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DOI: 10.1177/0163443706059578

2006 28: 123Media Culture SocietyKyung-Hee Kim

Obstacles to the success of female journalists in Korea

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Obstacles to the success of female journalists inKorea

Kyung-Hee KimHALLYM UNIVERSITY, KOREA

The media industry in Korea has recently experienced great change,

including change in the field of news reporting. In newspapers, the number

of pages has increased, topics have been divided into different sections, and

editorial policy has become more reader-centered. Broadcast news has

begun to deal with more casual news topics than before. Thanks to these

changes, the proportion of female journalists in the media industry has

increased slightly, but there is still only a small number compared with

male journalists. Moreover, the proportion of high-ranking females abovethe position of associate editor is still very small, regardless of the total

increase. In May 2001, the number of females in the ranks above the level

of associate editor in the Joong Ang Ilbo1 was only 4 out of total of 118,

and in KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), the public broadcaster of

Korea, only 7 out of 80 (Chung, 1999). These two companies are known to

have higher proportion of female journalists than others. This shows that

the demand for female journalists has not increased, even though the

demand for soft news (i.e. more casual content, such as culture, well-being

or family issues, compared to hard news stories related to politics,national issues or economics), which is generally considered as being

appropriate for female journalists to write about, has increased.

In several advanced nations, the proportion of female journalists in the

news media has also increased. For example, the number of female

journalists in the United States has increased, and their working condi-

tions in the media industry have improved. In 1970, 30 percent of the

American newspaper workforce was female. By 1980, this had increased

to 40 percent and, by 2001 to 48 percent (Hemlinger, 2001). It is an issue

in nations like the US whether or not the current news media, with more

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female reporters, are any different from the past when it comes to

describing females. In media studies, content analyses of the presence or

absence, stereotyping and devaluation of females are abundant in American

journals (Steeves, 1987). Van Zoonen (1988), for example, analyzedwhether journalists in the Netherlands had a double standard when

selecting news topics, in order to see whether or not the increase of female

reporters resulted in any difference in the depiction of females in the news

media. The result showed that there was no significant difference in choice

of news topic between male and female journalists. This indicates that

there is still under-representation of females in news production in both

quality and quantity, and that news content has not changed, regardless of

the increase in female journalists.

The current situation in the media industry described above is not simplydue to the characteristics of news content regardless of whether it is hard

or soft or the number of female journalists. Rather, it is caused by certain

mechanisms that exclude females from the news production process. This

study will address the following issues: what are the mechanisms that

exclude female journalists from news production? In what ways are female

journalists alienated from their news organization?

Theoretical framework

The female journalist as media producer

Many studies of liberal feminism focus on current inequalities in numbers

and opportunities for females in media professions (Steeves, 1987).

However, they fail to uncover the specific underlying physical or ideologi-

cal reasons that restrict females in media professions. They also provide no

explanation for the decline in their salaries and influence in the field, even

though the number of female professionals has increased over the years

(van Zoonen, 1991).

The gatekeeper studies go one step further than the studies mentioned

above. Many of them emphasize that women are rarely used as sources in

stories depicting news of national or international importance, which may

serve as a signal to readers that women are unimportant with regard to

public events and activities, and undeserving of leadership roles (Arm-

strong, 2004). Womens issues tend to be marginalized in both the news

and agenda setting in the press. According to van Zoonen (1991, 1994),news sources are still overwhelmingly male, despite the growing number

of female politicians, business executives, and medical and legal profess-ionals. Some research into news producersview of women starts from the

assumption that the distorted image of females in the news is due to the

small number of female media producers. However, the gender of

124 Media, Culture & Society 28(1)



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journalists hardly plays any role in the selection of news (Merrit and Gross,

1978; van Zoonen, 1988; Whitlow, 1977). These studies show that the

distortion of females in the news has not changed, regardless of the equal

number of female news producers.Tuchman (1972) explains that the reasons why female media profession-

als have the same point of view about womens issues as men are to do

with the culture and professionalism of the news industry. She also

suggests that there is a significant difference between the newsmens

thoughts and the messages that they produce. She insists that profession-

alism, especially objectivity, is utilized as a strategic ritual. From her

perspective, it is female journalists strategic ritual to accept male journal-

istsviewpoint about females as standard when they write a news article. In

other words, it is assumed that a certain mechanism compels them to adoptmale journalists viewpoint as standard in the choice of news so that they

appear completely professional.

