Dear Amy,

I am a Journalism major at Carleton University in Ottawa. This semester, I am to write an essay on the media's "objectivity and newsgathering techniques" when covering stories pertaining to women. I thought I'd look at the patriarchal manner in which wife abuse has been covered in (or ignored by!) the media since the 1970s in order to assess to what extent coverage has changed. Unfortunately, I'm at a loss as to what kind of sources might help me. Mightn't you please recommend some authors, books, periodicals, etc. that could aid in my research? I would really appreciate it!

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Farrah

Dear Farrah,

I actually just co-wrote a book, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future, and one chapter, "Feminists Want to Know: Is The Media Dead," deals with just this subject, i.e. how the media continually ignores, diminishes women's contribution to society and the issues that are a priority for most women. And since writing that chapter, I learned that Lauren Zalaznick, a producer, etc., spent three years tracking the New York Times' coverage of women, only to discover that they rarely consider women's issues, including violence against women, a top news story. This chapter also includes a list of resources. I hope that helps -- and good luck. Obviously it's an important topic to address and to get greater attention on.

--Amy