Calliste Weitenberg
The Hunter School of the Performing Arts
High Distinction
AnchorLady; The Role of the Female in Television Journalism

Chapter Two – A Good Face for Radio

“The young with old personalities of today’s news programs ultimately present the hard fact that women within this occupation suffer from a ‘use-by-date’ that is otherwise, currently non-existent for its male employees. The first hand knowledge and views gained by my interview with journalist Helen Kapolos, helped to reinforce the actuality of this situation. As she reluctantly admits;
 “You would like to think [there isn’t a use by date] but the reality is that there are too few older females reading or reporting the news in Australia. We have some brilliant examples like Maxine McKew on ABC…but in my opinion there should be more continuing to showcase their talent and experience, and that hasn’t happened yet.”
This evidence of the marginalisation of women in TV journalism as a consequence of image based criticisms, I found, relates to J. Carey’s theory that, in feminist terminology, media are thought to transmit sexist, patriarchal and capitalist values to contribute to the maintenance of social order. I had been forced to acknowledge my wider macroworld through the eyes of a feminist media theory; that of news broadcasts being conceptualized as agents of social control, passing on society’s heritage, which is deeply sexist- in order to secure continuity, integration and the incorporation of change. So maybe women’s roles within TV media were not just a product of social values and ideals, but also a method of shaping a global culture in which past societal gender constructs and relationships are maintained, allowing social continuities to exist and a necessary order to be sustained. However, to me this still didn’t justify or explain the extent of gender discrepancies, based on image, I had found within TV journalism.