Recent Directions for the Study of Women's History in American Journalism

Abstract

This article reviews recent work that deals with the experience of women in American journalism. It concludes that this work points in the direction of a new synthesis telling a more comprehensive story of women and journalism as an alternative to the present narrative that details women's efforts to succeed professionally by conforming to a male model of journalistic performance. To fully arrive at this synthesis, the article contends, a new definition of journalism itself is needed-one broad enough to encompass women like Eleanor Roosevelt, who used journalism for political and personal ends not related to the professional norm of objectivity. In calling for a redefinition of journalism to include women's perspectives, the article advocates more use of family-oriented social history and biography as well as more study of women's networking in journalism and women's personal experience recorded in oral histories.