Original Title: Women Struggling Everywhere
The marginalized group I chose is women and the traditional media outlets I’m following are the Washington Post and the New York Times. Nothing particularly huge happened this week so the reporting was everywhere. Nevertheless, the New York Times and the Washington Post still continued to make sure that women were equally represented by publishing articles about multiple public figures in the feminism movements and the struggles that women are going through everyday. In their article titled, “Are you a working Mom,” the Times explains that being a working mom in this pandemic with your child having to stay home can be tough. To help make women feel heard, the Times put a form in the article so women can state their thoughts. I think this is brilliant and very interactive so the working mothers community can help each other. This promotes unity and acceptance by showing other people they're not alone. In a similar article on the post that’s not as interactive, reporters explain the loneliness that Breonna Taylor's sister is going through. Breonna Taylor is a black woman that was murdered by police for no apparent reason. She was killed in March yet justice still hasn't been brought to her and her loved ones even though it's 5 months later. The fact that the Post thought to report this shows that they are one the side of women and of people of color. It's brillant how the Post made sure that Breonna Taylor’s case is still alive and widely known so that the police officers can be held accountable. To conclude, from Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor inspired little children to who voters think Biden is going to pick as his Vice-President, the scope of what the New York Times and the Washington Post reported in a large one.
August 10 - August 16
Original Title: Harris back in the game
This week, on August 11th, Biden announced that he has chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate. The Washington Post and New York Times were quick to report this. On that same day, they published multiple articles on Harris. Harris ran against Biden a few months before but unfortunately had to dropout because of money reasons. Biden was quick to say that she would make a great VP, leaving us debating if he would choose her. Then we got our confirmation this week. The New York Times made sure that their stories about Harris went beyond her and talked about what this meant for women as an entire gender. They wrote many opinion pieces like the Post. I really liked how the Post emphasized that history that was being made just from Harris being the picked VP. The times didn’t shy out of showing their bias against the Republicans. One article said that Trump's VP, Pence, is the history and Harris is going to be the future. I can’t imagine what went through the Republican party’s head when they saw that. Both the New York Times and the Washington Post defended Kamala Harris after Trump insulted her such as calling her “angry,” and a “mad woman.”The story the Times wrote caught my attention better when they said that Trump is encouraging racism by calling her these nasty words. In my opinion, it's also encouraging sexism because for centuries women have been judged for being too emotional even when they weren’t even that emotional. Even when they act the same way as their male counterparts or have new ideas/ dreams, they are thought of as hysterical.To conclude, Harris (as a black woman) becoming VP can help end racism but the Times and the Post left out that this is also an issue of sexism and how women can actually be treated fairly and with respect.
August 17- August 23
Original Title: Women Taking Over
Both the Washington Post and New York Times descriptively and uniquely shared opinions that we often don’t hear. This week was an important week in history. Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment and the Democratic National Convention was also held this week where Kamala Harris gave her speech as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate. The highest offices in the US are the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. No woman has held any of these positions. The closest America has gotten to electing a woman was in 2016 with Hillary. But this time is different and the New York Times made sure to share why. In an article titled ‘Finally the Country Sees Us’: Some Women of Color Cheer Harris’s Rise, the times explains how women of color feel that they are finally being heard and they feel connected to Harris as their stories are similar to hers. I feel that way as well. Like Harris, and like the many other females in this country, my parents immigrated here from a different country (Ethiopia in my case) and we all know what it's like to grow up as a colored woman in this society and it’s not easy. My favorite quote from the article is, “‘It’s the twin devils of racism and sexism’ (Burch et al).” Living in today’s world, we have to work harder than everyone else. Get better grades in school, keeping our anger under control when we face adversity. All for getting a job where we’re going to be paid less. Seeing someone like us reach that level of their career brings hope back into our lives and this article from the Times does a great job of showing our optimism rise. The Washington Post had really descriptive articles about Harris’s speech. One was even dedicated to annotating it. The annotations helped me easily read the speech as well gather my opinions about it. In her speech, Harris explains how racism is a pandemic much like the corona virus but there is no medical cure of study for it. Racism is tearing our country apart and we don’t pay much attention to it. She takes this idea and compares it to why we have to vote for Biden since he can help unite us all. In the annotations, we can see how this week was the perfect time for the DNC to take place. The Democrats could easily get more female voters by bringing up the hardships that women had to face to get the 19th amendment to be ratified and the hardships we have to face today just to be seen as equals to our male counterparts. Having a women vice-president would definitely help level the playing field. To conclude, throughout this entire week, the Washington Post and New York Times effectively explained critical moments in women’s rights history.
August 24 - August 30
Original Title: Women for Trump?
The Republican National Convention happened this week from August 24-August 27. In hopes to get more female voters, the Republicans spoke about how Trump has been treating women as equals and has put women in many leading positions. Well, he has given women more jobs in high offices, but I find it very hard to believe that he treats women as equals especially after what he comments about us. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times focus on Kellyanne Conway. Kellyanne Conway is President Trump's counselor, and the head of his campaign. The New York Times posted a video of Conway explaining that Trump has strong relationships with women. The Times also posted another video combining many female speakers from the convention that talk about how their jobs have changed their lives because of Trump. The Washington Post, going more in-depth with articles, focused on the fact that Kellyanne Conway (“the ultimate woman for Trump”) is leaving his administration. In my opinion, posting a video of what women for Trump talked about or just focusing on one woman isn’t coverage enough. I feel that in order for readers to gather their own opinions they need to hear more of the story. The Washington Post and the New York Times could’ve explained more about what these “women for trump” were saying, even if we don’t agree with their conservative views.
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