"SMART, CONFIDENT, YET FEMININE": PARADOXES AND CONTRADICTIONS IN WOMEN'S TELEVISION.

A CASE STUDY OF THE WOMEN'S TELEVISION NETWORK.

Lisa M. Ellenwood

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fuifilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Graduate Programme in Interdisciplinary Studies York University North York, Ontario

Novernber 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*m of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, nie Wellington OtlawaON KIA ON4 OttawaON KIAON4 Canada Canada

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The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thése. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels niay be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. "Smart, Confident, Yet Ferninine": Paracoxes and Contradictions in Woments Television. A Case Study of the Woments Television Network. by Lisa M. Ellenwood a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillrnent of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Permission has been granted to the LlûRARY OF YORK UNIVERSITY to lend or seIl copies of this thesis, to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilm this thesis and to lend or seIl copies of the film, and to UNIVERSITY MICRORCMS to publish an abstract of this thesis. The author reserves other publication rights, and rieither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the authoreswritten permission. ABSTR ACT

There is ongoing debate in the feminist community over the impact of television on women's lives and whether or not mainsueam television can be used as a means for social change. The Women's Television Network, which began broadcasting in Canada on January 1, 1995, reflects the ferninist debate in its stniggle to define women's television and also provides a concrete example of the practical applications of liberal feminist media theory in the commercial television indusuy. This thesis explores the paradoxes and contradictions which @se from WTN's relationships to feminism and commercial television. It does so through qualitative research conducted at WTN, texnial analysis, an examination of the political economy of the television industry and an overview of the shifting theoretical paradigms in feminist media studies. It asks why a women's channel was licenced at this point in Canadian history? Why a women's channel with a ferninist mandate? 1s this manda te compatible with commercial television? Will a wornen's channel, mn by wornen, necessarily affect in a progressive way. the discourses of gender encoded in the texts the channel broadcasts? In considering these questions the study sets out to demonstrate that despite the many compromises a 'ferninist' women's channel rnust make, to have a voice on mainstream television is to participate in a powerful discourse. An eighteen minute video, titled Carole Gets a TV, was also produced as part of this research project. It is an attempt to explore the ferninist debates presented in this thesis in a visual format, which might be used as an educational tool through which to address issues about the impact of the media on the construction of identity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The main advantage of conducting graduate research in Lnterdisciplinary Studies is the opportunity of drawing upon the knowledge of scholars from a variety of disciplines. Professor Elizabeth Seaton, from the Mass Communications Department, also the Chair of my Supervisory Cornmittee, was an exceptional resource for information on feminist media theory, as well as for comments and suggestions on my research and writing. Professor Barbara Evans a filmmaker and professor in the Film and Video Department. provided me with invaluable support in the production of my video, as weli as a different perspective on the thesis material. Professor Ted Magder. from the Mass Communications Department, provided insights into the political economy of the television industry. 1 thank them ail for maintainhg their enthusiasm and dedication to rny project despite their various sabbaticals, maternity leave and relocation to foreign universities. In addition. 1 would like to acknowledge the generous assistance of Professor Virginia Rock in helping me work through difficulties in the writing process. Surviving graduate studies at York would not have been possible without the wonderful people connected to the Interdiscipiinary Studies Programme: mÿ colleagues Rachel, Gord, Krys, Sarah and Paul, the former Programme Assistant Agatha Campbell and the Programme Director Professor Marlene Kadar, whose energy, cheerfufness and pro blem-solving abilities kept us all going. 1would iike to thank Barbara Barde and Linda Rankin and ail of the women I interviewed at the Women's Television Network in Winnipeg and Toronto for generously supporting my research. I would especidy like to thank Laura Michalchyshyn for facilîtating my trip to Winnipeg and for never complaining about all of my questions. Completing this thesis would not have been possible without the unfailhg support of my friends and famiiy. Specifically 1 would like to mention Marni Goldman for her fabulous ideas and expert editing, Michael Tong for helping me through my first year and Barb Anderson and Jane Gutteridge, who despite their many attempts to sabotage my thesis, helped a great deal with my financiai sumival through the thesis witing process. Most of all. 1 would like to th& Adrian Callender, my parents Brenda and Ray Ellenwood and my sisters Joanna Bottrell and Claire Ellenwood. Adrian for his love, encouragement and patience and my family for their editing skills, for believing in my project and for putting up with me throughout this whole process. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Title Page i Copyright Page ii Certificate Page iii Abstrac t iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii Preface ix

Chapter 1 - Introduction 1

Chapter 2 - Shifting Paradigms in Feminist Media S tudies 1O

Liberal Feminist Approaches to the Media Criticism of the Li beral Feminis t Approaches Influences of Semiotic Analysis Political Economy of the Media Indus~ Socialist Feminist Approaches to the Media Marxis t Influences Laura Mulvey Influences of Hegemony and Cultural Studies Michel Foucault's Discourse Theory Reclaiming Feminine Texts: Textual and Audience Research Textual Analysis Audience Research The Made-for-TV Movie

Chapter 3 - The Media Environment WchLed to the Licencing 33 of a 'Femlliist' Women's Channel in Canada

vii viii

Sex-role Scereo typing Employment Equi ty Recent Media Activism and Research The Licencing of a Women's Channel in Canada The Founders of WTN The Application Process Support for WTN

Chapter 4 - The Struggle to Define Women's Television at WTN 5 9

Infiuences on WTN's Representation of 'Wornan' 60 Nego tiating Ferninisrn at WTN 60 The People Defining Wornen's Programrning at WTN 64 The Media BacNash 69 The Business of Commercial Television: Advertising 7 1 The Original Vision of Programming: "for women, by 78 women and about women" The New Vision of Prograrnrning: "what women want to 90 watch"

Chapter 5 - Conclusion 106

Appendix A - A Video Docurnentary, Carole Gets a TV 110 Endno tes 126 Selected Bibliography 135 PREFACE

Back in 1993, when 1 first read that there were two applications subrnitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecornmunications Commission (CRTC)for a specialty television licence for women, 1 was thriiled. 1 thought that fmally women would have a voice on rnainstream television. The channel would be a great opportunity for women like myself, who drearn of working in a feminist, supportive environment and of producing television programrning that is progressive. relevant and accessible to a rnass audience. 1 believed a wornen's television channel would provide a great opportunity for women to learn the technology of television production and it would offer a new venue to show work to a national audience (except for most of Quebec) which hadn't previously fit into other broadcasters' schedules. 1 was convinced that if one of these channels was licenced it wouid change the media landscape in Canada forever, untilI bumped into a feminist hiend who was not at al1 excited about the prospect of a women's channel. She thought a women's channel was ghettoizing and that the audience would be limited. She listed off many wornen who are rnaking strides for gender equality on mainstream television: Denise Donlon, Wendy Mesley, Rita Deverell, Pamela Wallin. She believed that women have a rnuch greater chance of affecting social change and influencing ideas if they work with the existing broadcasters. Her cornrnents made me reconsider my unequivocal enthusiasm for the licencing of a wornen's channel and made me recognize that there was much more to the issue than 1 originally thought. My enthusiasm for a women's channel cornes from my experiences as a feminist documentary videomaker, a student of film and television, and from working for and partiupating in many successful film and television organizations. I have worked at the National Film Board and adrmred the films produced by its Studio D (the only government sponsored feminist film unit in the world-- recently closed). 1 have also created my own video productions at universiSr and with SHE/TV. a feminist collective producing television programming through Rogers Cable 10 cornrnmity access in Toronto. 1was a mernber of Women in Film and Television- Toronto, an organization which was founded to assist women in gaining access to the film and television industry and 1 am a member of MediaWatch, a feminist media monitoring and research organization. With MediaWatch, 1 once participated in conducting a telephone survey into women's television viewing habits, where 1 discovered that the women contacted could rarely name any role rnodels on television and that the majority of the women resisted labelling thernselves feminists, but they believed in equality for women. From al1 of these experiences I have learned that organizations mn by women can make a difference, that women are discriminated against in the film and television industry in terms of employment and that cultural constructions of 'wornan' in the media are extremely limited. Despite the fact that CVTN was to be a profit driven venture, 1 believed social change would more likely be achieved through a women's channel. As a result of my own initial liberal feminist ideas about the impact of the powerful media on women, 1 also believed that there was no other option for women but to start their own channel, since years of govemment regulation by the CRTC had accomplished very little in terms of limiting sex-role stereotyping. Before 1 started my research 1 rarely watched soap operas or talk shows and never bought wornen's magazines or read Harlequin romances, simply because I regarded these traditional women's genres as perpetuating stereotypes about women's roles in society and irnpacting negatively on women's sense of identity and purpose. Since 1 started my research, however, many of my preconceptions about gender and the media have changed. INTRODUCTION

WTN's relationships to feminism and commercial television create many paradoxes and contradictions, as ilîusnated in the title of this thesis, " smart, confident, yet feminine." This quotation was taken from the research WTN commissioned for its licence application: "1 prefer TV programs that show women in smart. confident, yet feminine roles" was an attitudinal statement that women were asked to respond to in WTN's quantitative research study (Lifestyle Television Application. Appendix 1, 27).The qualification, " yet feminine," is an example of the compromises a women's channel with a feminist mandate feels it must make in order to function successfully in the commercial television indusûy. And there are other examples of paradoxes and contradictions. WTN argued that it was a television channel for, by and about women but it denied that it was a feminist channel. The channel's name alienated audiences because it was perceived to be feminist and also alienated feminists who question whether gender is the main unifying factor in women's lives or in their television-viewing preferences. WTN is a channel which broadcasts feminist programming in solidarity with the Fourth UN Conference on Women in Beijing (September 1995),Black History Month and International Wornen's Day but its regular progranunhg schedule perpetuates ideas of normaiity as Young, white, middle- class, aged twenty-five to forty-nine. WTN is a womanfschannel which in its zeal to provide "good TV" for women (prograrnming with 'reaiistic' and truthful representations of women) in its first programme schedule, provided traditional men's programming dealing with fishing and car care. WTN says that it is providing programming that women want to watch but it also seils its schedule to media buyers as one tailor-made to th& needs. This is a channel with a political mandate whose flagship cment affairs show, which was going to aiiow audiences to "see the world through women's eyes," was cancelled after only a few months. WTN is a channel which has fundraising events for women's shelters but which today doesn't believe that there needs to be a regular forum for in-depth discussion about topics such as violence against women or current affairs more generaily. The programmers at WTN once thought a show involving poeay and music was different and interesting but now believes Domy and Marie Osmond's daytime talk show fits that description. WTN is a women's channel which originally wanted to promote women in the television industry but which now has more male hosts than female hosts who are physically challenged or from visible minority groups.