Feminism and the work of professional females

Feminist theories start from the question of where the gender restraints

come from. Each feminist theory provides different explanations of gender

restraints. For example, liberal feminists try to find their causes in socialcustoms and tradition; Marxist feminists find fault with capitalism; radical

feminists blame the gender/sex system of the patriarchy; and psycho-

analytic feminists blame the Oedipus complex.Socialist feminism, which integrates Marxist, psychoanalytic and radical

feminism, believes that both patriarchy and capitalism are the reasons for

gender restraints. Socialist feminisms explanation is very persuasive because

it can explain why females are suppressed and excluded, while Marxist

feminism cannot address that issue. It also provides an explanation for the

gender constraints caused by capitalism, while radical feminism cannot.

This study assumes that socialist feminism is the best tool to investigate

gender constraints, since capitalism and patriarchy have had a most

powerful influence on every aspect of modern society, including the family

and the workplace. Because modern Korean society is a capitalist society,

it is hard to deny that some contradictions and inequalities have their origin

in class, as Marxist feminism insists. However, capitalism alone cannot

explain all the constraints on women in Korea. The reality in Korean

society, where there is discrimination between males and females, even inthe same workplace or in the same position, shows that there is another

underlying reason for gender constraints that capitalism alone cannot explain.The current study assumes that it is patriarchal structure mixed with capi-

talism that is the reason for gender constraints, not just capitalism. This

assumption can be strongly supported by increasing understanding of sex

125Kim, Female journalists in Korea



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roles in the workplace, which is suggested as an important concept by most

feminist theories.

According to socialist feminism, it is not capitalism, but the mixture of

the patriarchal structure with capitalism, that forms the basis for thegendered division of labour, putting females in the household and males

into the industrial workplace. Socialist feminist thought can be divided into

two theories: one is dualist, insisting that capitalism and patriarchy are

totally separate social networks from each other; the other is a theory of

holistic systems, which insists that both form a single concept and that they

cannot be detached from each other. Separating them makes it impossible

to analyze the existing situation in modern Korean society, which is the

result of a mixture of patriarchy and capitalism. Therefore, this study will

take the perspective of Alison Jagger, the leading philosopher of the theory

of holistic systems (Tong, 1989). Jagger identifies alienation as the concept

that will provide us with a theoretical framework powerful enough to

accommodate the main insights of Marxist, radical, psychoanalytic and

even liberal feminist thought. In this study, female journalists as news

producers will be analyzed in terms of the concept of alienation as

developed by Jagger.

Alienation and exclusion mechanisms in production

The alienation of female journalists can be investigated either at the level

of the news organization or at the personal level. First, when investigating

it from the organizational level, the marginalization of female journalists is

the best example to show how they are alienated in a patriarchal and

capitalist society. This study defines the marginalization of females as the

state in which they are put at the margin, far away from the power that

decides on the strategic direction of an organization, while men are put atthe center of the organization. Generally, power is defined as an agents

potential influence over the attitudes and behavior of one or more

designated target persons (Yukl, 1994). When considering the social

meaning of the news, the most important power in the newsroom is the

power to decide editorial direction, and to influence the course of editorial

direction. The marginalization of female journalists in this study will

be based on their positions of official power, such as chief editor or

senior editor.

Second, at the personal level, the alienation of females appears as a formof dissatisfaction with their work, or a low level of the sense of belonging

to their organization. The most fundamental reason for the alienated state

of females is the capitalist patriarchal structure. That is, the capitalist




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patriarchies make the mechanisms of exclusion work, which cause the

alienation of females in the news production process

This study tries to understand exclusion mechanisms by focusing on the

areas where those mechanisms that are directly relevant to female journal-ists operate. These can be divided into two broad areas: the official area

and the private area. The official area is the area outside the family, which

includes exclusion mechanisms in both the newsroom and in the news

gathering process. In this context, an exclusion mechanism refers to widely

held societal beliefs, and the customs and culture that alienate female

journalists from the society.

