Study asks: Who believes female journalists sleep with their sources?
GAINESVILLE, Fla., June 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- When a fictional female journalist appears on screen, chances are she's about to sleep with one of her sources. It's a trope that infuriates actual women in news media — and it can have real-life consequences, says University of Florida researcher Frank Waddell.
In shows like "House of Cards" and movies like "Thank You for Smoking," female reporters are quick to trade sex for information. Even when sex with sources has nothing to do with ambition — such as the hookups in "Sharp Objects," "Top Five," and the "Gilmore Girls" reboot, to name a few — it still portrays unethical behavior.
"In the past 20 to 30 years, Hollywood has really latched on to this. It's incredibly consistent," Waddell said.
At the same time, threats to female journalists have increased. A UNESCO study of 901 journalists from 125 countries shows that 73% experienced online harassment. And in a 2019 survey of women and gender non-conforming journalists in the United States and Canada, 70% experienced threats and 85% felt they had become less safe in past five years.
Waddell, an assistant professor in UF's College of Journalism and Communications, wanted to know who believes these sexist portrayals, as research shows we're most affected by media we perceive as realistic. He was surprised to uncover no difference between men and women or liberals and conservatives, who tend to indicate lower levels of trust in mainstream media. Less surprising: People who already held sexist beliefs about women journalists found the portrayals believable. With repetition, Waddell explains, those views become more entrenched, creating a vicious cycle.
Understanding who falls for skewed portrayals of female journalists is the first step toward solutions, he says.
"This is a very specific slice of the pie, but it's in the context of a larger conversation about declining trust in media overall," said Waddell, who is part of UF's Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology.
Because most people have few, if any, encounters with reporters, Hollywood can have an outsized influence. Ways to counter that could include contact between regular folks and journalists through town hall events, social media interaction, or demystifying what goes on inside a newsroom, Waddell said.
"I'm also hoping that Hollywood can do a better job finding ways to dramatize the practice of journalism," he said.
SOURCE University of Florida