My research into the paradoxes and contradictions of women's television consists of an empirical study of WTN which includes in-dep th interviews with both Presidents (Linda Ra- and Elaine Ali) and both Vice Presidents of Programrning (Barbara Barde and Susan Millican), producers, managers and others. 1 As well, 1 conduct a survey of existing theoretical and historicai texts which address women and the media and construct an overview of the shifting theoretical paradigms. 1 also provide a review of Canadian content analyses of women and the media and a textual analysis of WTN's primary and "secondary texts." My research into WTN's prVnary texts (the programming) involved random sampling from the launch of the channel (January 1,1995) to November 1998.1 also recorded certain programmes which were of specific relevance to my argument, for a more thorough analysis. For further programming information 1also referenced the programming schedules produced by the channel. In my analysis of WTN 1 chose to concentrate on the political economy of the commercial television industry (production) and textual analysis. 1 do believe that audience study is crucial to an understanding of the role of television's texts in perpetuating hegemonic constructions of gender, but audience study was beyond the scope of this thesis. As part of the video I produced to accompany my written research, however, 1 was able to conduct sixteen random interviews with fernale television viewers whom 1 approached on the streets in Toronto. The interviews involved a diverse mix of women (one man, part of a couple) in a variety of locations: the Toronto Financial District ( downtown), a community known as little India (east end of Toronto) and the Dufferin Md, which is situated in a working-class neigbourhood in the West end of Toronto. The rnajority of the women 1 talked to did not feel compelled to watch WTN because it was " their" channel. As the video demonstrates, the women had very diverse viewing preferences (from Melrose Place to Vision TV) as well as diverse ideas about the impact of television on their sense of identity. From this brief interaction with female TV watchers and from discussions with television viewers throughout the process of writing this thesis, 1 am convinced that an audience study specifically related to viewer responses to women's channels would be fascinating. There are several key theoretical concepts which have guided rny critique of WTN's approach to women's television. First of all, whereas the focus on analysing gender and its contribution to women's oppression is what differentiates feminism frorn other perspectives in the social sciences and humanities, many feminists are questioning the privileging of gender as the central focus of analysis. A general shift into poststnicturalism has permitted gender to be seen as a discursive construct and this has dlowed for differences to be recognized within the category 'woman.' Differences amongst women, such as race, class, age, sexuality are argued to be in many ways more untfving than gender. Furthemore, although oppression of wornen is universai, not ail women are oppressed to an equal level. As a discursive constmct, gender is seen as created through the multitude of contradictory discourses available to people in society, rather than as a fixed essential element of a person's subjec tivity. Feminists are confronting the seerningly natural gender divisions in society by arguing that there is a viable distinction between sex and gender. In other words, there is no necessary relation between femininity and 'wornan,' nor between female biology and women's television viewing preferences or what women are capable of doing or becorning (Gatens 1991, 5 8,59). As Moira Gatens States in her study, Feminism and Philosoohy: Perspectives on Difference and Eaualitv, "contemporary femhiism has had to acknowledge [that]... differences between women fragment the convenient 'we' of feminist discourses. This fragmentation, in tuni, has led to an interrogation of the dualism which is, in many ways, the very foundation of ferninism: that of rnan/womanl' (Gatens 1991, 84). Poststructuralism has led to my questioning the assumptions made by WTN regarding the unity of the female audience. Even though 1 believe that a women's channel is an important first step to irnproving women's access to the television industry, 1 also believe that in some ways the existence of the channel perpetuates essentialist ideas about gender divisions. Another important theoretical influence is British Cultural Studies and its defdtion of culture as: "all that we do, say and believe, that is the practice of everyday living" (Brown 1990, 14).As Mary Ellen Brown argues, this definition is useful since it allows for the virntal elirnination of the high/low distinction in terrns of the analysis of cultural practices and texts. Where women's genres and television were once disrnissed as unworthy of any critical attention, this new definition of culture allows researchers to trear popular culture's texts as valid and worthy of study. The audience studies conducted by researchers working within a cultural studies framework (Angela McRobbie, Stuart Hall, David Morley) have aiso contributed to my understanding of the production of meaning as part of a process which involves production, text and reception and of culture as a constant site of sauggle. Television is clearly an important part of our culme. Of the total households in Canada ( 1l,4li,OOO), almost ail ( 1l,3OS,OOO) have television sets. Ln 1996 5 1.5% of homes had two or more colour televisions, which is a substantial increase from a decade ago (23.8 % in 1986). Of ail the households with televisions, 74% have cable service compared to 65.4% in 1986 (Statistics Canada 1996, 11).More importantly, people spend vast amounts of tirne watching television, with women spending a few more hours than men in front of their sets. The average hours (across Canada) of television viewing per week in the fall of 1995 for men eighteen years and older was 22.4 hours and for women eighteen years and older, 27.0 hours (Statistics Canada 1995,l).Children by the time they graduate fkom high school will have spent "an average of 30% more tirne in front of a television than in the classroom" ( MediaWatch 1998, 3 ) .Television's place in the private sphere and its unobmsive nature also work to make it a very powerful medium. As Andrea Press argues it is such an integral part of our lives that we fail to notice that it provides a "constant Stream of social images that irnpinge upon Our view of the world and upon Our very definitions of who we are" (Press 1991, 16). Television is effective in the sarne way ideology is effective. As an ideological medium, television structures "our conceptions of self and the social world" (Ibid., 16).Today television is seen as one of the central sites at which the negotiation over hegemonic consmctions of gender takes place. Over the past few decades new theoretical ideas and audience research have created an understanding about audience participation in the construction of meaning which has allowed feminists to rebuke conceptions of the audience as passive victims but they have also created a paradox for the feminist media theorist, which Liesbet van Zoonen outlines in the foilowing way: "as we acknowledge the pleasure women derive from watching soap operas it becomes increasingly difficult to fmd moral justifications for cnticizing their contributions to the hegemonic construction of gender identities" (vanZoonen 1996,33). Throughout the writing of this thesis 1 have often felt caught in this paradox. 1 argue that WTN should be providing alternative representations of 'woman' and fernininisr, yet 1 accept that women find pleasure in traditional women's genres and they are producers, as well as consumers of meaning. 1 believe that Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony aiiows me to manage this paradox. For cultural theorists, hegemony explains how, with the willing consent of the subordinate masses, the dominant class maintains conaol through ideological means. This concept helps to explain why it is that many women accept their subordinate position in society and often fight against feminists who are nying to initiate changes that would make women's situation more equitable. Within Gramsci's theory of hegemony however he asserts that hegemony's power is tenuous; there is a constant struggle over hegemony. While I believe that women are not victims of the media and that soap operas, for exarnple, don? have a direct negative impact, the limited construction of 'woman' on television does afTect how we see women in society and how women see themselves. So, whiie 1 would not argue that the channel should fuiiy restrict traditional women's genres, 1 strongly argue that WTN needs to offer diverse representations of women and fernininity. WTN also promised in its application to the CRTC that its programrning would offer an alternative to mainsmeam programming and I am interested in examining the influences which resnicted WTN's achievement of this goal. WTN's original approach to women's television I define as liberal feminist. In Chapter 2 of the thesis I briefly introduce the liberal feminist approach to the media but for the most part this chap ter outlines the shifting paradigms in feminist media theory and presents the flaws in the Liberal feminist models of communication and methodology. 1 have organuied the opposing approaches to liberal feminîsm loosely under the heading " socialist feminis t." Under this heading 1have included theonsts who are informed by a socialist feminist perspective, whereby I mean theorists who are concerned with the issue of ideology, representation and the social construction of identity. 1recognize, however, that amongst these various theorists there are dramatic differences in how pleasure for exarnple, is perceived. A soualist feminist such as Michele Mattelard argues that pleasure found in popular culture's texts is "false consciousness" whereas pos tstnicniralisrs argue that audiences receive pleasure from media texts because there are multiple messages offered. This classification of feminism into "neatly separated ideological currents" does not reflect the reality of the fragmentation of feminist thought or the overlapping and large range of theoretical approaches in feminist theory, but 1 use them as "ideal types" (van Zoonen 1996,33).These types represent, by and large, the ways in which feminists perceive the media. In Chapter 3.1 present the liberal feminist approach more thoroughly by examinllig the research into sex-role stereotyping and employrnent equity conducted in Canada by govemment agencies and feminist organizations. 1 dotequal amounts of time to both the liberal and socialist feminist approaches because I am interested in the paradoxes and contradictions wi thin and between them. As well, I believe that both approaches make valuable contributions to the ongoing debate over the impact of television on women's lives and whether or not rnainstrearn television cm be used as a means for social change. My analysis of WTN starts in Chapter 3 where 1 examine the liberal feminist influences on WTN's approach to women's television (as presented in its licence application), the research WTN comrnissioned for its application, the diverse support received for the application, as weil as the CRTC decision. In Chapter 4,1examine the influences brought to bear on the shifting visions of women's programming at WTN: feminism, the staff at the channel, the media response and the political economy of the television industry. 1 also analyse WTN's texts in order to demonstrate that the changes in programming were influenced more by econornic objectives than by progressive critical thinking. In AppendUr A, 1 provide the background information for the accompanying eighteen-minute video documentary titled Carole Gets a TV. Included is the treatrnent, target audience, infornation about the experts interviewed, strucme for the documentary and budget. As weil, 1 include the set and Lighting designs for the dramatic segments. The concept for the video was developed through the research I conducted for this thesis. The video was conceived of as an attempt to present, in a visual format, some of the theoretical issues 1 address in the thesis, with the goal of making the ideas more accessible to a wider audience. It is my hope that the video cmbe used as an educational tool to spark class discussion about media issues related to the construction of identity. AU of the components of the video reflect the thesis: the experts I interviewed for the video were ail part of the thesis, the liberal feminist vs. socialist ferninist debates over gender and media consumption are established through the drarnatic segments and the experts. The 'sueeters' are the only new component added.

To my knowledge only two other extensive studies of the Wornen's Television Network have beeri conducted (both MA theses completed in 1996).One is by Shirley Anne Off and is titled "Defining the 'W' in WTN: A Ferninist Case Study of the Women's Television Network (1993-1996)." The second is by Shari Graydon and is titled "Lessons of the Marketplace: Embracing Pragmatism in the Pursuit of Gender Equity in the Media." Shirley Anne OfYs thesis is a very thorough analysis of the channel which investigates the shifting vision of the channel from emphasizing women-centred television to privileging women-oriented television. Shari Graydon is a pas t President of MediaWatch, as weli as one of the students involved in the review of research on women audiences and the media for WTN's licence application. She also produced a series for WTN called Doubletake, which examines the representation of women in the media. One chapter of her thesis is devoted to WTN, in which she examines the channel as a test case for a theory developed by MediaWatch that women will respond more positively to progressive representations of themselves than to those which are demeaning and derogatory. She also investigates whether or not the channel has conaibuted to improving the overail image of women on television. Where my thesis adds to these investigations of WTN is in the in-depth insights into the personal philosophies of the decision makers, producers and other staff, acquired through extensive qualitative research. 1 also provide a broader perspective on the direction and impact of the channel frorn two additional years of programming since the other studies were completed. As weli, 1 provide a more extensive history of the broadcast environment which led to the licencing of WTN. Finally, my thesis analyses the paradoxes and contradictions which arise from a 'feminist' women's channel in the commercial television industry and contextualizes them withui ferninist media theory. SHIFTING PARADIGMS IN FEMINIST MEDIA STUDIES

In the ongoing debate amongst feminist theorists over the impact of television on women's lives and whether or not mainstl-earn television can be used as a means for social change, two positions emerge.2 The first, the liberal ferninist approach, focuses on the central thernes of stereotypes/gender socialization and was the predominant influence on the founders of the Women's Television Network in their original conception of a women's channel. The second, the socialist feminist approach, focuses on the central theme of ideology. While it may be argued that these divisions are somewhat arbitrary and have blurred boundaries, they can still provide a useful framework for the presentation of this large body of work.3 The following outline of the shifting paradigms in feminist media theory will lay the foundation for the examination of the practical applications of feminist theory in the establishment of a women's television channel. Since the revival of the women's movernent in the 1960s, much has been written by feminists about the media. One of the first people to critically examine images of women in the media and the impact of the perpetuation of a certain conception of femininity in society was Betty Friedan in her book, The Feminine Mvstiaue. Friedan identifies the "ferninine mystique" as the myth that women would fmd true fulfilment in being a housewife and a mother. She argues that this myth was perpetuated in women's magazines from 1949 to the 'GOs, whereas between 1939 and 1949 women had been pornayed as career women, who were admired by men for their individuality, their spirit and character, as much as for their looks (Friedan 1983,38). Friedan argued that the media played an important role in disserninating information about the proper role for women in society at a given tirne in history. The book was published in 1963 and is said to have been one of the catalysts which led to the "second wave" of feminism. Others critically exaxnining images of wornen in the media were ferninists working within acadernia during the 1960s and '70s who found that the research being conducted by media scholars tended not to address gender issues. British feminist Angela McRobbie, who was involved with the Centre for Conternporary Cultural Studies (CCCS)at Birmingham during this time, wrote the following about her experience: "We [women] found it extremely difficult to participate in the CCCS groups and felt, without being able to articulate it, that it was a case of the masculine domination of both intellectual work and the environment in which it was carried out" (qtd. in van Zoonen 1994, 2 1).She and other feminists at the Centre eventually challenged the Cultural Studies framework which concentrated on the responses of primarily working-class men to mass culture. They argued that, as a culturally organizing category, gender was a variable which was at least as important as class (Press 1991, 22). The general feminist response to the mass media during the 1960s and '70s, whether from liberal, socialist or radical ferninists, involved perceptions of the mass media as "agents of social control." The media was scomed for contributing to the "ferninine mystique" and for "conning women into believing in faj, tales of heterosexual romance and happiness" (vanZoonen 1994,27,11).Liberal feminists argued that sex-role stereotypes in the media perpetuated conceptions of traditional gender roles, thereby resûicting equaliw. Socialist feminists argued that the media constituted a hegemonic institution, which presented the capitalist and paniarchal order as 'normal' or as cornmonsense. In both cases, the fernale viewers who found pleasure in popular culture were generally seen as victims. Over the past few decades the influences of critical theory ( semiotics, smcturalism, psychoanalysis, cultural studies and postsaucturalism) on media studies have led many feminist theorists to question the assumptions made in these early approaches. As a result, there has been a general shift in feminist media theory to conceptions of gender as a social construction and the audience as zctive and capable of constructing their own meanings from the multitude of social discourses the media offer. This shift has diowed for a reconciliation between feminists concemed with the impact of the hegemonic discourses transrnitted by the media and the fernale audiences who expenence pleasure from consuming popular culture. Examples of studies which have been done to rescue denigrated ferninine genres wül be provided at the end of this chapter.