The exclusion mechanisms within the news organization are those that

alienate female journalists from the organization they belong to, that is, the

mechanisms that derive from working in a male-centered system within thenewsroom. The exclusion mechanisms in news gathering are external, and

reject females in contexts outside the newsroom. Communication occurs

through social networks and there is a tendency to ignore females in

Korean society, so that some areas are not so easy for female journalists to

report on as for male reporters. The exclusion mechanisms in the private

area are those deriving from family issues which prevent females from

living the life of a journalist. These exclusion mechanisms can function as

the source of the alienation of female journalists from the public area. This

theoretical framework is summarized in Figure 1.

Research methods

In order to figure out the exclusion mechanisms, this study performs a

content analysis of the female journalists essays in the annual magazine

Female Journalists, published by the Korean Female Journalists Club. The

reason for using qualitative research methods in this study is that the

exclusion mechanisms of the news production process can hardly beperceived because these mechanisms are not explicitly evident; they differ

depending on the situation and are implicit. Therefore, the exclusion

mechanisms can be understood better by examining female journalists

daily experiences. One hundred and seven articles were selected for

analysis from the first eleven issues of Female Journalists (Korean Female

Journalists Club, 19902002). First, every paragraph that shows the

exclusion mechanisms in the news production process in each article was

selected. Second, the selected paragraphs were classified into three cate-

gories: news gathering, organizational area and private area. Third, thesentences in each category were classified according to different sub-

categories. Finally, under each subcategory, the concepts most relevant to

an explanation of the exclusion mechanism in question were provided.




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Exclusion mechanisms in news gathering

The results show that the following mechanisms that exclude femalejournalists are found in the news gathering process: (1) the authoritative

method of collecting information; (2) the culture of unethical compromise;

(3) informal communication; and (4) a traditional view of womanhood.

The authoritative method of collecting information

The authoritative method of collecting information is defined as the way in

which the journalist, as the power holder, collects data from the news

source coercively. The problem here is that both journalists and news

sources consider this natural. In a society where there is a tendency to

discount a females ability, this method of information collection leaves

female journalists at a significant disadvantage. One female journalistrecorded this tendency as follows:

In a tough situation at the police station, a male reporter tries to approach thedetectives very boldly with a strong and low tone of voice. The detectives

FIGURE 1Exclusion Mechanisms in the news organization

Capitalist patriarchy

Exclusion in the news gathering process

Exclusion in news organization

Exclusion in the private area

Alienation of female journalists

Organizational alienation:marginalization

Personal alienation:self-alienation from the job

Capitalist patriarchy

Public area

Private area




8/20

would consider him a veteran newspaperman and submit to his requests.However, in the same situation, they even make a practical joke for a femalejournalist, and that makes me upset. (Female Journalists, 1993: 1423)

Some female journalists suffer from the belief that they too should use thisaggressive method to collect information; this makes their behavior seem

unnatural and it has an adverse effect on the news source.Some female journalists who start working on crime issues are obsessed

with the thought that they have to approach news sources authoritatively.

So they deliberately speak harshly to the news source, and tend to be upset

even at the slightest thing. The news source then concludes that these

female journalists are rude and arrogant, and eventually tries to avoid them

(Korean Female Journalist Club, 1993: 1389).

Female journalists try to find their own way of collecting information inorder to overcome the failure that they experience using male journalists

authoritative way of collecting information. However, it is not easy to find

another news collection method or to know how news sources will receive

this new way, because the news sources are so used to the authoritative

way. Therefore female journalists are still worrying about how to collect

information (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1994: 162).

The culture of unethical compromise

The culture of unethical compromise, in this study, refers to the reality that

the journalists act out the problematic culture of the Korean society, even

though they realize its ethical wrongness. For example, Korean journalists

often enjoy the sexually decadent bar meeting provided by the newssource, even though they know that the commercialization of sex is

unethical. They sometimes intrude on the privacy of the news source, or

even accept and give bribes. This is not necessarily true of all female

journalists. Bribes, in particular, are considered a source of conflict by most

journalists in Korea, regardless of their gender. Many male journalists donot engage in this activity because of ethical conflicts.

