In the fall edition of Ms. magazine, author L.S. Kim interviewed former ABC news anchor Carole Simpson to discover that it used to be that the news was presented "not in the public’s interest, but in white men’s interest." If that sounded plausible forty years ago, it certainly does not today. But feminist bloggers thought that Kim's article was "one of the standout articles." Here's how Kim quoted Simpson:
As Carole Simpson, a trailblazing African American woman who was ABC’s former weekend anchor for World News Tonight, explains, the news of old wasn’t delivered by men but solely decided by them. " And they were usually white, middle-aged, and upper-middle-class," says Simpson, currently a faculty member at Emerson College School of Communications. "The news they presented was not in the public interest, but in white men’s interest. News about, for, and by women was relegated to ‘women’s pages’ or ‘women’s shows.’"
That sounds plausible when applied to the 1960s, but then Simpson goes all 1990s in her examples (Viagra arrived in 1998):
She gives a potent example: "When Viagra became available, we had stories about the 'wonder drug' night after night on the evening news. But when the breast cancer drug Tamoxifen showed promise for women suffering the disease, newswomen had to fight to get that story on the air, and stories about hormone replacement therapy, the lack of women in government medical studies, the abortion debate and in vitro fertilization."
Simpson was always vocal about what should be included in newscasts – with varying success: "If the executive producer respected my judgment (and some did) I could have real impact, making sure there were social-issue stories....I would watch closely how women and minorities were portrayed and effect change." She did not, however, hold the kind of power retained by the network’s lead anchor, who was white and male. And if the executive producer insisted on being the "boss" of the program, Simpson’s idea could be rebuffed.
There's also a nod to the opinion of PBS anchor Judy Woodruff:
Despite women’s advancements, in some areas of news journalism they continue to lag way behind. Judy Woodruff, a CNN anchor for 12 years and currently senior correspondent and moderator of 2008 election coverage for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS, points out that there are still not enough women in management – where critical decisions are made about hiring, firing, promotions, and story selection...
The piece concluded:
Yes, mass media can bring about progress and social change – but not without feminist and other alternative media pushing and guiding. As Carole Simpson says, "Things are better than they used to be, but not nearly what they could be and should be in 2007."
PS: Elsewhere in this 35th Anniversary Issue, Whoopi Goldberg, the moderator of ABC's The View, congratulated her feminist sisters in a section on what Ms. magazine means to you:
Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine changed the course of history for modern women, priod. Who can say what direction things would have gone in without that movement, but there's no question that our eyes were opened and have remained so. We just have to keep our eyes open -- as well as our ears and hearts. It's constantly evolving, that's why it's called a movement...Always look forward, baby.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Somebody get Carol, shes
December 7, 2007 - 18:59 ET by sunandsteelSomebody get Carol, shes escaped from the institution again.
What doesn’t kill you, only makes you pissed off. -Children of Bodom
Yes liberal women have
December 7, 2007 - 19:05 ET by MidAmericaYes liberal women have finally gotten a seat at the table which formally only had liberal white men. But there's still quite a few other folks who have not been invited to that table.
Liberal white men consider
December 7, 2007 - 19:46 ET by Lame CherryPerhaps of all things to be quoting here is a Playboy article I believe from 1984, but it is something to consider.
Sure liberal women have gotten jobs which were only held by men before, but no one ever looks at the DISPLACED MALES. Millions of women went to work after 1940 to at first help the war effort and later they bought into that liberated movement.......never once figuring that it was rich cartels selling debt and over work, so women could buy tons of products to speed up time they did not have which came from them not being home and now working.
Working though is the key.....women working displaced millions of black men from the payrolls. This is what the Playboy article's writer detailed. Those same black men were then forced upon welfare and eventually into criminal dope trades.
Women working caused the mass imprisonment of black men who simply gave up. This is not condemning working women but noting the fact Carole Simpson with her rather large over paid hind end is sitting in a chair a black man would now becoming wealthy in.
Plainly, blacks are once again being screwed over now by these same rich women who having found marrying some male of various colors, popping out a couple of kids, they immediately divorce him for an alimony gravy train of 22 years to add to their high salaried jobs.
