There's No Crying in Newsrooms: What Women Have Learned about What It Takes to Lead - Hardcover

Gilger Arizona State University, Kristin Grady; Wallace, Julia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1538121492 ISBN 13: 9781538121498

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019

Synopsis

There’s No Crying in Newsrooms tells the stories of remarkable women who broke through barrier after barrier at media organizations around the country over the past four decades. They started out as editorial assistants, fact checkers and news secretaries and ended up running multi-million-dollar news operations that determine a large part of what Americans read, view and think about the world. These women, who were calling in news stories while in labor and parking babies under their desks, never imagined that 40 years later young women entering the news business would face many of the same battles they did – only with far less willingness to put up and shut up.

The female pioneers in “There’s No Crying in Newsrooms” have many lessons to teach about what it takes to succeed in media or any other male-dominated organization, and their message is more important now than ever before.

About this title

About the Author

Kristin Grady Gilger is Senior Associate Dean at one of the nation’s leading journalism schools, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She also serves as director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and the National Center on Disability and Journalism, both of which are housed at the Cronkite School. Prior to joining ASU in 2002, Gilger spent 20 years in various reporting and editing roles at newspapers across the country.

Julia Wallace was a top media executive and high-ranking editor at four major newspapers. She spent more than 20 years as a top editor and was the first woman editor-in-chief of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She was inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement. In 2017, she joined the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University as the Frank Russell Chair.

Review

Riffing off Tom Hanks’ line in A League of Their Own, "There's no crying in baseball," for their title, veteran journalists, editors, and educators Gilger and Wallace cogently demonstrate why the admonition is equally apt in newsrooms. Journalism is a field in which men have always dominated, and any woman who wanted to compete needed to demonstrate that she wouldn’t fall victim to her gender’s stereotypical emotional fragility. It wouldn’t be easy. Sexism and sexual harassment were rampant. Expectations for women were not only doubled, they were quadrupled. Hypocrisy reigned in story assignments, travel arrangements, job promotions, and, of course, salary equity. The authors interviewed nearly 100 women media leaders, from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour to Vox ’s Melissa Bell, to assess the changing image of women in journalism, how they achieved success, and what they envision as the industry’s future. The result is a commanding critique of the current state of women in media, boosted by constructive advice applicable to workplaces other than newsrooms. A crucial resource for women leaders in any field. (Booklist)

Gilger and Wallace (both, Arizona State) profile some successful female journalists and provide pragmatic advice to women within (and entering) the news media. Most of the book’s nine chapters are interspersed with career tips, which are partially derived from accompanying profiles and vignettes. The examples are contemporary and focus on the career challenges of women journalists within diverse mass media platforms, including digital, newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. Among the array of interesting profiles, the book describes the challenging 32-month tenure of Jill Abramson as the executive editor of the New York Times. The latter adds insights to Ms. Abramson’s recent book, Merchants of Truth (2019). While Gilger and Wallace base their book on interviews of more than 100 journalists, they provide occasional context, such as a discussion about the increasing presence of women in journalism during the past four decades. The text is well written and contains a list of interviewees, chapter footnotes, and some cheerful photographs. (CHOICE)

Collecting the stories of women who have spent the last four decades in media, There's No Crying in Newsrooms is an essential read for any aspiring journalist or reporter. (Bustle)

Kristin Grady Gilger and Julia Wallace (both news veterans) ask the questions you’ve always wanted to know from the women at the top: “How did you get where you are?” “What did you say to the creepy guys at work?” “Do you think you made the right decision to (not) have kids?” and “What can I do today to get ahead?” . . . The authors weave the stories of dozens of women leaders into the broader history of gender and civil rights in America, and in how news and journalism are changing in the digital age. (Women2)

Gilger and Wallace argue that the fight is worth it — that journalism and democracy are better served if newsrooms more closely reflect the broader culture. I hope this book is read not just by aspiring journalists but by newsroom leaders as well. A problem can’t be solved unless it’s first understood, and There’s No Crying in Newsrooms explains it well. (Dan Kennedy, WGBH Boston)

If there is one lesson that I can add to the many profound lessons this book offers, it is this: Focus on what’s best for you and then throw yourself at it. And remember that the cause of women in newsrooms will take on urgency only if we make it happen–together. (Campbell Brown, Head of Global News Partnerships, Facebook)

There’s No Crying in Newsrooms is an important, readable, and timely book about women newsroom leaders at a turning point in American journalism. It vividly describes, from probing interviews, the struggles and triumphs of dozens of leading women journalists. Each chapter ends with engaging, sage advice from the authors, drawing on their own long careers as successful news leaders. A rich portfolio of photos of many of the women helps readers get to know them even better. The book should be essential reading for journalists and for everyone else interested in the journey of American women today. (Leonard Downie Jr., former Executive Editor and VP of The Washington Post)

I’m truly thankful to Kristin and Julia for writing this book. It’s part history, part practical advice, and fueled by the stories women journalists tell when we’re together. It’s important that the discussion about facing obstacles and opportunities for women in journalism be shared more widely. I came away inspired by and grateful to the trailblazing women journalists who have led the way. (Nicole Carroll, Editor in Chief of USA TODAY)

A provocative look inside the world of journalism, filled with stories of women who have learned to lead, even though many of the same old obstacles remain. There’s No Crying in Newsrooms is the real-life guidebook to a new generation of women intent on careers in not just news, but every profession. (Gail Evans, EVP, CNN Newsgroup, Author of Play Like A Man, Win Like a Woman)

I found this book to be a triple gift. Not only do Gilger and Wallace write the compelling history of women climbing to the top of the news business, and profile many of those women who fought to the summit, they also provide a detailed roadmap for future leaders on their own journey to the top. I thought I knew this story because I lived it. But there's so much more that exists under the surface. This is required reading for anyone entering the business. (Kate O'Brian, Former Senior Vice President of ABC News and President of Al Jazeera America)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1538121492
• ISBN 13: 9781538121498
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 216