Comments on: Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer Are No “Newsmommies”

By: Blew argument in first sentence

Blew argument in first sentence — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:57:11 +0000

Any woman that is successful in America is going to be criticized worse than any successful man. Like you said above, this nation is good at belittling accomplished women. This has been proven over and over again.

Both Couric and Sawyer are being judged regardless if they are a mother or not. And as you mentioned Sawyer doesnt even have children.

Both of the performances of these women will ALWAYS be looked at under a microscope. Regardless of Couric and Sawyers credentials Im afraid it will never be enough to FULLY prove to a network audience they are just as good if not better than male anchors/reporters.

Also if your criticizing people for using the term “newsmommies” please stop yourself from addressing women as “baby”

By: Daisy

Daisy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:12:35 +0000

Mommylike? I’ve never thought of Diane Sawyer as particularly motherly. The opposite, perhaps.
By the way, if people can still call us “baby,” we haven’t come far enough.

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Ah, I got it. I see what you’re saying then.

By the way, I believe Ann at Feministing (in the 2006 post) misunderstood the original article about Couric, and she had a knee-jerk reaction … and the result was “newsmommy.”

By: PunditMom

PunditMom — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:43:00 +0000

I’m saying that the criticism by Feministing was directed at the new executives but there’s no excuse for terming a word like “newsmommies” especially by feminists. It does nothing other than to belittle accomplished women. Additional Feministing stories, Salon and more blogs are picking up on the term. It’s another one we don’t need in our vocabulary and we should nip it in the bud.

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:39:22 +0000

Your point of contention seems to be the term newsmommy. And that came from Feministing.

As for executive decisions, I don’t see where the decisions made about Couric and Sawyer were BASED on that they were perceived as “newsmommies.” I read the original article from 2006, “The Couric conundrum,” which quoted lots of experts (all women, I believe) with lots of opinions about why Couric was chosen. But no quote from anyone who actually made the decisions explaining what was considered during the process.

So I guess I’m confused about who you’re saying has stepped over the line. Feministing for coining the term in 2006? Salon for using it in a headline now?

By: PunditMom

PunditMom — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:16:22 +0000

Actually, I didn’t mean for it to come across that executives are using the term — others are in connection with the executives decisions and, it seems to me, denigrating women in the process.

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:13:06 +0000

I’m trying to figure out where the term “newsmommy” originated.

To hear you tell it, network executives are all over the place calling Diane Sawyer a newsmommy. That’s not the case.

So when you say, “Someone has actually coined the phrase ‘newsmommy,’” it looks to me that Ann at Feministing coined the phrase in 2006 when she wrote about Katie Couric.

http://www.feministing.com/archives/004935.html

By: Posts about Michael Jackson as of September 18, 2009 » The Daily Parr

Posts about Michael Jackson as of September 18, 2009 » The Daily Parr — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:03:49 +0000

[...] about Michael Jackson as of September 18, 2009 Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer Are No “Newsmommies” – punditmom.com 09/18/2009 Someone has actually coined the phrase “newsmommy.” Yes, you [...]