However, there is a reason why the culture of unethical compromise

should be understood as a mechanism that excludes female journalists:

there is a tendency for males not to take journalistic ethics as seriously as

females in the capitalist patriarchal society of Korea. For example, males

who are used to the commercialization of sex may not put a significant

meaning on being entertained at a room-salon, a type of decadent bar in

Korea. Concerns about the alienation that possibly results from not

conforming to the unethical culture can be easily found in femalejournalistsarticles.

It was difficult to reject the bribe that was distributed to the entire press. I wasafraid of being alienated from the male-dominated press, most of whom had




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seniority over me, if I chose to go my own way. (Korean Female Journalist Club,1990: 161)

More important than rejection by their colleagues is the news sourcesopinions about those female journalists who reject bribes:

What is strange in bribes is that a feeling of oneness takes place in therelationship after a hidden deal was done. So, the bribes make it possible totrade in so-called hard-core news with each other, between the news sourceand the journalist. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1991: 225)

This feeling of sharing the unethical behavior between the journalist and

the news source is very problematic, since it can become a mechanism that

excludes those journalists who refuse to participate in this unethical

behavior. Another example of unethical compromise derives from themasculine value system of modern Korean society, which does not objectto the commercialization of sex.

I was also in agony after the dinner meeting at the room-salonwith the peopleof my newsbeat or company, because they had provided some courtesans andexpensive liquor as well as the meal in order to be told that they treated us verywell. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1990: 1612)

If a close connection is established between a journalist and a news source,

and the information is mainly passed on in an inappropriate place such as aroom-salon that females cannot stand, female journalists will be accord-

ingly excluded from that connection.

Informal communication

Informal communication is defined as communication that takes place

between journalists and sources in an informal setting. In Korea, much

important information is shared in a bar or a public bath rather than in an

office. Since most of the news sources are male, it is difficult for female

journalists to participate in male public baths or late night meetings in bars

in order to obtain information. Informal communication, therefore, plays a

central role as a mechanism that excludes females from the news

production process. Female journalistsessays show that they had to make

a much greater effort than male journalists because of their disadvantageswith regard to obtaining information from informal communication:

Frankly speaking, when I heard that male journalists meet the news source in

bars, public baths, or even the mens room, I was jealous of them thinking thatit would be unfair to women. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 2000: 44)

Most of the records about informal communication between journalists and

news sources point out that it alienates females from the power-holding




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departments of the media company, such as political or business news

departments:

As my senior female journalist in the business department said, it is true that theniche for females in the business department of the newspaper company is verynarrow in Korea, where most of the relationships are still built in bars, the saunaor on the golf course. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 2001: 80)

Informal communication creates a fixed notion that it is difficult to foster

a deep relationship between female journalists and news sources through

meeting at the sauna or having dinner at a bar. Female journalists are

considered to be unable to obtain high-quality information in the political

or business areas, in turn, they are only qualified to be assigned to minor

departments, such as the department of culture (Korean Female JournalistClub, 1993: 134).

The traditional view of women

The traditional view of women is that females should stay working in the

private area because of their inability to understand the complicated

public field. Korean women seem to be treated as disgraceful beings, who

should be avoided in some public fields. Even though journalism is arespected professional vocation in Korean society, the traditional view of

womanhood functions as one of the mechanisms that exclude female

journalists from the news gathering area. The mechanisms in this category

include: (1) the belief that journalism is a profession only for men;

(2) seeing female journalists primarily as women and only secondarily

as professional reporters; and (3) the social trend to ignore females.Female journalists in Korea often encounter a reality that journalism is a

male-dominated profession.

