Times, or look up the names of Heads of Departments or companies. Then go to a representative of the I.B.A. (Independent Broadcasting Authority) in London or your region, and say "There are a group of women who're very interested in the structure of this or that programme, and they'll be delighted to tell you all about it. And they'll send you to the right place, and give you a lecture on it...
INTERVIEWING
Most people are very poor at interviewing and being interviewed. Below are some suggestions about how to do it — or how to recognise the tricks of the trade practised upon you.
• How to Interview
• Do your research properly. Know who you're interviewing and why.
• Stand or sit as close as is reasonable to your subject, but not opposite. This suggests aggression or passion. Sit at an angle at a table, and hide the tape recorder.
• Be in control of your machine, your environment, your subject.
• Never be aggressive or you'll lose. Be polite and friendly. For a 3-minute interview, have 3 main questions to ask. There is an accepted past-present-future sequence: i.e.
When did you first start doing this? Do you enjoy doing it? Will you go on doing it?
• You should have planned the general direction of your questions, but if your subject follows an unexpected, though interesting tack, be ready to take him/her up.
Idiosyncratic digressions from the point often make an interview come to life.
• Don't use specialist jargon unless the tape is for a specialised audience. If your interviewee does, get him/her to explain the terms.
• Remember, as an interviewer, your views don't matter. Your subject is the important person here — so get him/ her talking as much as possible to the point. You are
simply there to encourage, guide and provoke. Don't give vent to your philosophy of life, and don't ask questions which clearly reveal your bias
"How To Be Interviewed
• Appear live whenever possible. You can say exactly what you want and they can't edit you. « Always ask how long the edited interview will be, if it's pre-recorded. (To give you an idea of broadcasters' time scale: BBC Radio Bristol's magazine programme. Morning West, never uses an item longer than 2 mins. 45 sees. If you're interviewed on the street for a 'vox pop' they will use only a few seconds of your most quotable words).
• Be as concise and to the point as possible. If you don't like what they recorded, do it again. Ask for the kinds of question they'll be asking - they should at least tell
you their first question. , Say what you want to say, whatever the questions. Ignore foolish questions — don't get angry or you'll play right into their hands. Irate Women's Liberationists make good television and radio, remember..
• If you can't manage to listen or watch the interview, ask them for a transcript. They should be prepared to give you one.
• If you don't like the way they've edited your interview, let them know at once. Write, don't ring up — the message may never be passed on.
• Best of all, if you've done something newsworthy, get a friend to interview you; record it on a spool-type tape, not a cassette (at speed 7 1/2 i.p.m.) and take it to them
Women in IVIedia, 22 Torbay Road London NW6 England.
Originally set up in 1970, this is a group of women working within the media in Britain . Their first campaigns were mainly directed at the BBC ( British Broadcasting Corporation) since it is the biggest television channel and the images are created predominantly by men. They aim not only to monitor women's presentation in the media, but especially to push for more women working in responsible media positions, and to support each other in this.
In 1972 they mounted a successful campaign to ban advertising for vaginal deodorants on commercial television. In 1976 they organized a workshop on advertising, bringing together leading advertisers, media women and political figures to discuss this particular problem. Their report, " The Packaging of Women" has been widely circulated in Britain . Members of the group have also published a book containing their analyses of images of women as they are presented in the media: Is
This Your Life? /mages of Women in the Media, by Josephine King and Mary Scott, Virago/Quartet, London , 1977.
In 1979 they represented women's interests while the fourth television channel was developed. They particularly pushed for budgets for training and retraining women, and were successful.
AFFIRM - Alliance for Fair Images and Representation in the Media c/o Women's Arts Alliance 10 Cambridge Terrace News London NW1 England Acts as a central body through which British women can channel complaints. AFFIRM — like many of the American organizations — issues a newsletter, Women's Media Action Bulletin, and provides information on which particular agencies to address complaints on media imagery, as well as providing advice on how to lodge them. It was instrumental in bringing about the redesign of a particularly offensive popular book cover in 1979. Also produces stickers which can be used on advertisements - "This degrades women " and ' This exploits women.
USA
In 1974 the Los Angeles Coalition for Better Broadcasting went to every television station in Los Angeles and attempted to negotiate with them on questions of their programming and employment in relation to women. Agreements were reached with two network-owned stations, and the licenses of the others were successfully challenged by the women's group. However, the entire process took over five years and eventually went to the U.S. Court of Appeals. It was estimated that the television stations spent over a million dollars fighting the cases.
Media Report To Women, c / o Women's I n s t i t u te f o r Freedom of t h e Press 3306 Ross Place N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 USA
Annual subscription U S $ 2 0 . - , single copies $1.50.
This monthly publication is packed full of information about the extent and progress of women's media nationally and internationally. It also includes facts about existing media ( monitoring studies, statistics, etc.), about changes being made (legal actions, agreements negotiated between media and women's organizations, the founding of new periodicals and media business and products like films and records, etc.). Also covers ideas and philosophies as to what media should do (for example, defining "news" to include all people, differences between male and female journalism, women's thinking on increasing the effectiveness of media in keeping the public informed, etc.). Beginning its ninth year, it is still the only source of thus kind of information . The Media Report to Women is one of the publications of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press. Other publications by the same organization are
The Index / Directory of Women' s Media, Consists of a five year collection of annotated indices of media activities and research by indexing the pages of Media Report to Women, and thus recording for history the progress of women in increasing communication both with each other and with the general public.
The Directory of Women's Media, which appears annually, is a listing of about 500 women's groups (periodicals, presses, film, video, music, multi-media, art, etc.) and covers 600 media women and media-concerned women. Entries include addresses, phone numbers, contact people, and descriptions written by the groups or individuals themselves.
