美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Good Girls Revolt' Takes On Gender Bias In The Newsroom

'Good Girls Revolt' Takes On Gender¹ Bias² In The Newsroom

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0007:12repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser³ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

Read news stories from the presidential campaign, and you will encounter a lot of stories by women. Turn on the news on TV, and you'll find many anchors who are women. This very program is co-hosted by a woman, and its last four executive producers - all women. It would be hard to claim that women have an equal voice in newsrooms in 2016, but they have a large voice in many of them. And you can trace that back to a lawsuit⁴ in 1970. Women who worked at Newsweek sued the magazine. That lawsuit is the inspiration for "Good Girls Revolt," which premieres tomorrow on Amazon.

NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE⁵: The show starts in 1969 - the Vietnam War, the counterculture, civil rights and the Black Panthers make headlines. And in the newsroom of the fictitious⁶ News of the Week magazine, the hierarchy⁷ between men and women is clear. One female staffer breaks it down to another.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOOD GIRLS REVOLT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #1: (As character) They're reporters. We're researchers. We report, investigate and write files for the reporters. They do a pass on them, put their names on them and then the stories go to press.

DEL BARCO: The women researchers don't get bylines⁸ and are expected to serve coffee to their bosses. After handing a male reporter a big break for a cover story, the praise is patronizing at best.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOOD GIRLS REVOLT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) You're pretty cute when you got a scoop⁹.

DEL BARCO: Educated at top universities, the women were well-mannered and mostly apolitical. That's a reflection of the time they were raised to be, quote, "good girls." In real life, the late Nora Ephron was one of them. She worked for a short time at Newsweek. In the fictionalized series, she's played by Grace Gummer, the daughter of Meryl Streep, who also starred in Ephron's movies. Here she is in one scene, challenging her boss, played by Jim Belushi.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOOD GIRL REVOLT")

JIM BELUSHI: (As William McFadden) Girls do not do rewrites.

GRACE GUMMER: (As Nora Ephron) Why not?

BELUSHI: (As William McFadden) That's simply how we do things here. We have rules, protocol¹⁰.

GUMMER: (As Nora Ephron) 'Cause those rules are dumb - if copy's good, it's good.

BELUSHI: (As William McFadden) Young lady, you might not want to make waves.

DEL BARCO: Nora Ephron would go on to become a bestselling essayist, novelist, playwright¹¹, screenwriter, movie producer and director. Another young woman who made waves in real life at Newsweek was Lynn Povich. She started out as a secretary in the Paris bureau.

LYNN POVICH: When I got to Newsweek, there were no women writers.

DEL BARCO: Povich wrote a book about her years there, "The Good Girls Revolt," which inspired the 10-part TV series. She describes how she and 45 other young women at Newsweek sued their bosses for equal opportunity and pay. Povich wrote that, for decades, the newswoman had been systematically¹² discriminated¹³ against in hiring and promotion¹⁴. They announced their suit the same day Newsweek's cover story on women's lib hit the newsstands.

POVICH: The story was picked up everywhere, as you can well imagine. I think the Daily News had one of my favorite lines, it said, 46 women, most of them young and most of them pretty, announced they were filing sex discrimination charges today against Newsweek.

DEL BARCO: Povich says they filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asking that a third of the reporters and a third of the writers be women and that a third of the researchers be men. She says they had to file a second complaint to get Newsweek to comply. A few years later, women at The New York Times, Reader's Digest and other news organizations, including NPR, filed or threatened to file similar class action lawsuits¹⁵.

POVICH: The fact that we, at Newsweek, were the first women to organize and decide to change the system from within was an important piece of history and, I felt, for people of a younger generation to understand what it was like for women then and how we managed to change things and inspire other women in the media to do the same.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOOD GIRLS REVOLT")

JOY BRYANT: (As Eleanor Holmes Norton) Women will not tolerate being second-class citizens anymore.

DEL BARCO: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was a very pregnant attorney with the ACLU in 1970. She helped organize the Newsweek women as the women's movement continued to grow. In the series, she's portrayed¹⁶ by actress Joy Bryant.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOOD GIRLS REVOLT")

BRYANT: (As Eleanor Holmes Norton) What do you think the men you're working with get paid?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #2: (As character) That isn't a fair comparison.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #3: (As character) Yeah, they do have different jobs.

BRYANT: (As Eleanor Homes Norton) Right - jobs you're not allowed to have.

DEL BARCO: Holmes Norton says she encouraged the women to take off their gloves and fight the system.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: They were going against giants in journalism¹⁷. Their courage cannot be underestimated. And you've got to understand who they were - Phi Beta Kappa's and other top-of-the-lot women who were the jewels and who were so pleased to get in on the bottom rung of a big-time newsmagazine. They were prepared to take anything. And that's what they got - anything - until they rose up, very politely, and insisted upon getting their just due. These were the good girls. Indeed, I call them the best girls.

DANA CALVO: I always call them accidental revolutionaries.

DEL BARCO: Dana Calvo, the show's creator, is also one of its executive producers and writers. She's also a former journalist with The New York Times, the Associated Press and the LA Times. Calvo says she owes a debt to those newswomen in the 1970s.

CALVO: The series is really about awakening¹⁸, coming into your own voice and seeing that you have a right to make demands and pursue your dreams.

DEL BARCO: Making the show was something of a revolution in Hollywood, an industry where women still struggle for good parts, top jobs and equal pay. Women were hired at every level for "Good Girls Revolt," from executive producers and writers, to the cast and crew. That included an Oscar-winning production designer and directors such as Liza Johnson.

LIZA JOHNSON: Not only is it great to work with a group of really skilled and powerful women but also that there are men executives in Hollywood who are capable of recognizing female talent and supporting them.

Background - and action.

DEL BARCO: On the set of "Good Girls Revolt," the actresses said they welcomed having women and feminist¹⁹ men run the show. Anna Camp, who plays a head researcher for News of the Week, says during production she had a glimpse of what many women experienced in 1969.

ANNA CAMP: You know, we're dressed up in these gorgeous period costumes and the makeup²⁰ and the hair. And at the time, it was very, like, to catch a man, you know what I mean? And my character, specifically, is trying to catch a man and trying to get married. That's her goal right now.

DEL BARCO: But it begins to dawn on the women in the show to ask for more. Lynn Povich, who wrote the book on the good girls, says there's still a long way to go.

POVICH: When you look at the statistics in Hollywood, they're not running things, or they're not paid as much if they're stars. And very similar in journalism - they're not running things. There's a question of pay equity²¹. And now with the Roger Ailes situation, you begin to see that there is still really overt²² sexual harassment²³ and discrimination.

DEL BARCO: Forty-six years after the Newsweek case, the ACLU has asked the EEOC and the state of California to investigate gender discrimination in Hollywood.

Mandalit del Barco, NPR News, Los Angeles.

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

4 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

7 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

8 bylines   

n.报刊文章撰稿人签名处( byline的名词复数 )；署名；铁路支线；副业

参考例句：

9 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

10 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

11 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

12 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

13 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

14 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

15 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

16 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

18 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

19 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

20 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

21 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

22 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

23 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。