LIBERAL FEMINIST APPROACHES TO THE MEDIA

According to liberal feminist media theory the problem with Lhe media is that they either perpetuate negative stereotypes or exclude wornen altogether. The solution is to increase the numbers of wornen in the industry, especiaily in decision-making positions, thereby ensuring that women are represented in advertising and programming in more positive, realistic ways. The rneans to this end, they argue, is lobbying government to adopt regulations which will force broadcasters to develop affirmative action programmes, educating broadcasters about the effects of sex-role stereowing and convincing broadcasters to create policy around sex-role stereotyping. Training women to enter the non-naditional job positions in the industry is also an important component. Once aii of these goals are achieved, liberal feminists argue, the media will better reflect the plurality of views in society since more women will have a voice. The goal of achieving equality in society as a whole will then be closer to being reaüzed. Liberal feminists primarily use quantitative content analysis as their research methodology. For example, researchers will count the number of times women appear on television and in what roles. Using content analysis they look for narratives which reflect the progressive changes of women's status in society, which might include: women working outside the home, women in positions of authority, women as experts, men doing housework (examples of studies done using this methodology will be provided in the next chapter). This type of research has largeiy demonstrated that women are neither represented in the media to the degree they exist in society nor in the diversity of the roles they occupy. Armed with these data, liberal feminists then caii for increased numbers of images of women, as weil as more 'realistic' images of women. Realis tic images would presen t a " different conception of femininity as something other than submissiveness, availability and cornpliance" (van Zoonen 1994,30). This type of analysis is useful but it is also strictly descriptive and thus does not recognize how wornen rnight constmct themselves through a multitude of conflicting images in the media and outside. It also assumes that people need to see positive role models on television in order to mode1 their behavior. Furthemore, the assumption that it is possible to define a 'realistic' image of woman has been extensively criticized. Liesbet van Zoonen, author of Ferninist Media Studies, argues that for feminists to Say that the media in some way misrepresent women's reality, is to argue that there is a 'me' nature of gender (van Zoonen 1994,40). Or as Charlotte Brudson States, "Arguing for more realistic images is always an argument for the representation of 'your' version of reality" (qtd. in van Zoonen 1994,3 1).Influenced by postsnucturalisrn~and discourse theory, ferninist theorists have begun to think of gender as a discursive constmct. Discourse theory, as developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault, has allowed gender to be conceived of as something that we aren't boni with but as something that we consauct in paradoxical ways, through the discourses we encounter in society. "The identity that emerges is therefore fragmented and dynamic; gender does not determine or exhaust identity" (van Zoonen 1994.33). In effect, these critical influences have aiiowed feminists not only to recognize the differences within the category of woman, but also to begin to question the very concept of a unifiied femininity. Defiig a 'truthful' image of woments reality would therefore become impossible. This new concept of gender allows for the belief that " being a woman can mean many different things, at different times and in different circumstances" (Ang and Hermes 1994, 3 16). The modei of communication which is used in the liberal feminist approach has variously been called the transmission model, the magic bullet, the epidermic needle or the effects model of communication. It assumes that particular messages transmitted by the media (stereotypes,ideology) are received by the audience in a direct way, leading to stereotypical effects (van Zoonen 1994, 29, 18). Inherent in this model is a perception of the audience as a passive mass, rnerely consuming media messages. The meaning received by the audience can aiso only be the meaning intended by the sender.

CRITICISM OF LIBERAL FEMINIST APPROACHES

Influences of Serniotic Analvsis

Critics of the liberal feniinist model of cornmunications are influenced by semiotic analysis, which allows for difTerent conceptions of the production of rneaning . As a s tarting point serniotics asks how meaning is being created rather than what the meaning is that is being transmitted. Semiotics is a linguistics-based field of study which analyses everythmg that can be used for communication, from written languages to non verbal languages (sounds and images). It has ailowed for a shift away from essentialist premises which interpreted meaning as being in some way innate. The audience is seen in semiotic analysis as being actively involved in the production of meaning; there is a collaboration between the media as producers of meaning and the audience and each plays a valid role in the ideologicai construction of meaning. Semiotics has also been useful in exposing the Limitations of content analysis by aliowing the researcher to look beyond the words and images in the text, or the presence or absence of women, to how the meaning derived from the text rnight be influenced by a multitude of social and ideological factors. For example 'wornan' in the text is used as a "signifier of alrnost anything between virtue and vice, desire and fear" (van Zoonen 1994,86). Semiotics also treats popular dh~e'stexts as complex communication systems, which combine verbal, visual, and aesthetic sign production; for this reason it aiiows researchers and critics to overcome the dismissal of popular culture's texts as simplistic and of little value to society (smcniralist analysis has also been useful for the same reason). The semiotic theorists who have been most influentid for media studies include Ferdinand de Saussure, Umberto Eco and Roland ~arthes.5Barthes was the first to apply serniotics to various foms of popular culture. One example from Barthes' book of essays titled Mythologies, illustrates how semiotics is usefui for ferninist anaiysis of popular culture's texts. In the essay "Novels and Children" Barthes examines the implications of the sign systems used in women's fashion magazines. He looks specfically at an article about women novelists in Eiie magazine which introduces the wornen in the foîlowing rnanner: Jacqueline Lenoir (two daughters, one novel); Marina Grey (one son, one novel); Nicole Dutreii (two sons, four novels), etc. What Barthes deduces from this example is that there exists a constant ideological undercurrent that reinforces women's traditional place in society. Eue is praising these women for their creative accomplishments but the magazine rnust also appease a patriarchal culture which is watching over these feminine spaces. Barthes writes that this emphasis on women's role as mother is sending the following message: " Women, be therefore courageous, free; play at being men, write like them: but never get far fkom them; Live under their gaze, compensate for your books by your children; enjoy a free reign for a while but quickly corne back to your condition" (Barthes 1972, 50). Barthes argues that cultural artifacts are produced to reinforce the interests of the ruiing elite in sociev, by perpetuating the idea that bourgeois values are 'right' and 'natural'. As is clear from this example, serniotics has been useNin "its ability to unravel stnictures of meaning beyond the mere presence or absence of women in cultural forms" (van Zoonen 1994, 74). Stnicturalism, which is often used as a tool by semioticians for the study of popular culture's teuts, supplements a semiotic analysis in that it examuies the creation of meaning in the context of binq oppositions such as male/female, nature/culture, good/evil, black/white, which are believed to underlie ail sign systems. Structuralism argues that "Each element within a cultural system derives its meaning from its relationship to every other element in the systern: there are no independent meanings, but rather many meanings produced by their difference from other elements in the system" (Seiter 1992, 3 2). Ln other words, the object itself has no meaning . We constnict meaning through the relationships this object has to other things. Structuralists would argue, then, that in content analysis the counting of the ways in which women are represented is meaningless unless you e'yafnine the context in which the image is presented. Whereas semiotics and stnicturalism are important starting points for the analysis of media texts, some theonsts have argued that they are not complete methods of analysis. Ellen Seiter believes that by restricting themselves to the text these frameworks "ca~otexplain television economics, production, history, or the audience" (Seiter 1992,63).These methods are not interested in the intended meaning of the authors of a tevt or whether or not audiences produce the same meaning from the text as the researcher. Poststructuraiist theorists have also argued that there is no conception of the possibility of change in the relationships in the sign since semiotics is founded on a static mode1 of the sign. The important insight that can be gained from semiotics and structuralism. Seiter argues, is that "ail communication is partial, mo tivated, conventional, and 'biased' ..." (Seiter 1992,39).Despite the limitations of semiotics and saucturaiism, they have been important influences on changing conceptions in feminist media studies about the construction of meaning, which has liberated female audiences h-om being considered victims of media messages.

Political Economy of the Media Indus-

Another element of the liberal feminist approaches which has been criticized is the lack of consideration for the political economy of the media industry. An increase in the numbers of women in the media does not necessarily assure an increase in the ferninist perspective in the programrning. The impact that advertisers and shareholders have in the television industry necessarily plays a major role in the content of the prograrnming. For example. advertisers have in the past puiled their advertising from prograrnrning which was thought to be potentiaily connoversial and the broadcaster is then forced to make a decision between showing the programme and losing advertising dollars. In urging wornen to sirnply enter into the industry as it exists today, liberal feminists may be recornmending that women adopt the masculine charac tenstics necessary to achieve power in the industry. In this respect. Ann Kaplan argues that liberal feminists require wornen to surrender to patriarchy and its values, noms, and ways of being (Kaplan 1992,25 7). Moreover, Liesbet van Zoonen argues that this emphasis on working within the system in fact represents a "rather optirnistic beiief that media institutions can be changed from within by media professionals" and further emphasizes "liberal feminism's disregard for socio-economic structures, and power relations" (van Zoonen 1996,34).Socialist feminists try to redress these issues by examining the dass and econornic conditions of women, as well as the conditions related to gender, which resûict women's access to the media. They also recognize that structural changes must take place in media organizations for advances to be made in women's positions. For example, the media industry is known for the evtremely long hours required of its workers. Many women, still the primary caregivers of children in two parent households, are unable to put in the necessaxy hours in order to advance in the industry. Without flexible work hours and childcare sponsored by corporations it is difficult for women to make progress.

SOCIALIST FEMINIST APPROACHES TO THE MEDIA

Ideology is the centrai theme in sociaiist feminist approaches to the media. Ln Mancist or socialist theories of culture, ideology explains why it is that people accept their lirnited position in society without strugglùig against these limitations. Mimi White describes ideological analysis as being " based on the assumption that cultural artifacts- iiterature, film, television, and so forth--are produced in specfic historical contexts, by and for specific social groups" (White 1992, 163). Ferninists have long incorporated gender as an important cornponent in this concept of ideology; they question how ideologies of femininity are constnicted and who is benefiting. The classic MWst concept of ideology perceives ideology as "false consciousness." This concept, which was adopted by early socialist feminist theorists, has been the subject of extensive criticism. Ideology in this instance becornes a "'message' hidden within a tex" (White 1992, 170). For example, it would be argued that ferninine genres (soap operas, talk shows) are brainwashing women into accepting their subordinate position in socie ty by reinforcing gender stereotypes. The female audience is perceived to be cultural dupes and ideological analysis is needed in order to educate these people about the ways in which the system is perpetuating their oppression. Critics of this concept of ideology have argued that it "doesnot provide sufficiently subtle criticism and theoretical perspectives for dealing with the pleasures of contemporary culture, including watching TV" (White 1992, 166). Robert Allen argues that this approach does not acknowledge that "for most people around the world, television is primariîy a source of entenainment" (Ailen 1992, 3). People enjoy these texts because there is more than a dominant ideology king offered. Alternative approaches to examining ideology have focused on the multitude of sometirnes contradic tory messages available to people through cultural artifacts and they stress "the very formation of subjectivity as a process" (Seiter 1992, 166). One of the primary influences on the developrnent of socialist feminist conceptions of ideology came from French Marxist Louis ~lthusser.6He rejected the concept of ideology as "false consciousness" primarily because he did not believe that anyone could exist outside of ideology, as this concept would imply. Althusser developed a theory which investig ated how the unconscious is used in perpetuating ideological constructs. He introduced the term 'ideological state apparatuses' ( ISAs) which referred to institutions Like religion, education, politics, law, the family, media and culture, which des pite their relative independence from each other and the state, effectively worked together to support and promote the niling class and construct individuals as social subjects. He contrasts these apparatuses with 'repressive state apparatuses' like the law and police which use force to directly coerce citizens. Althusser argued. drawing on Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic ideas about individual self-recognition, that the individual in society is hailed or interpellated into the dominant ideology through the ' normalizing ' ISAs mentioned above.7

Feminist film theorist, Laura Mulvey, influenced by Aithusser and Lacan, made an influential step towards a more cornplex understanding of how gender ideology is consmcted through mainstream Hollywood film with her 1975 smdy "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (Dînes and Humez 1995,163).This ground- breaking psychoanalytic study greatly influenced feminist film and television criticism. Mulvey located the reproduction of gender and pariarcha1 relations at the level of cinematic pleasure and she argued that mainstrearn Hollywood cinema assisted in the reproduction of sevual ciifference in society. Laura Mdvey made a political decision Co use psychoanalysis ("a tool that patriarchy provided") to demonstrate "the way the unconscious of patriarchal society has smctured film form" (Mulvey 1992, 28). Psychoanalysis in general is a theory which explains "how males and fernales, growing up in families within a patriarchal culture and society, emerge as adults with very different relationships to our culture's entire symbolic system-including its language and its media irnagery" (Dines and Humez 1995, 163). In film studies, psychoanalysis has been used as a way to explain the role which our subconscious minds, our emotions, fantasies and motivations play in how we respond to films. Ferninist film theorists have used psychoanalysis to analyse the "deep-rootedness of the smctures of the patriarchal unconscious in the pleasures of popular cinema" (Stacey 1994,20). Mulvey was one of the fust ferninist film theonsts to recognize the importance of the role of the spectator (in textual terms) in the understanding of the teut. She concluded in her essay that in order to experience pleasure as a spectator of mainsaeam Hollywood cinema. women had to adop t a male gaze. Women on the screen were objectified, they were present for their " to-be-looked-at-ness" only and fernale spectators could not receive pleasure unless it occmed in some kind of rnasochistic form. This conclusion was very much reflective of the mood of feminists towards the media in the 1960s and early 1970s. It did however spark huge debate within the feminist community and in media studies in general. Critics argued the phallocentric bias of psychoanalysis forced Mulvey to discuss women in the negative. She split the pleasures in looking between strong, active and in possession of the gaze (representhg masculinity); and weakness, passivity and 'to-be- looked-at-ness' (representing femininity). This division reestablishes a dichotomous definition of gender, which Liesbet van Zoonen argues may lead to "f&g into the trap of (biological) essentialism" as well as confinning and reinforcing "the hegemony of mascuiinity" (van Zoonen 1994,93).van Zoonen argues that in the case of psychoanalytic film dieory, the oniy way out of this situation is to abandon dichotornous definitions of gender. Mulvey's conception of pleasure does not dowfor the possibility of pleasure for the female spectator (whether heterosexual or homosexual) or the constmction of male bodies as objects of voyeuristic pleasure. Jackie Stacey questions whether women necessarily take up a ferninine and men a masculine spectator position. She argues that there is a need for a more cornplex mode1 of cinematic spectatorship which would "separate gender identifkation from sexuality, too often confiated in the name of sexual difference" (Stacey 1990, 3 70). Poststnicturalist cntics have argued that there has not been enough interest on the part of feminist film theonsts to conduct empirical research on the actual reception processes of the audiences of these texts. There has also been no consideration of how other factors besides gender, such as race, class and age, may affect how viewers idenhfy with the protagonist.