It is a fatal mistake to reveal that I am a female to newspaper readers. Whenthose readers call me to voice their opinions about my article and realize that Iam a female, they say, No wonder your article was so bad. These calls hurtme so much that I cannot listen to them calmly. (Korean Female JournalistClub, 2001: 99)

There is a problem with the notion that a journalist is a profession only for

men, since this becomes a direct barrier when female journalists cover the

news. They have to go through tougher security checks than malejournalists when they enter the newsbeat, and they have to talk more in

order to convince news sources that they are journalists (Korean FemaleJournalist Club, 1990: 175). Since news sources often do not take female

journalists seriously, they hesitate to offer them important information

(Korean Female Journalist Club, 1994: 194).




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The second exclusion mechanism is due to the traditional view of

women, which considers female journalists as women before seeing

them as professional reporters. Because the news source tends to think

that females are disgraceful beings who will bring them bad luck, theytreat female journalists accordingly. For example, female journalists were

prevented from entering a sports arena because it was considered that

their presence would cause a team to lose the game (Korean Female

Journalist Club, 1992: 233). The reason this old view of women is

problematic is that news sources are not polite to female journalists and

do not provide them with significant information they would give to male

reporters.

The third exclusion mechanism in this category is the culture of ignoring

females in modern Korean society. There is a common belief that femalesare inferior to males, and hence femalesintellectual ability is questioned:

When I first started reporting about cultural treasures, the experts in the fieldreacted to me by saying that they doubted my ability. They wondered whetheror not I could even understand that difficult stuff, and they speculated on howlong I could last in the field. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1995: 182)

Only in very rare circumstances do news sources provide female journalists

with the same high-quality information they would to male journal-ists. Therefore female journalists have to expend much more effort than

men in order to collect the same amount or quality of information.

However, those efforts would often be in vain.

Exclusion mechanisms in the newsroom

The exclusion mechanisms in the news organization that are found in

Female Journalists are the masculine bond, the culture of distrust of female

journalists and the stereotype of the female reporter.

The masculine bond

The masculine relationship in Korea is based on males irrational favor-

itism towards their own gender. It is a natural phenomenon that males

evaluate themselves as productive and attractive beings, and this intensifiesthe tendency to identify with each other. This allows men to keep the

power of control over the resources of the organization (Lipman-Blumer,1976). This masculine bond is built secretly and informally, so female

journalists are critical of this informal relationship that excludes females

from the organization.




12/20

Some female journalists, who realize the existence of the masculine

relationship in the society, try to absorb and practice a masculine behavior

in order to intervene in the masculine relationship. However, this is mostly

impossible for females. According to the essays, those female journalistsare only considered women who are not feminineby the male journalists,

rather than being considered members of the masculine bond (Korean

Female Journalist Club, 1995: 1934).

The problem is that this informal tie has a huge effect on the dynamics

of relationships in the formal area. The masculine bond influences the

efficiency rating of the journalists, and pulls females from the center of the

organization to the margin. This procedure takes place very subtly, so

female journalists are often assigned to a department where they have

never wanted to work. Even though there are also many cases of malejournalists being assigned to departments where they do not want to work,

female journalists feel that those cases happen more among them. Female

journalists are assigned to tasks that are so-called only suitable for

females. According to one article, when female journalists have to

compete with male journalists, many personnel changes within the com-

pany are decided according to the gender of the journalists rather than what

each individual can really do (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1995: 195).

Distrust of female journalists

Another exclusion mechanism is the culture of distrust of female journal-ists. Because there is a common belief in modern Korean society that

female journalists are unreliable, they are not assigned to important tasks.

In other words, just because they are females, they are forced to work in a

certain minor department or cannot be given anything important to do.

The most commonly mentioned issue related to this mechanism is about

late-night work. Late-night work is regarded as an important task, not only

because it is hard to work at night, but also because journalists have to

make their own judgments on events taking place at night, and this

judgment reflects on the newspaper or the broadcasting company. There

was a case when a chief editor drove a female journalist home before

midnight because he was uncertain of her ability (Korean Female Journalist

Club, 1990: 896; 1995: 2423). The reason why late-night work is

problematic is that it is one part of a mechanism that excludes females in

every aspect and marginalizes them (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1991:1945).