These same blacks are now being shoved out again in these border busters whether they are Russian or Mexican being poured into America to fuel the same vicious 1950's cycle that liberal women bought into.
I grew up with women who would have loved not to work as they were pitching manure, milking cows, plowing, gardening, raising kids.......and then when all that was done they did the "woman's work in the home".
Carole Simpson is clueless and a racist. She is as responsible for every imprisoned black man as the merchandise mongers who started this cycle.
It is past time that the "white men" being blamed that the real responsibility starts to be discussed in the cartels and the women who bought into the work yourself to death scam.
Black men have suffered horribly.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
"Yes, mass media can bring
December 7, 2007 - 19:09 ET by DaBird"Yes, mass media can bring about progress and social change...."
I don't want the media bringing about progress and social change. I simply want them to report the news. That's all Carole, nothing more, nothing less, just the news.
We want the news...
December 7, 2007 - 21:59 ET by ThalpyWe want the news and nothing more, but dont expect it. Its amusing to watch Carole and Judy try to define their own position in the National news. Given the quality of news they provided, what do they expect? Look at the great job they did on Bill and his women. How did they treat the stories of Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, and who knows how many others. The women of the news performed as well as NOW. Look at the job NOW has done for the women of Islam. To seek NOW's aid you would have to have a death wish.
White men's issue for racist Carole Simpson
December 7, 2007 - 19:34 ET by Lame CherryIt is always amazing to listen to bigots and racists. Carole Simpson never once equates that news which affects the world is American new and not "white men news".
The annals of the 80's are filled with successful oriental, black, indian, arab, jewish etc... relevant stories to them because they were successful in an America not composed of just white men.
Simpson only reveals her racial prejudice in all of this. She should be fired just like that racist Colorado Ward Churchill.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
For Carole Simpson, it's
December 7, 2007 - 20:22 ET by motherbeltFor Carole Simpson, it's "all about me." Me, me me.
White men...pffft. What do they know/
She's the one who got to interview President Clinton and asked him how it felt for him to be talking to her, an African-American woman.
Not that she's hung up on race and gender, or anything......
"Well, that's because you're an idiot." - Elaine Benes
Isn't it ironic?
December 7, 2007 - 21:00 ET by Kirk TurnerI have news for you Carole, NOW's membership is declining; Gloria Steinem is a historical embarrassment; and if you ask 100 women if they are feminists, 95 will will answer NO! You may not know it outside of New York, but your movement failed years ago. You won't even condemn those in Islam who treat women as possessions because your nose if so far up the left-wing . . . uh, posterior that you are really not allowed to speak out by your compatriots, are you? Maybe if you shook off your cowardice, and spoke REAL truth to power and the liberal establishment, you would earn respect.
Meanwhile truly remarkable women such as Phyllis Schlafly and Condolezza Rice aren't welcome among your pompous ranks because their nose is clean. Funny how that works, isn't it? I would call it a supreme irony.
and if you ask 100 women if
December 7, 2007 - 22:14 ET by motherbeltand if you ask 100 women if they are feminists, 95 will will answer NO!
And most likely the ones who say "yes" will qualify it with "I think men and women should be paid the same for equal work."
"white man's news"
December 7, 2007 - 22:04 ET by Not AmusedYes, Carole, the media really had a lot of nerve back in the day covering all that news only white guys care about. You know, stuff like war, the economy, crime, education, medicine, technology, science, etc. Just a bunch of white guy stuff.
God Almighty
December 7, 2007 - 22:12 ET by candanceWell geez, if the best we can do is Barbara Walters and Katie Couric, then what do you expect?
Gimme a man who reports the news over a woman who fawns over celebrities any day.
I have to get up early and fill young, impressionable minds with leftwing propaganda. Wish me luck! -Professor TP&C
Is she dead? Or just brain-dead?
December 7, 2007 - 22:13 ET by scamorama"...who was ABC’s former weekend anchor for World News Tonight,"
Simpson
December 7, 2007 - 23:34 ET by jmad627FTA-- As Carole Simpson says, "Things are better than they used to be, but not nearly what they could be and should be in 2007."
My question is, who decides what things could be and/or should be? Things are almost never as it should be/could be, no matter what calender year it happens to be.
