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Not so glam in TV news

Seven News reporter Kate Osborn has written a considered reponse to Geoffrey Barker's "news babes" article.

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2013-05-21_0046Seven News reporter Kate Osborn has written a considered reponse to that now-infamous “news babes” article in Fairfax papers by Geoffrey Barker about female TV reporters.

In his piece, Barker criticised the hiring of ‘pert’ female reporters over more credentialled journos.

Osborn wrote a lengthy response on the Melbourne Press Club website, some of which is noted here:

It’s fair to say that article had my knickers in a twist. Of course, I was disgusted by the misogynistic tone and sexist generalisations. But it made me wonder further: was there so little understanding of what we do as television reporters – and as female television reporters, more specifically – that a person employed in the same industry could have no idea about what our job actually entails?

Yes, there’s make-up. We do colour our hair. And, it’s true, we have breasts. But without guts, and smarts, no young woman can survive in this business. Being a television reporter is a tough gig for anyone, man or woman. Being female just adds another degree of difficulty. When I asked colleagues to come up with examples of ‘non-glamorous’ events in their careers, they came up with a laundry list. Sexism. Sexual assaults. Physical assaults. Death threats. Twitter abuse. Raw emotions. Grief. What would be considered crimes or bullying in any other workplace, we’ve come to accept as part of the job.

You can read the rest here.

5 Responses

  1. Pardon me for not following the “read the rest here” link, but I’d read enough already. It is a lame cop-out for this reporter to dismiss Geoffrey Barker’s observations as “misogynistic” and “sexist”, words that are bandied around cheaply by women (including our temporary Prime Minister!) whenever anyone anywhere says something negative about a woman or women, even if it happens to be irrefutably true.

    Seven’s so-called ‘News’ is a triumph of style over substance, much of it is vacuous trivia which does nothing to inform or educate its audience. In fact it does the exact opposite, and it is for that reason that commercial TV ‘news’ is never, ever viewed in this household.

  2. Everyone who attacks Barker always wants to shift the goal posts. It’s not about work ethic – even the most unqualified & incompetent person can have a great zeal for work – it’s asking these people to simply open their eyes, look at all these women, & recognise what they all have in common. Barker isn’t the sexist one. Kate Osborn’s bosses are the only sexist, ageist & racist people she should be writing about. But I guess a little thing called self-interest trumps principles when it comes to writing this rubbish.

    All this can be summed with; ‘I’ll step over less attractive & maybe better qualified women to get this job… But don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.’

  3. I understand that its a tough gig as a media worker whether in print dgital or broadcast (tv/radio). However if the young women believe thatt they are hired by commercial television networks because they just know the issues and know there stuff then they are really mistaken. Obviously she and other Media personalities and News Readers will never admit it. But in reality what they look like really does matter whether they want to admit it or not ,it is a visual medium. The article by Geoffrey Barker explains why there are very few non white people reading the news and sport or reporting. If you need any more examples that commercial media fancies young and pretty then look at what happend to Tracy Spicer.

  4. Great piece from Ms Osborn in response about women in the industry. I made list of my top journalist heroes and it was mostly women headed by the likes of Catherine Martin and Ida Tarbell who both overcame obstacles and adversity. Mr Barker is a retired journalist with years of experience and (was?) respected by the community but the public and media backlash against him has been harsh with many lambasting him as a dinosaur and a misogynist. His writings may have been ill conceived and ill judged but did he deserve the many vicious and nasty personal attacks on his character and integrity? This reminds me of the Yumi Stynes episode and how she was treated for her moment of madness on national TV.

  5. To generalise, fta comm chs reporters do come over as some what fluffy and glam. They seem to lack gravitas and understanding of what the are reporting. Kate’s article does little to change that perception, yes she talks about the hard work, threatening situations and abuse directed towards her . That is just part of the job and not really relevant to the point she is trying to make which in my view she fails and just reinforces the generalisation. On a positive note I can immediately recall 2 female reporters who work(ed) for the BBC whose work was compelling, informative, intelligent and carried depth Kate Adie & Olga Guerin. Unfortunately comm chs just do bimbo tv when compared to these 2….sorry

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