Even though the editorial department of a media company is generallyconsidered to be suitable for female journalists, the traditional culture that

distrusts females also has an influence over this department. Because of the

mechanism of distrust towards female journalists, the idea that females are




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not able to take charge of the main sections persists in the organization and

brings about the reality that female journalists have editorial control only in

marginal areas (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1990: 1678). This is so

pervasive in the newsroom that even the female journalists themselvesagree with the situation that degrades females (Korean Female Journalist

Club, 1991: 205).

The stereotype of female journalist

It is very absurd for some men to think that the best way of praising females fortheir abilities to treat them as a nuisance by telling them you are not a woman.

(Korean Female Journalist Club, 2001: 81)

The comment you are not a woman shows that there is a certain rule

when male journalists define female journalists. This may be the issue most

frequently mentioned by working women, that they are evaluated according

to a certain stereotype of women as a whole, rather than being respected asan individual, no matter where they work. Females working in journalism

are no exception with regard to this issue. In the newsroom, the opinion

that females are suitable for the cultural department, or that they are not

able to report criminal events, or that married women are hard to send on

business trips, is naturally exchanged. If a male journalist makes a mistake

in his reporting, only he as a person will be considered unsuitable for that

task. However, if a female journalist makes the same mistake, people

would conclude that all female journalists are likely to make the same

mistake. Even when female journalists perform well, people do not think

that this is because of their abilities. Rather, female journalists success at

work is discounted because people think that they have achieved success

through favoritism towards females:

I managed to land exclusive interviews with the owners and the CEOs ofseveral conglomerates. However, I heard that people, including my colleagues,said that the CEOs of these companies only like to have interviews withwomen. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 2001: 83)

To assign female journalists to departments other than those supposedly

suitable for women gives rise to speculation that there is a radical feminist

managing personnel. They are viewed as the representatives of all femalejournalists. If they make any mistakes, therefore, all females will be

considered unsuitable for that line of work (Korean Female Journalist Club,1994: 162). Because it is a mechanism that marginalizes womens roles,

the seriousness of this problem could be very great (Korean Female

Journalist Club, 1994: 194).




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Exclusion mechanisms in the private area

The analysis of female journalistsessays shows that females are restricted

in working as journalists even on the domestic front. This is because of thegeneral concept of gender-roles in modern Korean society, which ordains

that the housework, pregnancy, and childcare are womens jobs.

Housework

Female journalists do not raise the issue of housework as seriously as that

of childcare in their articles, yet they do mention the reality that they could

not work as hard as male journalists because of housework (Korean Female

Journalist Club, 1992: 188). The pieces reflect the reality that the pressureof housework often makes female journalists accept being assigned to the

marginal departments, where they have relatively more time, even though

those departments do not have significant power:

It is a burden that female journalists should do the late-night work and comeback home and get up so early in order to do the housework, such as preparingfor their childrens lunch box, while male journalists are taken care of by theirfamily and they can sleep until right before they go to work. (Korean FemaleJournalist Club, 1991: 1967)

Pregnancy

Pregnancy may work as a big restrictive factor for female workers. For thejournalists, most of whose duties include meeting with news sources

outside the office, the physical discomfort will be a bigger restrictive

factor. Regardless of this, little was recorded about pregnancy in the female

journalists pieces. This might be explained by the fact that the period of

pregnancy is a very short period in a whole career, and that it is accepted

that there is no better alternative that would help support the pregnant

journalist. The following extract shows that the pregnancy operates an

exclusion mechanism of the private area:

When I was five months pregnant with my second child, it was unbearable to beassigned to the Ministry of Science and Technology. . . . It was a mental burdento me that I had to enter into a place that was full of male journalists and malenews sources. . . . I can remember the time when one scientist that I interviewedin my last month gazed at my swollen belly, with surprise and compassion.(Korean Female Journalist Club, 1994: 1878)

Childcare

The most frequently mentioned exclusion mechanism in the private area is

the problem of childcare. In modern Korean society, housework may be




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taken care of by people other than wives, but childcare is different from

housework, because of the social belief that a mother is the best person to

care for a child. Because of this, childcare is a big burden for working

mothers, even though the childcare providers with whom they leave theirchildren with are reliable people. Female journalists, as working mothers,

are also faced with many conflicts because of this notion (Korean Female

Journalist Club, 1992: 150).