Influences of He~emonvand Cultural Studies

Laura Mulvey's snidy aiso does not aUow for a conception of ideology as a site of struggle over meaning. This idea was introduced by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, who was another primary influence on socialist feminist media critics. As developed by Gramsci, the term 'hegemony' provides an important addition to Althusser's concept of ideology.8 Gramsci originaily used the tem to refer to the way in which one country during war times might exert ideological and social control over another without using coercive force. Hegemony, as it is defined by cultural theorists, refers to "the process by which a dominant dass wins the willing consent of subordinate classes to the system which ensures their domination" (Fiske 1992, 291). Where this concept ciiffers from Athusser's is in Gramsci's assertion that there is a constant snuggle over ideology. Althusser implies that the impact of ideology on the subject is almost irresistible, whereas hegemonic theory ailows for forms of resistance (Fiske 1992, 291). In cultural terms "social and cultural conflict is expressed as a smggle for hegemony, a struggle over which ideas are recognized as the prevailing, comrnonsense view for the majority of social participants" (White 1992, 167). The media today are seen to be a major forum for the negotiation of hegemony. This concept of hegemony has allowed for the possibility that TV prograrnming offers a range of opinions or ideas which cmbe read by different people in different ways. This is not to deny the fact, however, that there are preferred messages offered by the people who control the media. Theorists coming frorn the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies in England (founded by Stuart Hall and Raymond Williams) were greatly influenced by this "definition of culture as a constant site of struggle between those with and those without power" (Fiske 1992, 292). John Fiske argues that this definition underpins the rnosc interesting current work in cultural studies. Many of the studies done by researchers working within a cultural studies framework (Stuart Hall, Angela McRobbie, David Morley) have been concemed with how actual audience groups, who are oppressed based on gender, class, ethnicity (amongst other factors), resist dominant social ideologies and make meanings that help them understand their positions in society. Cultural studies theorists drew attention to the importance of analysing media experience in its social context since constniction of meaning is a social process which occurs in our everyday interactions (Seiter 1989,228).

Michel Foucault's Discourse Theorv

Another major influence on socialist feminist media criticism was discourse theory as developed by French philosopher Michel ~oucault.9Discowse theory "refers to a set of cornplex, multilayered texts that determine and Mt what can be said or known about certain subjects and therefore serve particular interests in the power structure of society" (Seiter 1992,62).Foucault was specifically interested in how discourses emanating from medical and judicial institutions work to naturalize socially constmcted subject positions. For example, he was interested in how people were categorized into normal and abnormal and how the qualities defined by the categories changed throughout history according to the discourses offered by the experts. Where discourse theory is useful to feminists is in its ailowing gender to be seen, not as a fixed property, but as something which is constructed though a multitude of sometirnes contradictory discourses available to women in society. Discourse theory recognizes the possibility of gender being shaped by a person's environment. In terms of the media's role, feminists examine how gender is being constructed through media discourse. Media is seen as "(social)technologies of gender, accornmodating, rno-g, reconsncting and producing disciplining and connadictory cultural outlooks of sexual difference" (van Zoonen 1994, 41). The reading of the television cevt involves a negotiation between the discourses in the text and the discourses that rnake up the reader's social e.xperiences.

RECLAIMING FEMININE TEXTS: TEXTUAL AND AUDIENCE RESEARCH

The critical influences on socialist feminist media theory have led to a recognition of the active participation of audiences in the production of meaning. There are still, however, rnany feminists and j ournalists who continue to denigrate ferninine television texts (me soap operas, talk shows, TV movies) and the supposedly passive audiences who use them. Elayne Rapping has noted that "it is almost de ngeur for TV critics in daily newspapers to dismiss TV movies as trashy, sentimental, sensationalized tear-jerkers plagued with everythmg from wooden acting to poor production values" (Rapping 1992, ix). For instance, Michele Mattelart ( 1986) argued: "what is disturbing... is the fact that these stories [soap operas] still provide pleasure for women viewers who are critically aware of how alienating they are..." (qtd. in Mary Ellen Brown 1990,203).Tom Shales, a television critic for the Washington Post wrote that he is astonished that there is such a huge female audience for TV movies iike Lace (which he describes as "awesomely stupid") which made in "stereotypes" that are "most demeaning to women" (qtd. in Shulze 1994, 158). He blames women for the fact that these shows exist, because women continue to watch them. He implies that the female audience is either feebleminded, reac tionary in its antiferninism or that women enjoy a kind of masochistic aesthetic (Shulze 1994, 158). Feminist theonsts respond to this criticism by arguing that "In ridiculing women's popular culture-feminists demonstrate not so much our freedom from romantic fantasy as Our acceptance of the critical double standard and of the masculine contempt for sentimental (feminine)'drivel'" (Modleski 1982, 11). And furthemore, "the lack of serious aesthetic attention given soap operas has less to do with their simplemindedness than with the inability of many critics to read them as texts ..." (Men 1983, 97). The interest in examining feminine texts came partly from the development of theoretical ideas about the construction of rneaning. Studies like Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" furthered this interes t and led scholars to turn to women's genres and the fernaie audience in order to try to discount her conclusions about female spectatorship and the female gaze. Another factor involved a new feminist consciousness that one cannot ignore the pleasures millions of women receive from women's genres. Similar attempts to rescue denigrated women's genres in other cdtural areas like the fuie arts and literature are also taking place. In this section 1will provide exarnples of some of the studies which have examined soap operas, romance novels and movies-of- the-week,using diverse aitical approaches and methods of analysis. In these studies Tania Modleski, Janice Radway, John Fiske, Elayne Rapping, Minu Lee and Chong Heup Cho ask why and how women receive pleasure from media texts, what connadictory forms of ferninine su bj ectivi ty are offered and whether the pleasures women receive can be seen as resistant to the dominant patriarchal culture.

Tania Modleski's study of soap opera texts, cded "Rhythm of Reception" ( 1982), is argued to have had a major influence on much of the analysis of soap operas that foliowed it (Kaplan 1992,264). The primary focus of Modleski's essay is the flow of daytime television. She argues that soap operas appeal to women because they are constructed to "interact in cornplex ways with the rhythm of women's life and work in the home" (Modleski 1983, 73). The structure of the soap, she argues, is designed to seamlessly flow with the cornrnercials and women's work. The commerciais which show women cleaning and changing diapers bridge the 'reaiîty' of the fernale viewer to the soap and back again. Women tend to watch soaps disaactedly because of the multitude of chores in the dornestic environment which need to be completed. so plots progress slowly, repeat key developments and use extensive dialogue so that wornen don? necessarily have to watch the images to foliow the story. As the soap opera story never ends, so too continues women's work in the home. Modleski, drawing on Nancy Chodorow's psychoanalytic ideas about the all-knowing mother figure, also argues that women in the audience take on this position. Here she is arguing that the text consmcts a specSc, traditional subject position for the audience, that of the mother (Ang and Hermes 1996,309). Some of her conclusions about the soap opera are contentious, however. She argues that "women's popular culture speaks to women's pleasure at the sarne time that it puts it in the service of paniarchy, keeps it working for the good of the family" (Modleski 1989,69). She therefore is arguing that the pleasure women receive from popular culture is necessarily disempowering. She also is uninterested in looking beyond the text to the responses of actual audiences. A study of soap opera audiences conducted by Seiter et al. in Oregon found that "Methis position [all-knowing mother figure] was partialiy taken up by sorne of our rniddle-class. college-educated informants, it was consciously resisted and vehemently rejected by most of the women we interviewed, especiaiiy working class women" (Seiter et al. 1989, 237). in his teunial analysis of what he characterizes as " typically" feminine and masculine television genres, John Fiske States that

Mascuiinîty is as much a cultural construct as fernininity but its different relationship to patriarchy produces different textual constnictions and reading practices. Shows ...which cater to largely male audiences, have less need to produce a double text that dlows for oppositional or resistive meanings to be circulated (Fiske 1987, 198).11

Programmes such as the A-team are produced with the purpose of reasserting men's rnasculinity. This is required since "our society denies most males adequate means of exercising the power upon which their rnasculinity apparently depends. Masculinity is thus socially and psychologically insecure..." (Fiske 1987, 202). In his analysis of the soap opera he argues that women watch chis genre because it appeals to a certain feminine aesthetic (like the de- masculinised male, the femme fatales) and that by watching them women can actuaily be resisting their situation under patriarchy. For example, the heterosexual marital relationship is affirmed in the plots but the Magesnever last. This ueatrnent of a patriarchal institution, Fiske argues, is an interrogation of the status quo. The audience is not interested in long-lasting rnarTiages and they often see extra-marital affairs as assertions of sexual independence. He sees the possibilities for resistance as problematic, however, as "The domains of entertainment and of politics are simply not interco~ecteddong direct, cause and effect channels ... ";feminist readings and pleasures will never bring women to the streets in "ami-patnarchalrevolution" (Fiske 1989,72). Fiske provides a List of requirernents in order for resistance or empowerment to occur. He argues that first of all pleasure lies in the audiences' abiiity to produce meanings and feel represented in the text; there is no pleasure in feeling excluded from the text. Therefore there must be a sense of control over at least part of it and some sense of participation in it. The power inherent in the process can only exist in the expenence of resistance: recognition that opposing semiotic forces are at work in the text (Fiske 1989, 7 1). Interest in the political implications of pleasure necessitated a shift to audience studies since it produced new questions that could only be addressed by tuniing to the audience. Liesbet van Zoonen describes the turn to audience studies as a shift into postsmcturalism. It "reflects a fundamental paradigrnatic shift that has taken place in feminist studies in generai from deterrninist e.uplanations of women's subordination by , among O ther factors, mass media ... to a focus on the processes of symbolization and representation..." (van Zoonen 1994, 107). The value of recognizing the activity and context of the audience is clearly evident in a quotation about a childhood memory by black feminist critic, beii hooks:

When we sat in our living room in the fifties and early sixties watching those few black folks who appeared on television screens, we taiked about their performance, but we always talked about the way white folks were treating them. 1 have vivid mernories of watching the Ed Sullivan show on Sunday nights, of seeing on that show the great Louis Armstrong. Daddy, who was usually silent, would talk about the music, the way Mmstrong was aeated and the political implications of his appearance. Watching television in the fifties and sixties, and listening to adult conversation, was one of the primary ways many young black foks learned about race poiitics ....The screen was not a place of escape. It was a place of confrontation and encounter (qtd. in van Zoonen 1994,107). Audience Research

Janice Radway attempted to address the perceived deficiencies in textual analysis in her now classic study, "Reading the Romance," which was published in 1984. She interviewed twenly female popular romance novel readers who all Lived in a town in the Amencan rnidwest. A bookstore owner in the city, who sold romance novels and published a newsletter which rated the novels in terms of quaiity and affordability, introduced Radway to her interview subjects. Radway found in her study that the women readers constructed the act of romance reading as a "declaration of independence," from which she concluded that in order to understand how the women used these texts it was necessary to conduct audience studies, as weii as textual analysis (Radway 1984, 7) Radway also found that wornen read romance novels for the care and nurnuing they miss in everyday life: the hero provides the all- embracing unconditional love and care which children receive from their mothers. A second pleasurable factor is the educational value of romances, specifically the historical romances which provide weil- researched and accurate historical detail. Most importantly, Radway also sees the love of romance as a " hidden protest against paniarchal culture" (van Zoonen 1994, 111, 112). Liesbet van Zoonen argues, however, that while Radway demonstrated how wornen used romance reading as a way to deal with their situation under patriarchy, she was not successful in establishing how women reading romance novels wouid take the step to make changes in their situation. In a study of another traditional women's genre, the soap opera, the researchers Minu Lee and Chong Heup Cho inteMewed a group of Korean women (living in the United States while their husbands attended university) who rent Korean soap operas to watch as a group in a video club. The researchers found that the women created a social event around the viewing of the videos and watching in a group also helped to reduce the cost of the video rental for the individuals. The women never watched with their husbands because they knew they would be criticized. The soap operas were also used by the women to facilitate discussion about problems they were having in their daily lives and with their husbands. The researchers argued that historicaiiy soap operas have played a very important role in developing counnies because they provided a forum to deal with dficult societal issues which might not be tolerated in other genres. For example, one episode of the soap opera dealt with gender inequalities in the acceptance of adultery. One of the women raised the issue with her husband after watching the soap and was surprised to fmd that he agreed that it should be acceptable for men to have exaa-maxita1 affairs. Lee and Cho concluded that their research "confirms the poirit that making sense of the television text is a way of making sense of our social relationships and Our roles in those relations, and, in this process, the strategies of the dominant ideology of paaiarchal connol are cons tantly chailenged by the cultural resources possessed by women" ( Lee and Cho 1990,41). They also concluded that their research proves that just as women are not cultural dupes neither are third world audiences dupes to cultural imperialism: "Third World audiences are not simply evposed to the television tests, but are active meaning-producers themselves, selecting, rejecting and nansformllig the text, based on their cultures and experiences" (Lee and Cho 1990.42).

