There's No Crying in Newsrooms

July 1, 2019
Riffing off Tom Hanks' line in A League of Their Own, There's no crying in baseball, for their title, veteran journalists, editors, and educators Gilger and Wallace cogently demonstrate why the admonition is equally apt in newsrooms. Journalism is a field in which men have always dominated, and any woman who wanted to compete needed to demonstrate that she wouldn't fall victim to her gender's stereotypical emotional fragility. It wouldn't be easy. Sexism and sexual harassment were rampant. Expectations for women were not only doubled, they were quadrupled. Hypocrisy reigned in story assignments, travel arrangements, job promotions, and, of course, salary equity. The authors interviewed nearly 100 women media leaders, from CNN's Christiane Amanpour to Vox's Melissa Bell, to assess the changing image of women in journalism, how they achieved success, and what they envision as the industry's future. The result is a commanding critique of the current state of women in media, boosted by constructive advice applicable to workplaces other than newsrooms. A crucial resource for women leaders in any field.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)