It is a problem that the concern about childcare makes female journalists

give up their work or directly affects their career. Female journalists are

forced to make a choice between their job and childcare. The best solution

to the childcare problem so far is that female journalists do their best for

their children by devoting to them whatever free time they have. In other

words, only a Wonderwoman, who is forced to be an all-rounderthroughout the workplace and home, can accomplish the solution to the

childcare problem:

My strategy to ease the burden on my mind was to become a daycare teacherfor my child after work, as other working moms may do for their babies.(Korean Female Journalist Club, 1994: 834)

However, this solution at the personal level may work as a powerful

exclusion mechanism for female journalists in the news production process.

Therefore, it is urgently required that a solution be found to childcare at thesocial level instead of the personal level (Korean Female Journalist Club,

1994: 767).

The alienation of female journalists

Horizontal and vertical marginalization at the organizational level

The female journalists articles record that female journalists have experi-

enced marginalization. Female journalists realize that this alienation is

making it hard for them to voice their opinion to the company. Even when

they do, their opinions are often ignored or rejected:

There are tons of invisible walls that restrict our domain of activity. The peoplewho created that wall even might not be conscious that it exists, but itconstantly regulates and puts us into a certain small frame that restricts ourgrowth. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1990: 168)

When my appropriate opinion or suggestion is seen as a complaint or objection

by the company, I cannot but keep repeating the word dilemma. (KoreanFemale Journalist Club, 1994: 152)

The marginalized state of female journalists as shown in the female

journalists essays could be categorized into two subcategories: horizontal




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marginalization and vertical marginalization. Horizontal marginalization is

defined as the state which female journalists are pushed out of the power-

wielding fields, such as the political, the social or the business news

departments. Van Zoonen (1988) finds that the media industry clearlyshows a horizontal separation of the media labor force, with female

journalists assigned to work in minor fields, such as consumer interests,

housing and entertainment. The female journalistsreflexions in Korea also

reveal horizontal marginalization at the organizational level. All female

journalists, from junior to senior level, write that they are excluded from

the power-holding departments and kept in specific areas, such as womens

issues and the culture (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1990: 152; 2001:

76). The following quote gives an example of vertical marginalization of

female journalists:

I was also marginalized in the matter of promotion. . . . In fact, my formerjunior male journalists are now directors or chief editors, while I am only anacting editor, and have to apply to headquarters to get authority in writing totake this role, at the age of 40. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1990: 157)

First, the difficulty for female journalists to acquire the legal power

shows their vertical marginalization. As van Zoonen (1988) says, it is hard

to find female workers, even in those fields that are assumed to be female-

dominated, and there are very few female chief editors in the newsrooms inKorea. Second, the higher female journalists formal position is, the more

they are cut out of the power-holding departments. Most female journalists

currently working in social or political departments at newspapers have less

than 10 yearscareer experience, but most female chief editors work in the

lifestyle department or the culture department. This shows that the

tendency for females to be alienated from the power-holding departments

intensifies as the female journalistspositions become higher.

Self-alienation from the job at the personal level

The published pieces often show the self-alienation of female journalists.

Discrimination towards female journalists is so common in Korean societythat they even become used to being discriminated against. Or, female

journalists give up their own principles and become depressed, as they

conform to the rule of the newsroom. They feel frustrated because of the

prejudice against female journalists:

There is one thing that has made me feel powerless for the last year: a prejudiceagainst female journalists. This novice journalist also suffered from thedisapproval of society, as lots of senior female journalists have suffered and arestill suffering. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1995: 142)




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To look back and summarize my past days makes me have the illusion that Iwas so brave and dignified at that time. However, in fact my feelings were hurton many occasions and I became depressed. Eventually, I had to give up myprinciples one by one. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1995: 194)

The self-alienation of female journalists includes their dissatisfaction

with their current tasks and a low level of a sense of belonging to their

organization. Even though there are not as many mentions of alienation at

the personal level as there are mentions of horizontal and vertical alienation

in the female journalists essays, there are still some complaints of

inequality in opportunities to deal with in-depth information because of the

gender-biased role-split:

However, the complexity of the work was not the biggest difficulty. The numberof pages on broadcasting issues is so many that four journalists in ourdepartment are now dealing with them. While male colleagues take care of thehardnews, such as broadcasting law or satellite broadcasting issues, I have todeal with the softnews. So there is no joy of researching in-depth informationor getting new knowledge. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1992: 187)

According to Locke (1978), job satisfaction is feeling good about ones

own job or experiences in the job. In this sense, the emotional state of the

female journalist shows the state of her alienation. The mentions of a low

sense of belonging to the organization in the female journalists testimony

shows that they are alienated from the organization:

Seeing that so many junior female journalists quit this job because they feel thework is hard or unsatisfactory, or the husbands family is against the work, Ihave begun to think that what the female journalists need most are love of anddevotion to their work, even when situations that force us to resign ourselves tosocial disadvantage come up. (Korean Female Journalist Club, 1990: 159).

Regardless of the competition they experienced when they tried to enter

the media industry, the fact that female journalists often quit the job more

easily than male journalists shows that their sense of belonging to an

organization is very low. The sense of belonging to the organization is

closely related to job satisfaction. If job satisfaction is high, an employees

sense of belonging to the organization will be also high (Mobley, 1977).

Since an alienated persons sense of belonging will be lower than that of

people who are not alienated, the female journalists low sense of

belonging to the organization where they work precisely indicates the

alienation of female journalists in the news production process.

Conclusion

This study investigates the mechanisms that exclude female journalists

from the news production process. The existence of these mechanisms




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shows that female journalists are devalued compared to male journalists,

not simply because of any personal incompetence. Many of the mecha-

nisms that are found in this study, to do with housework, pregnancy and

childcare, are also found in other professional jobs as exclusion mecha-nisms in Korea (Cho, 1990; Chung, 1997; Joo, 1992). Cho (1990) indicates

that females are in a very disadvantaged position because of information

sharing within social networks, and because major decisions are made at

bars or during a round of golf. She also indicates that the traditional view

of the difference between males and females does not evaluate the latter

appropriately, based on their ability.

On the other hand, there are some unique exclusion mechanisms such as

collecting information the authoritative way and the unethical culture of

compromise that show problems within the Korean media. Journalists arerecognized as powerful by Korean society. This explains how journalists

can assume an authoritative attitude without hesitation, when they meet

certain people to collect information. It is Korean media culture that should

be corrected. The unethical culture of compromise, such as giving or

receiving bribes or visiting pleasure haunts, is another problematic part of

Korean media. When this media culture disappears, the Korean media will

be able to restore its sincere image of the journalist, and female journalists

will have a chance to show their proper abilities, which they cannot do in

current circumstances.This article attempts to investigate the exclusion mechanisms by show-

ing how female journalists are alienated. These findings can contribute to

the better understanding of the reality of female journalists in Korea, anddemonstrate why such studies should be continued. However, there are still

some limitations in this study. First, in researching the mechanisms that

exclude female journalists, this account does not show how male journal-

ists are potentially affected by those mechanisms, because it only analyzes

articles written by female journalists. If the study had included pieces by

male journalists from a comparative viewpoint, it would be easier to

describe exclusion mechanisms with greater clarity. Finally, future studies

need to show the alienation of the female journalists more systematically,

by examining gender differences in assignments, showing the uneven

distribution to different departments, and by making a comparison of

the drop-out rate of male and female journalists from the newsroom in

Korean society.

Notes

Research for this study was made possible through a grant from Hallym University,Korea.




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1. According to Korean ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) Association, JoongAng Ilbo ranks number two in terms of readership as one of the leading newspapersin Korea in 2002, with a daily circulation of 2,051,588 following Chosun Ilbos2,377,707.

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Kyung-Hee Kim is Director of the Internet Media Center and Assistant

Professor at the School of Communication, Hallym University, Korea. She

is currently working on recent changes in news organizations and produc-

tion. Her research interests include online journalism, news organizationsand audience research.

Address: School of Communication, Hallym University, Chuncheon,

Korea 200702. [email: [email protected]]


Documents

Media Culture Society 2006 Kim 123 41