Carole just report on what is, not on what you think it ought be. This women should be fired for her racist views, and no one should sign up for any of her classes, that is if they want to learn anything otherwise they're wasting both time & money.
}}---> Carol Simpson
December 8, 2007 - 03:20 ET by Cool ArrowAll hail the trailblazers. Remember the hoopla over the First African-American coach to win the Super Bowl?
Where was the buildup and celebration for the first Mexican-American coach to win the Super Bowl.
Carol Simpson was an anchor? Who knew? Who cared?
I do know Babwa Wawa wielded considerable clout back when she was a journalist. Some of these crones are just begging for a new leases on wasted lives.
Further, Carol Simpson seems quite comfortable accepting MS. Magazine's insinuation of tokenism. She should have seen through this if she's really a journalist.
Carole Simpson,
December 8, 2007 - 08:39 ET by Uncle Don...Carole Simpson...oh, yeah, wasn't she that "news reader" that was on like Sunday afternoons sometimes...like when the real "news reader" was sick or on assignment?? why is she even still talking and why is anyone even listening?
}}---> Uncle Don
December 8, 2007 - 08:52 ET by Cool ArrowMaybe it's one of those things like they have late at night on PBS. Like DOO WOP reunion except this is a brood of old hags harping and reminding Perky Katie they were the broad shoulders she slept over to get where she is.
obsessed with race.
December 8, 2007 - 10:51 ET by Blogger Guy00001This woman is a racist. She is obsessed with race.
I'm sick of people who wake up in the morning and say "Whites hate me". No they don't. Just shut up, get to work, do the best job that you can and you'll make more money than most White males.
Carole Simpson - black bigot
December 8, 2007 - 12:17 ET by pocomocoOn November 8, 2004, Simpson appeared at a National Press Club event. Her talk was so repulsive that I sent her the following letter:
Ms. Carole Simpson
RE: Newseum – National Press Club Event – November 8, 2004
If an Olympic gold medal was given for the most inane, delusional , and insulting remark ever made, you would surely win it.
Your equating the pre-civil war states to the current red states was disgusting.
Evidently, your ability to recall the facts about who was responsible for freeing the slaves has been impaired.
1. The slaves were freed by Abraham Lincoln – a Republican president.
2. The 1964 Civil Rights Bill was pushed through the Senate by Everett Dirksen – a Republican.
Roy Wilkins, on behalf of the NAACP, expressed his appreciation in a letter after the Senate vote to end debate and proceed with a vote on the bill.
Quoting the French writer Victor Hugo, Senator Dirksen captured the essence of the moment when he said: "Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come."
3. Of the 600,000 who died in the Civil War, 300,000 were responsible for freeing the slaves. They were also from red states with thousands being from Ohio.
How ironic that you should berate the state of Ohio for not being a blue state in the last presidential election and equating it to the Southern states at the time of the Civil War.
I suggest you visit any cemetery in the state and count the number of headstones of white soldiers who died to set your ancestors free.
All-in-all, your rhetoric was the most shameful display of demagoguery I have ever heard.
Apparently, Simpson hasn’t changed. She’s just at disgusting today as she was two years ago as she is now blaming “white, middle-aged, and upper-middle-class” for suppressing women.
And to think she is now pumping students at her college with this bilge.
racism
December 8, 2007 - 11:23 ET by CatherwoodHere we see the real face of racism, the true hate. I think most people would be at peace being separate but equal. Carol Simpson is an example a racist who would never go for that peaceful solution. She is one who aims to get even at all costs. She never considers or hears the 'white man's' side of things; she just lashes out and tries to destroy. It's hard to believe that she was actually an anchor for ABC news; how could a network allow such obvious bias to run amok? Oh yes, I forgot: that's what ABC News does.
You have put in to words
December 8, 2007 - 18:45 ET by red_dragon311You have put in to words what I couldn't for a while now.....
they don't want to be "equal" even though they would never say it, they want to get "even" .
big difference, thank you for that
Sympathy for Carol
December 8, 2007 - 20:12 ET by Jay in NHGeez Carol, sorry the story on the breast cancer breakthrough drug was underreported. A larger issue of unfairness here may be the hugely dispropotionate amounts spent on breast cancer research vs the roughly analogous prostate cancer. Get a grip you loony!