A recent report condemning Utah newspapers’ coverage of women in politics over the last 25 years as slanted and sexist raised legitimate and important issues about how stereotypes and bias may have helped perpetuate the underrepresentation of women in elected office.
But as a reporter and editor covering Utah politics for three decades before retiring last spring, I have to come to the defense of myself and colleagues who took some undeserved lumps in the research brief.
The biggest objection I have to the commentary in “An Analysis of Utah Media: Women and Politics,” from the Utah Women and Leadership Project, was its criticism of an outsized focus on women firsts in the state. The study which was the subject of a recent Tribune article pointed out, accurately, that these “firsts” were highlighted and endlessly repeated in coverage of the late, great Olene Walker, Utah’s first and only female governor; Mia Love, the nation’s first Black woman Republican elected to the U.S. House; and other glass-ceiling shattering pioneers, like Mayor Michelle Kaufusi in Provo.
I believed when I was at The Tribune and still do that these historic candidates merited the extra attention and focus they received in the local press. These were important and newsworthy events that deserve to be singled out and — yes — celebrated.
I recall the stories of the late Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart who, in the beginning, was reluctant to make much over her status as the first woman in that powerful office but later came to recognize that young girls visiting the Capitol saw her as a model and a hopeful symbol of how their aspirations needn’t be constrained by the obstacles of the past.
The UWLP brief refers to such “first” descriptions as “novelty labels” that might have a backfiring effect — leaving readers with the impression that these women’s successes are freak or “abnormal” occurrences.
The report warns that repeatedly pointing out these pioneering politicians’ gender “underscores the perceived rarity of female politicians in Utah” while “potentially minimizing” these leaders’ knowledge and capabilities.
Sorry, but the scarcity of elected women leaders is an unfortunate reality in the state — there’s nothing perceived about it. I side with those who believe that the first step in changing a problem is acknowledging it exists.
A glaring weakness in the evaluation was the lack of any review of coverage of Utah male politicians to compare and contrast with the coverage of their female counterparts. If such a review were undertaken, the researchers would find articles describing men’s physical appearances, clothing (Mr. Mac suits, for example) and families (former Gov. Jon Huntsman’s adopted daughters) as is true with women, especially in profiles which attempt to personalize candidates through biography and descriptive details. A careful review might very well find this treatment more common for female politicians than male, but such a conclusion could only be legitimately reached through research.
A broader study including such comparisons also could examine whether there have been changes in coverage over the 25-year period reviewed. Certainly, there are differences in the way Olene Walker was covered to how women elected leaders now, say Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, are treated in the media.
I also take issue with some of the specific examples cited in the brief to assert that Utah’s newspaper coverage of politics is rife with sexist comments. In at least a couple of the articles cited, the objectionable remarks were included from stories told by the politicians themselves to demonstrate the sexist attitudes they had encountered on their journey to elected office. The decision to incorporate these into news stories often is intended to show the prevalence of such attitudes (usually among male colleagues) but not to normalize them.
I’m the first to admit our local media at times deserves criticism and in some cases it’s because of gender bias, intentional or not. Sometimes the offenses are stark, demonstrating real sexism, as in the case of a recent television news interview of two local Republican Party leaders denying accusations of sexual harassment and name-calling without providing any response from the several women leveling the charges.
Gender bias in the Utah media generally and in the arena of political coverage specifically is an important topic. It deserves more attention, discussion and a good deal more research. I’m just hoping the next time someone takes it on, the dive is deeper and the aim sharper.
Dan Harrie is a former Salt Lake Tribune politics reporter and editor. In retirement, he edits for the Utah Investigative Journalism Project and is on the board of that nonprofit.
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