This Washington Post profile of Reason parties is both saturated with an undertone of snark and fairly on-the-nose. The one thing I’m a little perplexed about is the choice to repeatedly emphasize the “mostly male” editorial staff. It’s accurate—only four of 15 editors are women—and it surely merits comment, even if it’s a familiar point, that women are underrepresented in political opinion journalism. But that’s precisely the point: Women are underrepresented in political opinion journalism. I count the same number of women on the rather larger editorial staff of The New Republic and only one above “editorial assistant” level at The Weekly Standard. The further left mags, such as TAP and The Nation do somewhat better, but it’s lopsided all around.
I’ll Have a Martini With a Twist of Transportation Policy
December 24th, 2007 · 3 Comments
Tags: Journalism & the Media
3 responses so far ↓
1 BostonSatyr // Dec 25, 2007 at 6:03 pm
The author emphasized the “mostly-male” editorial board because it fit into the little narrative they’d concocted before even meeting the editorial staff. The entire story is an unjustified put-down.
2 Emily // Dec 26, 2007 at 10:26 am
I had the exact same thought reading the article, and did my own informal survey of other magazines with the same results. I don’t understand the emphasis on gender–I get the wild-n-crazy singles implication, but why must they be *male* in order for the narrative to work?
3 Kerry Howley // Dec 26, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Because, Emily, all women are joyless prudes.