Tystade röster och falska minnen. Om genuspolitik i nyhetsproduktionen

Abstract

Gender-politics infuse media production processes. They are evident in the imbalance of power between male and female media workers, the 'newsroom culture, 'masculine' and 'feminine' associations with different media genre and formats and gendered assumptions implicit in judgements about journalistic 'instinct', 'rationality' and 'common sense'. Gender-politics are also evident in the resources mobilised by different pressure groups and in the way journalists evaluate the 'objectivity' and 'credibility' of their sources. Analysis of the operation of gender in media production therefore involves far more than simply counting the number of male and female personnel in different levels in the system. Concrete examples of the range of gendered dynamics are given through a case study of how 'false memory syndrome' became a high-profile issue in Britain. In the mid 1990s, a small pressure group, the British False Memory Society, achieved remarkable success in attracting media attention to their argument that many adults were accusing parents of abuse on the basis of false recollections. Drawing on interviews with 58 journalists and their sources Kitzinger examines how patriarchal power structures and ideologies influenced the media coverage at every level. She highlights the gendered ideas mobilised in defending the status of 'science' against 'psycho-babble', the sexist assumptions around 'hysteria' and the double-standard in reporting men's and women's emotions. Some journalists/editorial staff appeared to identify with falsely accused men and conjured up images of 'matriarchal terror squads'. At the same time some female academics and journalists felt constrained in their opposition to the False Memory Society because of working within professional cultures which might label them 'unscientific' or 'unprofessional'. For example, male journalists could defend their professional 'instincts' about the innocence of an accused man but female journalists who questioned this were vulnerable to accusations of 'bias'. Kitzinger concludes that attention to gender-politics is an essential component of media production analysis and that it challenges some existing assumptions about sources, media formats and journalistic practice. For example, it has implications for theories about 'hard' and 'soft' news agenda, and the status of lay and expert voices. Democratising the media, she argues, should not simply be about 'giving a voice' to 'the man in the street'.