The Made-for-TV Movie

The TV movie is another genre which has attracted large numbers of female viewers. Unlike other women's genres, however, it has not received the same amount of attention from feminist theorists, despite the fact that it is a genre that attempts to deal with serious issues fkom a soaally critical and infomed perspective. This genre WUbe discussed in more detail since it plays an important role in the programming schedule of the Women's Television Network. The TV movie has attracted feminist producers because it enables them to express progressive ideas which otherwise would not be dealt with in any depth in other televisual forms. Elayne Rapping, author of The Movie of the Week: Private Stones, Public Events, the only extensive study of the genre I am aware of, believes that feminist producers are attracted to working within the genre since they are given more freedom: broadcasters are willing to take nsks with controversial material since the rnovies only air once (except for reruns); budgets are low, and shooting scheduies are shon (sometimes three weeks); these rnovies cm also satisfy "public servicer1prograrnming requirements. In the past, networks have even been willing to broadcast a movie at a loss if advertisers have puiied out at the last minute because of controversy over the topic. In mainstream culture TV movies are seen to be superior to other women's genres since they have an educational component and they are usually produced to respond to critical issues which are being discussed in the news. But where they have progressive elements, TV movies are aiso influenced by the conventions of commercial television. Since these movies mut attract the largest possible audiences, producers are involved in a process whereby they are seiling movies that attempt to deal with serious issues through sex and violence. For example, Robert Greenwald, director of The Burning

IBed wanted to make a serious film about dornestic violence but he admits that "if you can't put the idea into a sexy sentence when pitching it, you can't sell it" (Rapping 1992,24).The bu ni in^ Bed, is a drarnatized version of the life of Franche Hughes, a battered wornan who was acquitted of kiiiing her husband (based on a plea of temporary insanity) after decades of brutal violence and no support from her family, fiiends or social services. Greenwald also had to have a high profile star to play the lead (Farrah Fawcett). As Rapping explains,

TV producers and sponsors often play a game of negotiation that involves the strange intenningling of incompatible value systems. Sensation draws audiences. Stars draw sponsors. Anyone who wants to produce senous, much less socially relevant, TV drama rnust start frorn those facts (Rapping 1992, 09).

Another contradiction of the genre, Elayne Rapping argues, involves its focus on the family. The stories often take a critical look at the family but they also work "to preserve dominant ideology... by naturalizing those elements of family life that create unhappiness, insecuriw and pain, and by representing human suffe~gand discord as 'essential' to human nature" (Rapping 1992, xl). By focusing on the fdy,this genre works to maintain traditional ideas about wornen's roles. One of the fundamental issues Rapping deals with in her study is how the audience receives and uses TV in ways similar enough to lead to potential changes in power relations. The first night The Burning Bed aired in the United States (1984, 75 monpeople watched. Information about institutions which help battered women was provided after the programme. Rapping feels this programme epitomizes how television as a medium can be used for social change. She writes:

In tems of political significance it is impossible to deny that this drama worked its way into a public consciousness in ways that-- cornbined with any number of other textual and social interventions in the public sphere-have led to actual stnictural changes in the way dornestic violence is handled. The governor of Ohio recently pardoned some 90 women who had been incarcerated for kiliing their husbands. The existence of shelters became public knowledge. The sexist treatment, by the police and courts, of domestic 'squabbles' was put under public scrutiny and largely altered, at least in policy. And surely, over time, many wornen have been affected by the mediation of this movie into social and politicai realms (Rapping 1992, .wiii).

The movie-of-the-week was one of the only traditional women's genres that the Women's Television Network broadcast when it launched. The netvvork developed an original and successful concept for programming movies-of-the-week (O~enfor Discussion) which was inspired by the focus group research cornmissioned for their licencing application.

As this outline of the shifting paradigms in feminist media theory has show, since the 1970s the concept of the female audience as cultural dupe has been widely questioned by socialist feminist theorists using new theoretical approaches which recognize the participation of the audience in the production of meaning. These theorists argue that the analysis of meaning production should be taken in context (dong with the elements of production, text and reception) in order to make sense of political activity and how gender discourse might be negotiated. Theorists now see television's texts as complicated systems which may even allow messages which lead to social change (although never unproblematically).The conception of the femaie audience as a unified group is also being questioned. The licencing of a women's television channel in Canada in 1994 contradicts many of the recent developrnents in feminist media theory. Before I specifically examine the paradoxes and contradictions created by a women's television charme1 in Canada, 1 will outline in the next chapter the liberal feminist influences on the approach adopted by the Women's Television Network in its licence application to the CRTC. I wili aiso provide a brief history of the development of the vision for the channel and the research WTN commissioned for its licence application. THE MEDIA ENVIRONMENT WWICH LED TO THE LICENCING OF A 'FEMINIST' WOMEN'S CHANNEL IN CANADA

The arguments the Women's Television Network* ( Lifestyle Television) presented to the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a licence to broadcast an English languag e s pecialty television service for Canadian women, were based on decades of work by feminist media activists in Canada and around the globe. The history of this activism and research is important to an understanding of the liberal feminist approach adopted by the founders of WTN in their vision for Canada's first women's television channel. Canadian wornen first participated in media production in the 1880s, when they were perrnitted to become print journalists. Radio was initially only accessible to women if they were performing artists (singers, comediennes, actors and musicians); they were excluded from radio joumalism up und the 1970s (Crean 1987, 16). Ln television broadcasting, which began in Canada in September, 1952, women were hired to fil1 the most menial support positions, even though neither men nor women had any previous television production evperience (Crean 1987,17).Each tirne a new medium opened up, women had to start at the bottom of the ladder. In 1965 a large group of women quit CBC television en masse, in order to express their outrage at the "glass ceiiing" they argued was restricting women's advancement at the Corporation (Crean 1987, 17). The CBC did. however, provide more access to women than any

* - - WTN was incorporated under the name "Lifes~leTelevision" but prior to launch the name was changed to the Women's Television Network. In order to avoid confusion 1 will use Women's Television Network or WTN to refer to the channel. of the private television broadcas ters. Joumalists such as Helen James, Helen Hutchinson, Barbara Fmm, Mary Lou Findlay, Hana Gartner and Dodi Robb were trained at the CBC. In the initial developrnent of broadcasting in Canada, women's groups actively supported organizations like the Canadian Radio League (created in 1930) and the Canadian Broadcasting League ( 1957), which 10 bbied for the developmen t of public broadcasting and a regdatory system for the broadcasting industry which was responsible to Parliament (Trimble 1990, 130- 136). Fourteen women's groups also submitted bnefs to the 1949 Massey Cornrnission and others submitted briefs to the Fowler Commission in 1% 5.13 Both commissions were established to examine the issues of "ownership, fmancing and control of the broadcas ting system" (Trimble 1990, 140- 14 1).At the Massey Commission, employrnent and portrayal of women by CBC radio were criticized. At the Fowler Commission, wornen's groups requested more involvement of women in the shaping of CBC's policies and programme content, particularly since women were a large portion of the audience. The recomrnendations made by women's groups were largely ignored in the reports of both Commissions. The report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Wornen, pubiished in 1970, provided the data which exposed the under- representation of women throughout Canadian society, as well as in the television industry. With this evidence. combined with the rebirth of the women's movement in Canada (late 1960s-early 1970s),came "the inception of an active feminist critique of broadcasting" which was more politically aggressive that the earlier activism (Trimble 1990, 129). New women's organizations were established, some dealing specifically with media issues (Women for Politicai Action [now defunc t] , MediaWatch and Women in Film and Television, Vancouver and Toronto); they demanded an end to seu- role stereotyping and they fought for employment equity in the broadcasting industry. After decades of lobbying by these organizations, some of the srrongest broadcast regulations of any country in the world were established, as weli as a legislative framework enacted to protect equality nghts ( MediaWatch 1995, 3 1). The legislative framework includes: ( 1)The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 28 and Section 15; (2) the Employrnent Equity Act (EEA 1986); (3) the new Broadcasting Act, section 3 d(iii) ( 1991).These initiatives compose the basis of the various voluntary and mandatory measures which are enforced by the CRTC and the industry associations (Jeffrey 1995, ii). ( 1)The Constitution Act was proclaimed Law in April, 1982, entrenching in Section 28 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, women's right to equality. As weli, Section 15, which came into effect in 1985, recognized as a basis in law the development of programs or activities to overcome disadvantages faced by individuals or groups on the grounds of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. (2) The second legislative initiative is the Employrnent Equality Act (EEA) which came into effect in 1986. This legislation requires:

ail federally regulated corporations with 100 or more employees to file annual reports and implement human resource plans to eliminate barriers and improve the employment situation of four designated groups: wornen, Abonginai peoples, rnembers of visible minority groups and persons with disabilities. Proportional presence, promotions, terminations and pay scales are tracked and reported annually by the indusny sector (Jeffrey 1995, 5).

(3) The third legislative initiative is the new Broadcasting Act which came into &ect in 199 1. It includes a new equity clause, section 3d(iii),which States that the broadcasting system shouid " through its programming and the employrnent opportunities arising out of its operations, serve the needs and interests, and refiect the circumstances and aspirations, of Canadian men, women and children, including equal rights." This section also went fumer to

cultural diversity, " the linguis tic duality and multiculturai and multiracial nature of Canadian society. . . ." ( Broadcasting Act, section 3 d[iii]) .

The main focus of feminist activism around media issues during the 1970s was sex-role stereo~tping.The CRTC defines sex-role stereotyping in the following way:

Failure to represent women in their full variety of ages, shapes, sizes and colours; Failure to refiect the increasing diversity of women's Lives; Failure to portray a representative range of the occupations that women hold; Invisibility of women in discussions of many issues; Portrayal of women as sexual objects and decorative objects; Invisibility of female experts and decision makers; Language which assumes that everyone is male unless identified otherwise; Sex-role stereotyping is harmful to women because it dehumanizes, misrepresents and degrades them. The extreme form of this distortion is pornography. 14

Ferninist activism regarding the representation of women in the media involved le tter writing, phone calling, and interventions at CRTC hearings. Women for Political Action was the first group to publicly address the portrayai of women on television. They submitted an intervention at the CBC's licence renewal in 1973, denouncing the sexist portrayals of women, women's Limited representation in the public broadcaster's programming and the inequitable treatment of femaie staff at the CBC (Spring 1987,s).A later intervention was made by the National Action Cornmittee on the Status of Women (NAC) at the CBC's licence renewal in 1978, where NAC argued that the CBC's portrayal of wornen was "deplorable and unacceptable" (Sp~g1987,5). As a result of pressure from womenfs groups and promises made in the federal government National Action Plan on the Status of Women, a CRTC Task Force on Sex-Role StereoSrping was established in April, 1979. The Honourable Jeanne Sauve, Minister of the Department of Communications, asked the CRTC to "take steps to see that guidelines and standards to encourage the elimination of sex-role stereowing from the media it regulates are formulated" (CRTC 1982, 1).When her successor, the Honourable David MacDonald, assumed responsibility for the Communication and the Status of Women portfolios, he supported the commiûnent to the Task Force. He stated that its purpose would be to "delineate guidelines for a more positive (and realistic) porwayal of women in radio and television (in both prograrnming and commercials),and to make policy recornmendations for consideration by the Commission and the broadcast indusny" (CRTC 1982, 1).The Task Force was asked to vvrite a set of guidelines for the portrayal of women in broadcasting and to decide upon the best rnethod of enacting the guidelines: industry self-regulation, CRTC regulation or government legislation. The CRTC was initidy reluctant to form the Task Force because it saw the government directive as an attempt at censorship of content, and interference in the Commission's regdatory agenda. The Task Force was composed of nineteen people from the broadcasting industry, the advertising industry and women's groups (public members). It was directed to develop a plan of action withm a year but it took three years (until 1982) for the parties to reach a compromise solution. One of the Task Force members, Sylvia Spring, wrote the following about her expenence:

For the first year of sittings, the advertisers and programmers tried to simply deny that there was a problem with the pornayal of women. After many public hearings, heated arguments plus heaps of studies, they fmally conceded that maybe there was a smdl problem. The second year was spent arguing about what needed to be done. The final compromise solution was to create guidelines that the industry would voluntarily follow over a two- year trial period. The third year was spent developing those guidelines and writing up the report ... (Spring 1987,G).

The public rnembers thought that there was a need for regulations to be imposed and enforced by the CRTC. The industry contingent thought regulations would represent unreasonable levels of interference in programme content and they argued that the industry had enough incentive to regulate itself. Ln the Task Force report, Imanes of Women, it was acknowledged that women were affected by sex-role stereotyping:

When a program or commercial presents a stereotyped image of a woman or a man in a certain role, it may be acceptable for that particular role in that particular script. Rather, it is the cumulative effect of associating women and girls with certain roles, products and behavior that is the source of concem. For example, when too many portrayals show the man as the breadwinner and the woman as the hornemaker, the cumulative effect is that men and women become associated exclusively with those roles (CRTC 1982.6).

