University Star

Last week, my sister posted a blog about a new doll added to the career line of Barbies. When I heard about the new Computer Engineer Barbie, it sparked my interest to see if there was a Journalist Barbie. I honestly thought there would already be one, somewhere in her past 124 careers. I Googled "Barbie journalist" and to my surprise and excitement, I found an article published earlier this month titled "Is Barbie going to journalism school?" by The Toronto Star.

From that title I imagined Barbie with a laptop, camera and tripod...a backpack journalist ready to take on newsroom convergence. It turns out the specific new career is News Anchor:

She looks like a reporter for Entertainment Tonight rather than someone anchoring for CNN. Also, that handheld microphone is so old school/lazy reporting. Barbie should totally have a wireless lavalier mic system.

I was a little disappointed in this discovery. As a broadcast major (electronic media) currently in my capstone TV News class, I feel the majority of women in broadcast journalism are more interested in being in front of the camera playing the part of on-camera reporters and anchors, rather than shooting from behind the lens. I am not ragging on news anchors at all, for I strongly believe anyone who thinks an anchor's only job is to sit at a desk and read words off a teleprompter is horribly mistaken.

To be specific, it seems Mattel did not accurately display the tech side of journalism that is now necessary in this field. I went from someone who believed she'd only be writing stories and shooting still photos (I was originally in print journalism) to someone coding CSS, making Flash graphics, shooting video and editing audio, in addition to the first two. A few weeks ago, as The University Star sent out a school-wide email notifying all students that we were hiring, I complained about applications I received for the videographer openings under my multimedia section. The response from interested girls in the job was underwhelming. Out of 12 applicants, only one was a girl. Where are all the female photojournalists/videojournalists? Are they scared of the heavy lifting involved with equipment? Is there fear of getting down and dirty while trying to shoot the most compelling shots? Women in photojournalism are a minority.

With the realization that News Anchor Barbie could've been more properly portrayed, I decided to use Photoshop to create an appropriation of the Computer Engineer Barbie into what I hope one day will be Photojournalist/Multimedia Journalist Barbie ready to take on the changing world of news:

Yes, Barbie is holding an iPhone to contact sources, a MacBook Pro with a Final Cut document previously open on the screen since she's been editing a 5 minute clip for the past hour, a Canon XH-A1 and shotgun mic to shoot video for a story, the 2010 AP Stylebook to assure there are no typos in her print article, a folder of notes for Bnews and her Canon 7D DSLR is mounted on a tripod to shoot stills or b-roll HD video. She's prepared to gather and deliver information in a variety of ways, all while on a tight deadline.

Don't get me wrong, women in journalism have made tremendous progress...I mean, look at where we stood in the field of journalism in the 1940s:

(skip to 5:17) "Women find it difficult to compete with men in general reporting jobs, so girls who want to be successful in journalism should prepare for work in the special womens' departments. Home decoration, childcare, gardening and household hints are found in the homemaking section, a department handled by women. Also included are cookery, meal planning suggestions, menus, recipes and attractive ways of arranging the table."

Yikes! Someone needs to encourage Mattel to make a technologically savvy Lisa Geekheart Doll or something.

Tina Phan, Multimedia Editor