"In their zeal to placate the Republican Congress and supplement their budget with money from right wing foundations like Olin, Scaife and Bradley, public television decision-makers haven't just changed directions-- they've lost the compass. "The 'gender wars' series (funded by these same three foundations, and featuring their grantees) was a procession of opinions masquerading as facts, lies presented as truth, and slander disguised as journalism. For PBS management to say that these foundations are not 'ideological' demonstrates either ignorance or a profound lack of judgment, or both." --Kim Gandy, Executive Vice PresidentNational Organization for Women "I love controversy-- I am [...]
Search Results for: Jennifer L. Pozner
Nov
01
1999
Not All Domestic Violence Studies Are Created Equal
Researchers are "advocates" or "pioneers"--depending on what they find
Recent media responses to a Department of Justice (DOJ) study on domestic violence raise an interesting question: What makes some DOJ studies less "scientific" than others? How can the same agency at times be a bastion of impartial science, and at others be a purveyor of questionable, ideology-driven data? The answer can be found not in the sponsors or the methodology of the studies themselves, but in their results. It isn't hard to decipher the code: Researchers whose findings show that domestic violence is predominately perpetrated by men to exercise control over their female partners are often "feminist theorists" orchestrating [...]
Sep
01
1999
Rally 'Round the Boys
PBS's National Desk enlists in the 'gender wars'
Throughout April, the PBS public affairs program National Desk presented a three-part series on "the gender wars" that sought to address "whether the advancement of women in virtually all areas of society can be achieved without a retreat, in some way, on the part of men." Asking the question that way is akin to answering it--with a resounding "No." Nevertheless, National Desk spent three hours attempting to convince PBS viewers that the series presented an honest, in-depth exploration of gender issues facing contemporary America. Impressive spin for a program that was in reality a wholesale attack against women’s efforts to [...]
Jul
01
1999
'I'd Take Them Out With Sex'
Journalists Trivialize Howard Stern's Advocacy of Rape as 'Insensitivity
It's hard to find a way to worsen the horror of the school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, but Howard Stern found it--just one day after the murders, on his April 21, 1999 radio show (syndicated by Infinity Broadcasting, a CBS subsidiary). While considering the motives of the male students who murdered 12 classmates and one teacher, the "shock jock" mused: "There were some really good-looking girls running out with their hands over their heads. Did those kids try to have sex with any of the good-looking girls? They didn't even do that? At least if you're going to kill yourself [...]