The Task Force concluded that industry self-regulation should be attempted before regulation was irnposed. The three industry groups (the CBC, the Advertising Advisory Board, and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters) agreed to develop guidelines for self- regulation, as weii as plans on how they would be irnplemented. The public members, still unconvinced that self-regulation would be effective, requested that the indusny be given a two-year triai period after which aeir progress would be assessed, and the CRTC agreed. The five feminist task force members,ls most of whom were public representatives, formed MediaWatch in 1981 as a way to ensure that the cornrnitments made in the report were honoured by the participating parties. MediaWatch was originally named the National Watch on Images of Women in the Media and was created as a subcornmittee of the National Action Comrnittee on the Status of Women. It became independent of NAC in 1983. The organization defines its mandate as a national women's organization "concemed with the status of women in the mass media ... dedicated to irnproving the portrayal of women and girls in the media and eliminating sexist images and encouraging the creation of images that reflect the changing and diverse roles of women in Canadian society" (Sanderson and Potvin l987,8).This organization in its approach to research (primarily content analysis) and mandate, is very rnuch reflective of the liberal feminist approach to the media, as outlined in the second

After the two year trial period the CRTC assessed the effectiveness of industry self-regulation by cornmissioning Erin Research to conduct a content analysis of the industry as a whole. In their report ERIN listed three general points that emerged from the data: there are fewer women than men in almost al1 xeas of Canadian broadcasting; the numencal presence of women and men is linked to the roles that they occupy in the industry; the roles of women and men differ in almost di areas, for example,

in television news... wornen are generaily interviewed in a non- expert capacity, while men are generally interviewed in the role of expert. in television drama, women are often associated with home and family roles and men with paid ernployrnent roles. In television and radio advertising, men are more often cast as salespersons or experts while women are more often portrayed as consumers (CRTC 1986,109).

The CRTC concluded from the Erin Research study that self-regulation had only been partially successful. MediaWatch had conducted its own study during the mal period, caiied Sex-role stereotypina: A Con tent Analysis of Radio and Television Programmes ( 1985 ) . The organization also analyzed the CRTC study and the arguments put forward by the indusw associations. MediaWatch concluded that "no signifiant change cmbe demonstrated" and that it is "futile to rely solely on voluntary efforts to affect major social diange" ( MediaWatch 1986. 5 ). Since MediaWatch felt that self-regdation had failed because of a lack of cornmitment by the industry, it recomrnended to the CRTC that cornpliance with sex-role stereofyping guidelines be a condition of Licence. As weii. MediaWatch recornmended adding an equality clause to the Broadcasting Act (it submitted twenty recommendations to the CRTC in dl).The CRTC eventuaiiy concluded that it was necessary to include the adherence to sex-role stereotyping guidelines as a condition of licence (Policv on Sex-Role Stereotwing in the Broadcast Media, 1986).A condition of licence (or in other words, mandatory self-regulation) requires broadcasters to comply with specified guidelines at the risk of losing their broadcast licence at the time of licence renewal. The strength of the condition of licence is questionable, however, since the CRTC rarely uses its licencing powers to enforce regulations or conditions. As weil, "CRTC staff has acknowledged... that the political will does not exist to revoke a broadcaster's licence and such a scenario will likely never happen" (Status of Women Canada 1997,S).The decision to use the condition of licence was questioned by many in the industry who felt that it would restrict freedom of expression. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) circumvented the condition of licence by establishing the Broadcast Standards Cou.mil, which regulates the member broadcasters with its own set of codes. The condition of licence is waived for broadcasters who are members of the ~ouncil.16Women's groups were pleased with the Commission's decision to use the condition of licence but also found it problematic that the public was still responsible for filing and documenting complaints. The CRTC also did not address empioyment equity and allowed broadcasters to set their own standards (Trirnble 1990, 406-408). In 1988, as a follow-up to the content analysis of 1984, the CRTC commissioned ERIN Research to conduct a study using the same methodology as the previous one, which would allow any progress to be measured. The report was released in December 1990 and concluded that "the four-year period was characterized much more by stability than change" (CRTC 1990,7). Toronto Women in Film and Television (TWlF'ï, now Women in Film and Television-Toronto, WIFT) ,an organization which was founded in 1984 to assist women advance in the film and television industry, conducted an analysis of the report and argued that the Summary Report reflected "a very narrowly defied statistical study. It includes little comrnentary or analytical interpretation. Important issues are no t addressed" (TWIFT 1991, 164). TWIFT' commissioned its own statistical study of women in the film and television industry ( published in 1990),dong with a detailed analysis of the data, which was published in 1991. Both will be discussed further in the following section on employment equi ty. Other more recent studies of gender portrayai in the media were conducted by MediaWatch. The Front and Cenme study ( 1994) investigated "how people, particularly wornen from diverse racial and ethnic groups, are portrayed on Canadian television" ( MediaWatch 1 994b, 5). It involved the monitoring, in the faii of 1992, of the Canadian dramatic series Street Le@, ENG, TODCODS, Forever Kninht, The Cornmish. Coun ters trike, Neon Rider and Maniac Mansion. The study found that "Out of a total of 1275 characters women only accounted for 3 3.3 3%" and broken domfurther, people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds only accounted for 4.55% female characters and 12.73% male (MediaWatch 1994b, 5). In phase two of the study (conducted in the winter of 1993) two consecutive weeks of Canadian newscasts were monitored on the CBC, CTV. Global, and Newsworld. CBC aired the highest percentages of reporters kom diverse backgrounds at 7% (6%male, 1%female), Newsworld at 4.55% (all male),Global at 2.61% (ali fernale),and CTV at 2.1 1% ( 1.OS% male, 1.Os% female) [MediaWatch 1994b, 61. Of a sarnple of 13 13 people interviewed by the networks, 24.9% were women, 2.6 7% women were from diverse e thnic and racial backgrounds and 8.38% men were from diverse backgrounds ( MediaWatch 1994b, 7). The snidy concluded that broadcasters are not reflecting the diversity that exists in Canadian society- "by the year 2001 Ontaxiorspopulation is projected to be made up of 49.1% visible rninorîties" and women from visible minorities groups are less represented than the men from these groups (MediaWatch 1994b. 8). Em~lownentEq uitv

Up until 1987 the CRTC had not made any attempts to act on the issue of employment equity for wornen, despite the fact that on several occasions the Commission had argued that the most effective solution to the whole problem of sexism in the media was to increase the numbers of women in key decision-making positions. The CRTC argued that unless changes were made to the Broadcast Act it had no jurisdiction to influence the hiring practices of broadcasters. In response to this argument, MediaWatch, with the Canadian Coaii tion Against Media Pornography (CCAMP) and the National Action Cornmittee on the Status of Women (NAC),organized a national conference on Canadian broadcasting policy which brought together women's organizations, broadcasters, advertisers, government and cultural agencies, on March 20-22, 1987. The purpose of the conference was to "learn from each other and to work toward achieving equality for women in the broadcast media" (Sanderson and Potvin 1987,6).Recornrnendations made in the report of this conference influenced the decision to include the equality clause in the Broadcasting Act. The new Broadcasting Act ( 1991) gave the CRTC the mandate to "ensure that broadcasters and other Licensees, including those with fewer than 100 employees, addressed both the portrayal and work force participation of wornen" (Jeffrey 1995,s) . Soon after its inception, Women in Film and Television realized that there were limited hard data to prove the extent to which women faced discrimination in the industry. As a result the organization commissioned a study in 1989 titled A Statistical Profile of Women in the Canadian Film and Television Industry, which outlined the participation rate of women in every segment of the film and television industry. The statistics revealed:

although women now fom over 44 per cent of the work force in Canada, we are only 35 per cent of the work force in the film and television indusW... Of 5 1categories in the private sector women hold between 70 and 93 per cent of the jobs in six categories: production secretary/bookkeeper, script supervisor/continuity, art deparunent nainee, wardrobe, makeup artist, hairstylist. In 1989 wornen held 14 per cent of the upper management jobs in public sector televisiodradio cornpanies; in the private sector they held one per cent (TWIFT 1991, .a).

A detailed analysis of the statistical study was published in 1991 under the title Changine; Focus: The Future for Women in the Canadian Fiim and Television Iridus~.One of the conmibutors to this publication, Rita Shelton Deverell. Vice Presiden t of Production and host at Vision TV, addressed the study's primary focus on gender:

For people of colour, barriers in Our industry are not based on sex, as documented in the Statisticai Survey, but on race. That is to Say, the experience of men of colour in the film and television indusmy is the same as the experience of women of colour. We are underemployed and, if employed, it is usually in the lower levels of the profession (Deverell, Airst, and Lee 199 1, 143).

A 1993 Sectoral Study on broadcasting, the first joint industry- govemment study, found that chere had been very little change between 1987 and 1990 in terms of the numbers of women. visible minorities, and persons with disabilities employed in the industry; women continue to be overrepresented in clencal positions (83 percent), and underrepresented in upper management (9.5 percent) (JeBey 1995, 18).As of 1994, women cornposed 37.9 percent of the 3 5,243 employees of major Canadian broadcast media, companies with 100 employees or more, compared to 46 percent in the entire labour force (HRDC qtd. in Jeffrey 1995, 18). In the film industry, the National Film Board of Canada (afederal government agency) led the way in terms of employment equity policy. In 1974, after extensive lobbying by female staff, the NFB established Studio D, the world's first and only publicly funded femlliist film production unit. 17 Kathieen Shannon became the fist Executive Producer of the studio and also the frst female to head a film unit at the NFB since the Second World War. She had worked her way slowly through the ranks at the NF%. She once said that she did "virtuallyevery fhtask there was except the sacrosanct men's jobs at the tirne: directing, camera work, and 'bossing"' (NFB biography of Kathieen Shannon). Kathleen Shannon and AnneClaire Poirier (a French NFB producer) lobbied the bureaucrats at the NFB for continued funding for women's films. They argued that the NFB was "faüing in its mandate to 'interpret Canada to Canadians' by ornitting the fernale half of the nation" (Scherbarth 1987a, 25). As well, they proved through their own films that there was great interest in films by and for women. Studio D's slogan was "for women, by women and about women." Its mandate was to "address wornen's information needs and facilitate the framing of women's perspectives through the medium of film, and to provide an environment of mutual support in which to do son (Scherbarth 1987a, 25). Studio D was providing an opporninity for new voices to be heard and an alternative to the films that were being produced by the other studios and mainstream fiimmakers. The philosophy of the unit was based on a desire to affect social change. For twenty-two years Studio D produced films that won over a hundred international awards. 18 Studio D was dismantled in 1996, as a result of massive budget cuts to the Film Board. It was decided that, in an atternpt to maintain production levels, the administrative and distribution sides of the Film Board would be drastically reduced. This meant that some studios were totaily dismantled while others were merged. In informa1 discussions conducted with female staff at the NFB Ontario Cenue, I was also told that many people felt that Studio D had achieved its objectives. In 1996-97 " twenysix of the productions ( forty-Me per cent) were direc ted or CO-directed by women and twenw-nine by men. in the Documentary Programme, women directed or CO-directedfifty-three per cent of the films (NFB 1996- 97).19 According to Silva Basmajian, an NFB producer working out of the Ontario Centre, many films dealing with women's issues were being made in other studios outside Studio D, as weli. The focus for action at the NFB currently has shifted frorn gender to cultural diversity. In 1996-97, six of the productions completed ( 11%)were directed in whole or in part by directors from underrepresented cultural groups (NFB 1996-97).Over the years, Studio D had received criticism for not representing Canadian wornen in all of their diversity. A programme called New initiatives in Film developed by Rina Fraticelli (the executive producer who replaced Kathleen Shannon in 1986) was designed to respond to the under- representation of women of colour and First Nations women in the Canadian film industry. This programme has since been revamped by Karen King, the new cultural diversity producer at the NFB Ontario Cenme. Recent NFB initiatives to promote women in the film and teievision industries include the organization of a pre-Conference of the 23rd International Institute of Communications (held on September 7-8, 1992). Fifty women from seventeen different countries participated in the pre-Conference. The theme of the roundtable discussions and the title of the report produced by the participants. was "It Matters Who Makes It". In her report on the pre-conference, Joan Pennefather, Govenunent Film Comrnissioner and the Chairperson of the National Film Board (currently Sandra Macdonald) wrote that it matters who makes it because "Writers, direc tors and producers infuse a production with th& own unique sensibility and view of the world. When the means of production and distribution are connolled by only a few, an artist's vision is diminished and we are all the poorer" (WB 1992,9). The philosophy behind Studio D, its mandate and slogan ( "for women. by women and about women") were adopted by WTN. The proceedings of the pre-Conference of the International Institute of Communications were also reproduced in their entirety in the WTN licence application to the CRTC, in order to provide further support for the channel's argument that more women in decision-making positions in the indusw would have a progressive influence on programming content. The fact that WTN was established twenty years after Studio D but had the same vision, leads one to question whether any progress has been made for women in the media over this time period. Or is this evidence of the progressiveness of the film indusw over the television industry or public institutions over private? WTN could also simply be appropriating a rhetoric that was successful in the past. There is probably ûiith in aU of the above.

