EOTO2: Women In Journalism

 Women and their contributions to every field have been brushed aside throughout history.  However, journalism stands out as a profession where women shine. 

Since the earliest days of journalism, women have been involved and thrived in the press. In the early 1700s, many women ran newspapers with their husbands, sons and brothers, stepping up as publishers when their male relatives either stopped working for the company or passed away.

Female newsies were also much more common than generally portrayed in media. 

The first female journalist recorded was a Swedish woman named Margareta Momma, who lived from 1707 to 1772. She was the editor for the Stockholm Gazette from 1742 to 1752, and her most famous work is “Samtal Emellan Argi Skugga och en obekant Fruentimbers Skugga.” or, in English, “Conversation between the Shadow of Argus and the Unfamiliar Shadow of a Female.” It was released in 10 installments in 1738 and 1739, addressing foreign policy, social policy, morality, and independence.

In the 19th century, women’s familiar role became much more public with the beginning of the era of stunt journalism. Stunt journalism is when a reporter puts herself at a genuine risk or goes undercover to get a story, no matter what it takes. Many readers trusted the articles that came from these women most as they had experienced the things they wrote about, giving credibility to their words. 

Nellie Bly was the first woman to make a name for herself as a stunt journalist. Her real name was  Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She lived from May 5, 1864, to January 27, 1922, dying at the young age of 57 due to pneumonia. 

When Bly was a young woman, the Pittsburgh Dispatch published a heavily misogynistic article titled “What Girls Are Good For.” It stated that women were for bearing children and house-keeping, and nothing else. Outraged, Bly wrote in an anonymous response to the paper arguing against the article.

 George Madden, the editor, was so impressed by her writing that he requested that she come forward. When she did, she was given the opportunity to write for the paper again under the pseudonym she had used before, “Lonely Orphan Girl. 

Her first article, “The Girl Puzzle,” argued that not all women needed to get married and that better jobs for women were necessary. Her second, “Mad Marriages,” was published under the pseudonym Nellie Bly. It discussed how divorce affected women and advocated for changes to divorce law. After these articles were published, Madden offered her a full-time job.

She worked for The Dispatch for a few years before the factory owners routinely exposed her and complained about her enough to get her moved to cover fashion, society, and gardening. Bly quickly became dissatisfied and left the company shortly after. 

After leaving, By went to New York to try and get her foot in the door there. She bounced between rejections for four months before Joseph Pulitzer agreed to give her a chance at his paper, The New York World. 

Her first assignment was an expose of the abusive conditions at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island. 

To get onto the island, Bly first checked herself into a temporary women’s housing and stayed awake for a night to give herself crazy-looking eyes. She then started making false accusations against the other women staying there, making vague threats and acting as strange as possible until the workers called for the police. Once she was examined by a police officer, a judge and a doctor, she was sent to the asylum. 

Bly stayed in the asylum and was subject to the horrifying conditions for ten days, after which The World bailed her out. Her report was published on October 9, 1887, and was an instant sensation. The eyes of the city turned on the asylum, which was forced to make significant reformations to its structure quickly. 

This stunt earned Bly her fame, and she kept the public eye on her by continuing to write stunt journalism stories. She even took inspiration from the book “Around The World In 80 Days,” making the journey herself in 72. To keep interest in the story high as she traveled, The World put on a “Nellie Bly Guessing Match” where readers could guess when she would arrive at certain points down to the second, with grand prizes like a trip to Europe.

In the modern day, stunt journalism is much less common, though women are still prevalent throughout the field. Some modern-day examples are Barbara Walters, the first female co-anchor of a network evening news program; Amber Lyon, who reported on human rights abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain and police brutality against protesters in the United States; and Anna Politkovskaya, who on political and social events in Russia, including the Second Chechen War before she was assassinated in 2006.