“This Reporter is so Ugly, How Can She Appear on TV?” Negotiating Gender Online and Offline in Taiwanese Media

• In Event: Reflecting, Representing, Resisting: Portrayals of Gender in Film, TV, Advertisement, News Media, and Advice Media

Abstract

In Taiwan, 20 professional journalists were interviewed, to understand how they negotiate gender and professional identities online and offline through the lens of Shoemaker and Reese’s media routines. The findings suggest that while Taiwanese women journalists found that gender in some aspects of reporting was an asset but gendered harassment online and incivility are issues they have to contend with. Comments on stories and professional identities online primarily focused on their looks and physical attributes and were openly uncivil. Such incivility affected normal journalistic routines and prevented them from being impartial purveyors of information. Online incivility and cultural norms that except women to be subservient deterred them from promoting stories on personal social media and negatively affected their coverage of controversial issues. Although the study’s primary focus is on Taiwan, the analysis is applicable beyond national boundaries.

Authors

• Victoria Y Chen

• Paromita Pain, The U of Texas at Austin