Recent Media Activisrn and Research

In its work over the past few years, MediaWatch has adopted a new, more positive philosophy in dealing with the media. As weli as campaigning against advertisers who continue to create se.uist advertising, MediaWatch applauds those who are creating more progressive types of advertising or programming. Media education has also become an important component of MediaWatch's ac tivi ties. The organization develops cumculurn materials for teachers and parents and presents educational workshops. It also facilitates and educates about consumer advocacy. Research is perhaps still the rnost important component of MediaWatch's work. however. It conducts studies which demonstrate to advertisers and broadcasters the economic benefits of progressive advertising which represents a diversity of people and characters. In a national telephone survey conducted in 1994, titled Please Adiust Our Sets: Canadian Women Watchina Television: Habits. Preferences and Concems, MediaWatch concluded that "Communicators-whether they be programmers or marketers--who fail to attend to the shifting attitudes of women whose minds, hearts and pocketbooks they want to access, wili be left behind in their competitorsf dust" ( MediaWatch 1994,3 7).20 The smdy aiso found that women were not getting what they wanted from television. The third most-cited concern about television (after violence and the number of cornmercials) was its sexist pomayal of women (rnentioned by 18%).It was also found that 46% of respondents couldn't name a female character or personality who represented a positive role mode1 and when they could, 96% of the tirne she was American. Responding to an "open-ended question about what kind of women those surveyed would like to see more of, 35% expressed a desire for a greater realisrn and/or less glamour, 13% Listed strong, 12% said intelligent and 10%said they'd prefer greater diversity" (MediaWatch 1994, 28). Other interesîing flndings included women's preferred genres. The most popular was comedy ( 26%). then news ( l9%), drama ( 14%)and rnovies ( 13%).The least preferred were soap operas (7%),game shows (2%)and talk shows (2%). The fact that women might be ashamed to admit that they enjoy denigrated texts like soap operas, game shows and tafk shows was also acknowledged (confirmed by feminist research, as noted in Chapter 2 ). The survey also supported the premises behind the licencing of a women's channel, and Shari Graydon (President of MediaWatch at the the)attended the licence hearings with WTN. in 1995, MediaWatch coordinated the Global Media Monito~g Project which they argue is the most extensive survey of the portrayal of women in the news that has been undertaken to date. The project was an international collaboration involving volunteers in 7 1 counuies. On January 18, 1995, the news media--television. radio and daily newspapers--were monitored in the participating counmes for the representation and portrayal of women. This work provided a quantitative definition of the role and image of women in the world's radio, television and newspapers. Sorne examples of the findings include:

The largest proportion of male interviewees, 29 percent, appear in stories on politics and govemment, whiie the largest proportion of female interviewees appear in stories on disasters/accidents (20 percent of female interviewees) and on crime (17 percent of female interviewees)... Overail, 11 percent of news stories present women's issues ... ( MediaWatch 1995, 14, 17). Wornen's issues are defiied by MediaWatch as: changing roles of women, violence against women, harassment, women's wages and working conditions, women's health, education and training CUL women, birth conaol, child care, minority women, women with disabilities and other issues ( MediaWatch 1995, 17). The fuial report of the project, Global Media Monitoring Proiect: Women's Partici~ationin the News, was released at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995. For the frst time at the Conference media issues were presented as one of the critical areas for action on the agenda. UNESCO held a symposium in Toronto ( "Women and the Media: Access to Expression and Decision-Making," February 28 to March 3, 1995) for international media organizations. in order to adopt a plan of action on media issues which would be presented at the Conference as part of the Beijing Platform for Action. Mrs. Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-General for the Conference, in her address to the Symposium, stated that issues involving the mass media were a critical area of concern because of the power of the media to "shape private values and public attitudes ... The media also has [sic] the potential to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women by promoting the recognition of the pivotal role of women in society and acceptance of equality between men and women.1121One of the conclusions reached by the international delegates at the Symposium was that "greater involvement by women in both the technical and decision-rnaking areas of communication and media would increase awareness of women's lives frorn their own perspective."*2 Linda Rankin (President of WTN, January to August 1995) and Barbara Barde (VPPrograrnming at WTN, January to June 1995) both attended the Symposium and participated in panel discussions. Linda Rankin was the Keynote Speaker of a panel discussion on Tuesday, Febniary 28, 1995 which was part of an afternoon of discussions titled "Euemplary Success Stories." In her speech, Rankin stated that the gains achieved by Canadian women in the media over the past fdteen years are the pillars of WTN. She also said that Canadian women demanded something different from television, and WTN was responding to that demand, and that on the eve of the five hundred channel universe WTN was going to make sure that women were represented. This conference took place after WTN was licenced but the recommendations made at the conference reflected the arguments that WTN presented in its application to the CRK The most recent description ( 1997) of the portrayal of women in the media was prepared by Shari Graydon as part of a "Women and the Media Backgrounder" for a recent round table discussion on the porrrayal of young women in the media convened by the Honourable Hedy Fry, Secretary of State for the Status of Wornen. The description is based on trends identified informally by women's groups and through a wealth of content analyses. On average. wornen in the media are pomayed as "young-er, more attractive and more nurturing than men; more likely to be victimized, marrîed or involved in romantic activity; and, when rnarried, less likely to work outside the home, or if they do, more likely to be employed in traditionaliy female occupations such as nurses or secretaries" (Status of Women Canada 1997).

From the extensive research conducted over the past two decades into the portrayal and employment of wornen in the media, it is clear that women have been largely excluded from the media in Canada and around the world. Despite the research and numerous attempts to improve industry guidelines. Little has changed. The public sector has made more advances than the private sector and there have been more advances in the electronic sector (which is regulated by the federal government) than the print media. The CRTC's voluntary indusûy self-regulation and conditions of licence failed to provide significant change, especiaily since the CRTC allowed the privatization of regulation (creation of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council) thereby decreasing the strength of regulations and of broadcasters' inclination to follow them. To the CRTC, the licencing of a women's channel may have seemed like a fast-track way to assist in women's access to the media. It rnight however take the pressure off other channels to meet their cornmitrnents to sex-role stereotyping and employment equity. The CRTC also recognizes that changes in technoiogy (satellites, in terne t) are making the broadcasting indus try more mcult to regulate. In creating their licence application the women who launched WTN bomowed key concepts from Studio D and they founded their arguments for the licence application on research conducted by the NFB, MediaWatch, Wornen in Film and Television, and feminist academics. As weli, MediaWatch, WIFT and the NFB a.ii played an active role in supporting WTN's application to the CRTC. In the next section 1 will present a brief history of the development of the concept for WTN and 1 will outhe the arguments and research WTN presented in Section 27 of its licence application to the CRTC. Section 27 is the part of the application where the applicant must convince the CRTC of the dernand for the particular broadcasting service.

THE LICENClNG OF A WOMEN'S CHANNEL IN CANADA

The Founders of WN

The inspiration for WTN came from Ron Rhodes and Michael bat,two broadcast executives who were concemed with the lack of educational programming that dealt with the social issues of parenting , family health, nutrition and elder care, amongst others. Their original concept was not specificaily a women's channel but as their research evolved they recognized that the people rnost affected by caregiving and parenting issues were wornen. They created an advisory board of women in a variest of professions and they spent two years discussing ideas for the channel. Linda Rankin (President of WTN, January to August 1995) became involved with the concept of women's television prior to meeting Rhodes and bat.She had been approached by the National Film Board to assist them with a plan to improve women's access to the media in Canada and she suggested to them that a specialty television channel for, by and about women, would be a positive step. The NFB was, however, not in a position to start a specialty television channel. Ron Rhodes contacted Rankin after hearing about her work. Rankin explained in a personal interview that Rhodes' concept for a women's channel "wasn't exactly what 1 thought a women's channel was all about . . . . If 1 was to give their channel a name it wouid have been the 'Mother's Channel.' They had reaiiy focused on what mothers needed and they had really narrowed down who women were, to women as mothers . . . or as caregivers" (Rankin 1997). Ron Rhodes asked Rankin if she would consider heading up their application because Rhodes and Ihnat felt that they couldn't win a licence if they didn't have a woman representing the application. Rankin was not irnpressed that they were most interested in her for her gender. The relationship between Rhodes, batand Rankin had a rough start and didn't improve over time. Ln fact, Rankin cites their relationship as one of the key factors in her departure from the channel. Rhodes secured financing for the specialty channel with Moffat Communications. In Linda Rankin's initial meeting with Randy Moffat, President of Moffat Communications, she found that he was only interested in the channel as a business investment. He told her:

[Ihnat and Rhodes] had approached him and he had given it [the proposal] to his sister. His sister had read the idea and she said "this is a really good idea, we shouid invest in this, the family shouid invest in this." So, that is why he got involved, but he felt that he also had some sympathy towards the whole approach and content but by and large he was interested in gettîng into specialty television. Which is fine. 1 thought that was fine (Rankin 1997) 23 Linda Rankin was hired as President and the next person on board was the Vice President of Programming, Barbara Barde, who was at the time, the President of Toronto Women in Film and Television. As President of TWIFT, Barde had presented a brief at the CRTC Structural Hearings held in February, 1993, recornrnending that a wornen's channel be licenced to give access to women's voices and to provide better role rnodels and better prograrnming for Canadian women. WIFT's submission was titled "The Broadcasting System is not just an Indusny: It is Our Comection to Our Culture," which was also listed as WIFT's guiding principle. The document was included in fuii in WTN1siicencing application. Barde also owned a production Company and had extensive television and film production euperience.

The Appiication Process

One of the most important elements of the licence application is Schedule 27. In a personal interview, Linda Rankin explained the challenge WTN faced in construcmg its argument for the CRTC. She acknowledged that wornen are the l&gest group of people who watch television, so obviously they are being served in sorne fashion by what is already on television. However, frorn WTN's research it was clear that women were not totally satisfied with the existing prograrnming on television (Rankin 1997). In the CRTC licence hearings on February 28,1994, Linda Rankin outlined WTN's argument for a women's channel by presenting the four key questions which guided its research: Do women constitute a distinct market in Canada? Are women different in their viewing preferences? Would advertisers be interested in a women's charnel? Does it reo-matter who makes the programming? WTN concluded that its research showed that ali of the questions were unequivocally answered in the affirmative (February 18, 1994. CRTC Licence Hearing s). WTN commissioned six major research studies for its application, which goes far beyond what is normally required for a licence application.24 The studies included: ( 1)research into the market for women's magazines; (2)focus group research; (3) national telephone swey research; (4)a market analysis; (5) a review of academic research on ferninist ethics and moral development; (6)a review of academic and trade press research into women, audiences and the media. ( 1)The reason for conducting research into the Canadian women's magazine market was partiaily rnotivated by WTN's vision of itself as an electronic women's magazine. Evidence of the srrong support for women's magazines also lent strength to the argument that women enjoyed targeted media. The research found that in Canada the women's magazine market was the strongest segment of the consumer magazine indus try in 1993. Advertisers also continued to be strong supporters of women's magazines despite declining support for other magazines during the recession. The research concluded that "Circulation figures, readership studies and market penetration analysis all point to a vast, weU-developed market of Canadian women who are accustomed to receiving information. entertainment and advice presented in a distinctively female and Canadian package" (Lifestyle Television Application, Appendix E, 3)e25 (2)The focus group based qualitative attitudinal research was conducted in four cities across Canada (Halifax,Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver). Mostly women were asked to participate-eight out of every twelve people were women. Two groups were created in each city; one group with people 35 years and older and the other with people younger than 35 years old. The research found:

There was solid support for the concept of a chamel that would address women's issues in an interesting and informative way; a channel that would deal with issues that were primarily of concern to Canadian women in a serious, supportive rnanner, and which offered a good information based alternative that was accessible during the traditional prime time viewing period rather than just duMg the day . . . (Lifestyle Television Application, Appendix G, 4)-26

( 3 ) The national telephone survey research involved 1,43 2 women and 208 men from across Canada. Its goal was to add to the research of the previous two studies by further investigating "the attitudes of Canadian women towards some very specific television programming content and availability issues" (Lifestyle Television Application, Appendix I,4).According to the research Company, the "most fundamental and significant of ali the fmdings was the fact that the majority of both men and women across Canada agree that 'women are unique in the way that they view the world.' This view was shared by sixty-one per cent of men and sixty-two per cent of al1 women surveyed" (Lifestyle Television Application, Appendix 1, 5). They also found that "Canadianwomen strongly believe that television could and should play a stronger role as a source of useful and supportive information to themselves and th& families" and that "the strongest support for the service emanated from lower educated, less iiterate and less socially mobile lower income groups who tum to TV more readily for their informative support needs" ( Lifestyle Television Application, Appendix 1, 14, 12 ) .27 (4) The market survey revealed that media buyers in advertising agencies and specialized media buying firms supported the concept of the women's channel and would buy air tirne on the channel. Where advertisers were once interested in buying time from the broadcaster with the largest audiences, they are now increasingly interested in the targeted audiences offered by specialty channels. As wefl, advertisers see a women's channel providing attractive psychographics and demographics, and a venue to reach women during prime- time.28 The audience composition of Lifetime (wornen's channel in the United States) was also analysed in order to demonstrate that the Canadian women's channel would also attract male viewers.29 (5)The interest in feminist ethics and developmental moral psychology was primarily due to Carol Gilligan's hypo thesis that "moral development differs by gender, that somehow women 'speak' in a different 'voice' " (Lifestyle Television Application, Appendix A, 5). Gilligan's work is argued to have stimulated much of the current debate about moral psychology and the issue of gender. Linda Rankin (former President) explained that, despite the fact that Carol Gilligan's research was con~oversial,

it was a good point of view and it worked for the application clearly . . . . It gave us redy strong ammunition to be able to Say women are different, not homogeneously but there is enough difference between what men and women like in viewing television and when they view it, and how they view it. So therefore if you're building a channel for women it will be different frorn building a channel for anyone else . . . (Rankin 1997).

