Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news highlighting women’s roles, contributions, and achievements in the evolving media business. This latest installment covers a Q&A with news veterans and longtime friends Cokie Roberts and Lesley Stahl, what colleges are doing to recruit more women into their computer science programs, a report on the status of women in the U.S. media industry, and more.
- Media mavens Recently honored by the New-York Historical Society for their contributions to public life, journalism veterans and authors Cokie Roberts and Lesley Stahl talked with WWD about their careers and their longtime friendship, touching on everything from navigating the male-dominated news field in their early years to their view of the media landscape today to managing the demands of work and family. Together, their accomplishments are numerous, yet their work continues to evolve and inspire other women across the media and publishing industries. Roberts, an ABC News correspondent and senior NPR news analyst, just published her sixth bestseller, “Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington 1848-1868.” Meanwhile, Stahl, a “60 Minutes” correspondent for the past 24 years, multi-Emmy winner, and winner of this year’s Radio Television Digital News Association Lifetime Achievement Award, is currently writing her second book.
- Bridging the tech gap The publishing world revolves around digital platforms these days, yet women continue to lag in the tech field, representing only about 15% of computer science graduates and technical workers, The New York Times reports. One organization looking to turn that around is the National Center for Women & Information Technology, which is helping colleges and universities develop strategies to recruit more women into their technology programs. Working with the center, the University of Washington, for example, has seen its percentage of women computer science graduates jump to twice the national average. The article notes that the key to success is getting girls interested in the field early on, with engaging activities such as workshops and field trips during their elementary and high school years. Other efforts that are showing results include mentoring programs, campus support communities, and courses that emphasize real-world applications.
- A ways to go The Women’s Media Center released its annual report on the status of women in the U.S. media industry—and, as Time outlined in a recent article, it’s pretty much a downer. The report shows women not only made little to no progress in most areas, but representation in one field—sports journalism—actually fell from 17% to 10% last year. Another discouraging finding was the persistance of minority stereotyping and underrepresentation. But there was some good news: last year, women wrote 52% of New York Times book reviews, accounted for 54% of Chicago Sun-Times bylines, and made up 53% of Huffington Post contributors. For more details, you can get the report here.
- Face time Since the earliest days of Amazon, CEO Jeff Bezos has had an appointed executive “shadow” him as he goes through his workday, an enviable mentoring position that has greatly furthered the careers of those lucky enough to get that kind of inside access, reports Business Insider. Now, for the first time in the company’s history, Bezos has chosen a woman to fill the shadow role. Maria Renz, who most recently was CEO of Diapers.com parent Quidsi, a company acquired by Amazon, was named to the coveted spot, representing a slight improvement to the company’s dismal record of appointing women to its executive ranks. According to the report, the only other female among Amazon’s top eight executives (including Bezos) is worldwide controller Shelley Reynolds.
- Walk the talk Apple is another company lacking women leaders on its executive bench. According to Business Insider, of its top 15 executives, 12 are men. It is, however, trying to make some changes on the diversity front—for one, putting female keynote speakers on stage at its WWDC conference this week, something it’s done only six times in its history, the report notes, the last time being in 1997. Ahead of the conference, CEO Tim Cook spoke with Mashable about other things Apple is doing to address the gender and minority inequalities revealed in its 2014 diversity report, which showed 70% of its employees worldwide are male and 55% of its U.S. workers are white. “It’s the future of our company,” he said in the interview.
- Guest editor gig More magazine announced Michelle Obama, who has appeared on the publication’s cover twice before, was the guest editor of its July/August issue—marking “a first for a first lady,” The New York Times reports. Many of the columns and articles Mrs. Obama helped choose are related to the efforts she’s involved in, including her “Let’s Move” initiative to reduce childhood obesity. She also showcased national parks and memorials in the magazine’s travel section and selected a column titled “The Feminine Mistake,” by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “Everything is linked to Mrs. Obama,” More EIC Lesley Jane Seymour noted in the article. “Every column was done from her point of view.” The issue will be on newsstands June 23.
- Passing the torch Better Homes and Gardens chief editor Gayle Butler is retiring after 30 years with owner Meredith Corp., which has named Conde Nast Traveler’s Stephen Orr as her successor. Butler, who has been in her current position since 2006, is credited with growing the magazine’s audience to its current 7.5 million readers, adding beauty, fashion, and home technology content, and guiding the publication’s expansion across digital, mobile, and social media platforms. All the while, she helped build one of the largest retail brands in the industry, including a line of more than 3,000 Better Homes and Garden products for Walmart, according to PR Newswire. Our best wishes to Gayle!
- Hiring news roundup Vox.com founder Melissa Bell was appointed vice president of growth and analytics at Vox Media, Marjorie Miller was promoted to director of global news and enterprise at The Associated Press, Hearst Magazines Digital Media (HMDM) named Laura Kalehoff director of its Branded Content Studio, Elisa Benson will head all social media initiatives for Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, and Redbook in her new role as HMDM’s Young Women’s Network social director, Lucy Armstrong was named GQ’s new fashion editor, Marie Claire promoted Lea Goldman to executive editor, and former Pacific Standard EIC Maria Streshinsky is joining Mother Jones as deputy editor.
Let us know in the comments if there are any other recent stories or career moves you’d like us to include in our next Women in Media roundup.
Photo: George Chinsee/WWD
Technology for Publishing’s Women in Media blog highlights the news and achievements of female leaders and role models in the publishing and media industry. Look for our in-depth profiles and interviews of top women to watch. Is there someone you’d like to nominate for an upcoming Q&A? Drop us a note!
Posted by: Monica Sambataro
