Vote411, a service of the 
Watch Your Mouthpiece:
Speaking up about Media, Message, and Megaphone
Email this page
Media is the essence of speaking up. Because American culture is so media saturated, everything we do or think is filtered through a media lens. With today's technology in our flat world, we're all newsmakers, media creators, and media consumers.
The Glass Ceiling in Media
Pink Magazine, which covers career and lifestyle issues for women had an interesting article on why there is still a glass ceiling in media by Tekla Szymanski. An excerpt:
According to Catalyst, women make up about 38 percent of journalists in the United States; however, they often feel that they need to work twice as hard to get ahead. "One reason the glass ceiling remains strong in 
broadcast and newspapers is media consolidation, which squeezes out positions at the top and in mid-management, where women might have been in the pipeline to advance," explains Gloria Feldt, an author and activist for women's rights. "When resources are scarce, the old boys' network closes ranks and chooses leaders it feels most comfortable with – those most like themselves."
Even today, women seem less likely than men to be seen and heard in public. They don't appear as often on the Sunday morning talk shows, and, according to the New York Times, 65 to 75 percent of unsolicited Op-Ed manuscripts nationwide are submitted by men.
Catherine Orenstein, author, activist and Op-Ed writer, has been spearheading "The Op-Ed Project," that so far has trained hundreds of women leaders to write for Op-Ed pages. Orenstein sees the silence of women Op-Ed writers as the root of women's under-representation in the media's top positions and in the public debate...
The solution? Take a gander at the book lower left! A tip of the hat to Miriam Peskowitz, author of The Daring Book for Girls.
Photo of the ever daring Kathleen Turner and me at Bookhampton in Amagansett by Durell Godfrey.
Those Daring WomenGirlsLadies!
WomenGirlsLadies panel hamming it up. L-R: Deborah Siegel, Kristal Brent Zook, Yours Truly, Courtney Martin, four diverse authors and media commentators who speak about what feminism is and what its agenda should be in the future. Read CMU's newspaper account and The Harvard Crimson's report of this fresh conversation. We'd love to speak to your university or organization...contact us now to book it.
The 6 C's: Why We Must Embrace Controversy
Recently I spoke to the first "class" of Progressive Women's Voices, an exciting new program of the Women's Media Center, where I serve on the board. I was asked about the lessons I learned leading a social movement where I worked a great deal with the media and messages as vehicles of social change. Here are my comments:
Once, soon after we arrived in New York, my husband Alex and I were on the corner of 57th and 8th talking rather intensely with our realtor. A homeless man approached us and asked, "Will you give me the money for a lobster dinner?" We paid no attention and went on talking about our apartment options.
"Will you give me the money for a lobster dinner?" the man repeated a little louder. Again, we didn't respond. Again the man made his request. At this point, my Brooklyn born husband quipped back...read the rest
Recomended reading of the media's presidential campaign coverage
Hillary's Pre-Tuesday Coverage Was Far From Super Women's eNews, 02/06/08 By Caryl Rivers
It was a Super-Twofer week, with Super Tuesday following fast on the heels of the Super Bowl. Throughout, Caryl Rivers saw a dazzling display of heroic male myth that helps stoke a media bias against Hillary's right to equal historic billing..
Turning a forced apology into a promotional campaign seems like a pretty good sign that MSNBC and Matthews don't "get it" at all.
But it isn't the best sign. Consider what else has happened during MSNBC broadcasts since Matthews' apology.
First, Matthews' MSNBC colleagues leapt to his defense. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and reporter David Shuster lashed out; Scarborough declaring it "offensive" and "outrageous" that Matthews had to apologize, and Shuster adding "this is absolutely infuriating, to see the way these groups used him for pure political gain is absolutely infuriating." As I noted at the time, Scarborough and Shuster have their own history of questionable comments about women...
She Who Defines the Question, Wins the Debate
DISCOVER THE WOMEN'S MEDIA CENTER: My chief volunteer commitment is to the Women's Media Center. Here I'm with other board members (l-r back row, Helen Zia, Gloria Steinem, Carol Jenkins; front row, Robin Morgan, me, Cristina Azocar, Jane Fonda with Tulia.)
See the Web site for more information about WMC's important work to make the female half of the world visible and powerful in the media.
Don Imus, Chris Matthews, David Schuster, Rush Limbaugh and others have shown us just how needed the work of the Women's Media Center is.
Speaking Up about Women's Voices Online
Catch all my Women's Voices Online posts here.
Don’t Tell Women How to Vote, Andrew Sullivan!
Posted by Gloria Feldt
February 5th, 2008
For the last few days, the internet has been buzzing with impassioned presidential endorsements by feminists, many of whom have been in or even leading the movement for decades and others who are the bright young voices of the present and the future. This extraordinary piece of cultural criticism by Robin Morgan is my personal […]