Women in Medla : A Documentary Source Book by Dr. Maurine Beasley and Sheila Gibbons contains texts from major documents. Especially valuable for courses in journalism, communications, women's studies, and history. Cost : US$5.95 paperback. 30 % discount for 3 or more copies
Syllabus Source Book on Media and Women
Outlines reading lists and other data such as where courses
are currently being taught, where students and teachers can find documents, special collections in the field, resource people and speakers.First National Conference on Feminism and Radio c/o Feminist Radio Network P. 0 . Box 5537 Washington D.C. 20016 ; USA
Conference held in 1979 in Washington D . C , at which more than 100 women participated from all over the USA, Alaska and Britain.
Cine Mujer, Apartado Aereo 2758 Bogota Colombia.
Cine Mujer is an organisation of professional women who make films with the prime concern of promoting a different image of women in all ways. Among the themes which interest this organisation are: education of women from childhood, the roles women play, women which history has overlooked, prostitution, machismo, themes related to women and health (e.g. reproduction and abortion). Their aim is to raise consciousness about the situation of women in Colombia and Latin America.
The group was started at the end of 1979 by Eulalia Carrizosa and Sara Bright who were later joined by two others: Rita Escobar and Dora Cecilia Ramirez. Their first film was called " A primera visita" (at first glance) - a documentary dealing with the daily life of a woman and the contradiction between this image and the images presented by advertising. It's a film full of humour, where the structure is clear: daily life is in black and white while advertising is in colour
SRI LANKA
The Voice of Women group has for the past year been conducting a campaign against sexism in advertising. By this we mean the use of women as sex symbols to advertise all kinds of products such as whisky, fans, tiles, tin foods, leather and rubber goods. These products are totally unrelated to the women in the advertisements whose only role is to attract the eye of the reader to the advertisements.
We have felt it necessary to start such a campaign as sexist trends in advertising have been on the increase. In our first letter to Lanka Walltiles Ltd., we expressed our regret that a subsidiary of a government corporation like Ceylon Ceramics, should indulge in vulgar advertisements. Our campaign was successful and this advertisement was withdrawn. Next we sent a letter of protest to a firm advertising a packaging service, which had taken a large half-page advertisement figuring a girl tied in ropes and dumped in a packing case. We sent copies of this letter to other firms indulging in similar advertising and copies to all advertising agents in our country, calling their attention to this type of advertising which we said was "vulgar and degrading". In all these letters we also indicated that a copy was addressed to the President of the Republic.
We received no replies to our letters but were pleased to note that many of these advertisements disappeared from our daily papers. We were also heartened to note that one Sunday newspaper reproduced our protest on the front page.
However we are continuously monitoring the press, for we realise that vigilance and sustained effort is needed in a campaign of this kind. The Voice of Women calls upon all womens' organisations and other groups to protest against sexism in the media, whether it be in advertising, news reporting or in the publication of stories and reports which are directed against women.
Association internationale des journalistes de la presse
Recently started taking up the issue of the way in which
feminine
et familiale (AIJPF)
Boulevard Charlemagne 1 — Bte 54
B-1041 Bruxelles
Belgium
women are treated by the media, and published a survey
in 1978, "How the Press Treats Women", covering France,
Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Great Britain
and Switzerland Deutscher Frauenrat
Also working for better presentation and representation of
Augustastrasse 42
D-5300 Bonn - Bad Godesberg 1
Federal Republic of Germany
women in the media, the German women's council recently
launched an appeal to all media directors to stop programmes
where women and men are presented as stereotypes, and
where women are presented as luxury products. They are
encouraging women to write as often as possible to producers
and editors whenever women are presented as caricaturesFRAUEN-FILNI PRODUKTION-GmbH c/o Barbara Kavemann 1000 Berlins 44 (FRG) Mainzer Str. 10
A project by a group of professional and non-professional women experimenting with picture-making and hoping for the financial support of feminists in order to start shooting, on July, 1981, a picture of women, by women and for women, which "perhaps will show for the first time on the screen the special atmosphere that can bloom between women".
(from COURAGE n. 12 - December 1980).
France
In 1979 women worked for more than a year to have a ban placed on a picture novel series, "Detective", whose publicity posters and contents seriously degraded women. They managed to work through a member of Parliament and eventually a government committee. Opposition to the ban was fierce, coming not only from the owner of the magazine (whose weekly circulation of 380,000 made it a money-making enter- Prise) but also from a body of journalists who decried its implications for press freedom. According to one analysis, these journalists used the event to scapegoat the women's movement by simplistically associating it with a repressive and conservative morality.
"19 Sprecher und funfmal Dagmar Berghoff" in Courage No. 1 (Jan. 1981) Bleibtreustr. 48 1 Berlin 12 Federal Republic of Germany.
Report on a women's media meeting in Cologne (called "Frauen Medien Treffen") in 1980, on two different aspects of the women and media theme: women in the media and how women are represented by media. On the first, examples are given of there being 68 women journalists against 406 men at the West German Radio Station, but 91 women cutters and only 6 men cutters, or 312 secretaries and no men among them. On the second theme, it was emphasized that men are still the detectives and women the victims, or men the doctors and women the nurses. There is also a self-criticism on "how women report on women", and a booby prize for the most misogynous television transmission. The choice was so wide they had to give some consolation prizes.
Medienkartie c / o Rita Schmidt Hauptstrasse 97 1 Berlin 62 West Germany
Has files on everything pertaining to media, particularly addresses of women working in video, film, photo and theatre