The principal objections to Gilligan's work are that it is essentialist, "thatthe social and cultural consmction of moral development is secondary to whether one is male or female" and that her theory assigns moral attributes typically associated with women, to some sort of moral ideal (Lifestyle Television Application, Appendk A, 11)-30 (6) In the survey of secondary research on women, audiences and the media, over one hundred leading sources, published mainly since 1988, were located and the foliowing arguments (amongst others) were exaacted: womeri differ in their general communication needs, svles and preferences; women watch and respond to television differently than men; women don? get what they want from teievision; there is a pro-social benefit in hearing women's voices through TV; what women rnake is different from what men rnake and female creative control wouid better seive women's communication needs at this time. The review concluded by stating that a women's channel would not drastically alter the industry but it would be a first significant step towards achieving a more equitable broadcas ting and cultural environmen t.3 The strategy, then, for the appiication was to prove that women are different from men in their points of view, in their ideas about morality and how and when they view television. In addition, mainsneam television wasn't meeting women's needs primarily because women weren't involved in decision-making.

As part of the application process broadcasters rnust also actively solicit letters of support. Arnongst them, WTN received letters from the film community, advertisers, women's organizations and individual citizens. The film community felt the channel represented an opportunity for work which didn't fit into the schedules of other broadcasters, to be presented to a national audience. Advertisers were interested in the quality target audience the channel prornised to offer. Women's organizations believed the channel was committed to presenting positive and diverse portrayals of women in the media. The foilowing are examples of some of the interventions that were received32: The Canadian Independent Film and Video Furid (4647), Vancouver Women in Film and Video ( log), MediaWatch (3812), Canadian Auto Workers Union (383 7),The Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario (702),Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ( 3 8 19).The National Film Board recommended the licencing of a women's channel "as a rneans of ensuring that women have their place on television." The organization supported WTNrs application, specifically, for the following reasons:

The NFB considers that [WTN] has put together an application that will meet the programming needs and desires of women of ail ages, backgrounds, cultures and economic situations. [WTN's] cornmitment to the NFB philosophy that 'it matters who rnakes it' is crucial to the NFB's support of the application . . . (4734). Proctor and Gamble Lnc. (one of the largest advertisers in Canada) was interested in WTN because "it promises to deliver a highly focused and targeted audience in programming that Proctor and Gamble hc. is cornfortable being associated with . . ."(473 3). Other letters were received from Battered Women's Support Services in Vancouver who wrote, "We are excited about mNrs]proposal, and support their goals and objectives. Our work is committed to many of the same ideas, including examination of sex-role stereotyping, entertainment that is non-violent, and the empowerment of women" ( 163 8).The North Shore Womenrs Centre (North Vancouver) wrote "Studying the early plans for programming by this network, we are convinced that they intend to recognize the diversity of women's interests, whiie at the same time they will respect the necessity for advancing women's equaüty in our society" (3830). Letters from individu& included one from Carol Clausen (Calgary,Alberta) who wrote:

. . . Regarding men and women, let us explore our shared 'cultures' male and female together. Let us lem to laugh at each others' jokes and to understand each the other better. By granting this application for [WTN] to broadcast, give men the chance to see the world through women's eyes and women. more opporninity in greater depth, to understand thernselves and their sisters . . . (4639).

WTN was licenced on June 6, 1994, dong with nine other new television services (specialty and pay-per-view), three of which have women chief executives. WTN1s head office is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba but the channel also has a regional office in Toronto. WTN's geographic location was probably one factor in the CRTC's decision to approve WTN1s application. Arnongst the reasons given by the Commission in its licencing decision were the following: the channe1 represents a genre of programming not currently available to Canadian viewers; information programming created with the specific needs of women in rnind is lacking; more wornen in the

4 THE STRUGGLE TO DEFINE WOMEN'S TELEVISION AT WTN

Shirley Muir believes that O~enFor Discussion (OFD) " is a rnicrocosm of what WTN is today, not necessarily what it was when it fiist launched, but is today . . ." (Muir 1996). In making this argument Muir acknowledges that a dramatic shift has taken place in the vision and mandate of WTN. Shirley Muir was the first producer of OFD and she is at present the Executive Director of the WTN ~oundation.33OFD is an original series created by the Women's Television Network which consists of a made-for-TV movie or documentary, followed by a discussion with the host and her guests which places the issue addressed in the programme in a larger context. In a personal interview Muir explains why she believes this shift has occurred:

. . . 1 think we still do in this day and age have to recognize that television is an entertainment medium . . . . The bottom line is, women's programming is whatever they [women] say it is and that is really hard for a lot of us to get our minds around because a lot of us may have entered this business for WTN thinking we were solving a lot of world problerns, or at the very least problems for Canadian women ( Muir 1996).

Where WTN's vision of womenrs programming was once television "for women, by women and about women," it has become "what women want to watch." On the surface this shift in vision, which primarily took place after the fxst season, seems to reflect the shift that has taken place in feminist media theory, whereby socialist feminists recognize that they should not be dictating to women what is good or bad television for them to watch and furthermore, that feminists should not denigrate the preferences women make in their television viewing because women are not 'cultural dupes.' And yet, while 1 believe that some people at WTN may have become enlightened to the importance of validating women's preferences, the changes at WTN are not so much influenced by progressive critical thinking, as by a conservative bottom Une. The challenge at WTN was originally, at its inception, to promote social change while working within the existing economic and institutional constraints of commercial television. In my analysis of WTN, it is not my intention to prove whether WTN has somehow faüed in its original goals. Radier, 1 examine the influences (political and economic) which led to the changes in its prograrnming and vision; to a consumer-driven mandate of supplying market demand. My information sources are WTN's primary texts ( the programming) as well as the "secondary texts" made up of interviews with producers and decision rnakers, journalistic criticism, reviews and advertisements.34 Some of the questions 1 ask in analysing WTN include the following: Shouid the function of a women's television network be to provide "good TV"? Can we cali ourselves feminists and also enjoy consuming traditional women's genres such as soap operas, talk shows and TV movies? Does the existence of women in ail of the key decision-making positions at WTN affect in any progressive way, the discourses of gender encoded in the media texts the channel broadcasts? What is WTN's consmction of the ferninine? 1s WTN broadcasting programming which is of interest to ail women and which represents aLI women, as it promised? And finally, is it possible for a women's channel with a political mandate to survive in the commercial television industry?

INFLUENCES ON WTN'S REPRESENTATION OF 'WOMAN'

Neliotiating Ferninism at WTN

The feminist movement played a major role in how WTN originaily defined itself to the CRTC, as was demonstrated in the previous chapter. WTN's original mandate, to provide prograrnming "for women, by women, about women" is a mandate that is used by some of the most progressive and overtly feminist organizations in anad da,^^ The channel's name as well, in its overt declaration as a space for women (aTV channel of ouown), implies allegiances to feminist ideologies. Yet in WTN's publicity and promotionai material it was deerned too risky for the channel to align itself with feminism. Naomi Klein comrnented on this paradox in an article for the Toronto -Star titled "AU WTN1s missing is mention of the f-word":

WTN has made a concerted decision to avoid the word feminism iike the plague . . . . In the absence of a stated political philosophy guiding the station, 1 nahually thought that WTN was going to be aU cooking shows and Supermom tips, with the occasional splash of news--a kind of Chatelaine on TV. After all, sex segregated media have aiways created pink, light weight ghettos for wornen, swing the real stuff for the men . . . . But despite the brilliant cover-up, WTN is a feminist station, it just has chosen not to use the word. WTN is expressly dedicated to improving the status of women in the media, to providing better and stronger role models and to letting women tell their stories in their own voices (Klein 1994,7[G]).

This decision to avoid the word "feminism" concerned sorne women however, who felt this rnight suggest a reluctance to include feminist viewpoints in the programming. The fact that the channel was disaiigning itself from feminism is not an unusual decision, however, when one acknowledges that commercial television exists through advertising revenues and cable subscriber fees. Advertisers shy away from anythmg which may be connoversial and cable cornpanies are consenative and have connol over placement on the dial and tier ailocation. Furthemore, many women are apprehensive about the word "feminist." MediaWatch found, in its national survey of wornen's television viewing habits, that 2 2% of respondents descnbed themselves as feminist, while the majority (78%)felt most comfortable with the statement, "1 believe in equal rights for women" ( MediaWatch 1994,34). The decision to use the word "women" in the name of the channel seems to contradict WTN's initial intention to avoid accusations of ferninist aliegiances, since the name did incite a backlash in the media: "There's something about the Women's Television Network that raises hackles that has nothing to do with extra cable charges. Why do women need their own channel, anyway? Are men supposed to watch?" (Canadian Press 1995, 11 [A]). If WTN had kept the original name, Lifestyle Television, the response in the press might have been less hostile. The name "Lifestyle Television" was chosen by Michael Ihnat and Ron Rhodes and is very similar to the name of the women's channel in the United States, Lifetime. After consulting with focus groups, however ( before the channel was launched), it was decided that the name should be changed to the Women's Television Network, since, as Linda Rankin (former President) explains, people in the focus groups argued, "If you are programming for women why don? you caii yourselves what you are?" Rankin recalled that in the press there was an uproar over the "absolute brashness that we had to use the name 'women.' To Say that is what we were, how could you? . . . . You are a bunch of feminists if you use that [argued the press] (Rankin 1997). In seiecting the name "Women's Television Network" it was the intention, however, that the channel would eventually be cailed by its acronym and that people would forget that the 'W' stood for women. Rankin issued a notice to staff in March 1995 which said, "Please be aware our channel's name is WTN, definitely not the Women's Television Network . . . ensure reception uses WTN when answering the phone . . . [and] that any correspondence, PR material or new business cards no longer use the words . . . . 1 only want to Say this once" (qtd. in Schuler 1996, 21). In not using the word "women" WTN was less likely to offend women who objected to the concept of a women's channel and men who felt exduded. In our conversation Rankin seemed not to be exceedingly concerned with men's insecurities about the narne: "At no point were there any programmes that put men down. Quite the contrary, we were putting women forward . . . . It was back to if you call it women's television you are excluding people who aren't women" ( Rankin 1997). When she talked to the press she did, however, at every point, try to reassure them: "If this is to be television for, by and about wornen and their world, we have to give voice to all women's perspectives and show the world just who we are exactly. We also must remember our worlds include men" (Rankin qtd. in Portman, 1995 18[A1). Besides the mainstream press, feminists also questioned WTN's deusion to use the word "women" in the name of the channel. As Julia Creet points out, the use of the word "women" in the name, dong with the repeti tion of " women" in the mandate, and the emphasis on "Ampwgthe Woman's Voice" (singular),is "reminiscent of unreconstructed 1970s rhetoric and its rhetoncal problems" (Creet lWS,38). The name implies that gender influences viewing preferences and that women are a unified audience. This idea is questioned by theorists who argue that other factors Me race, education and age are equally as important as gender in viewing preferences (vanZoonen 1994, Ang and Hermes 1996).This focus on gender also contradicts ferninist attemp ts to separate sex and gender and to present gender as a cultural construct. Ferninists' use of the word "woman" has also historically not included all women. White rniddle-class femuiists idenhfy gender as the primary source of women's oppression and they are slow to acknowledge how class and race, combined with gender, are equally as oppressive as gender alone. Since the 1970s women frorn visible minority groups have been speaking out against this discrimination in feminist theory and practice. These women argue that "although gender is shared by all women, it is more important in shaping the lives of rniddle-class, white women than it is in the everyday lives of working-class, white wornen or non-white women . . . . Race, class, and gender biases reinforce each other in subtle and cornplex ways" (Agnew 1996,227). beli hooks and Angela Davis argue that when white feminists use the term "woman"they are in fact excluding women of other races (hooks 1981, 13 8). Feminists are stiii fighting today to have discrimination based on race included as a major issue in the womenrs movement. There is resistance to this inclusion from some white ferninists, however, who argue that by focusing on racism and classism the movement will be divided and less strong. An example of this discourse appeared in the Globe and Mail in 1991 under the following subtitle, which cleariy encapsulates the above mention& perspective: " Equality/ Charges that white, middle-class women expect women of colour to sit in the back of the feminist bus dont help the movernent. Women should stick together on the issues that count-such as male violence--instead of squabbling over racism and class" (Bishop 1991, A[15]). A similar argument is also used by men in left wing political movements, when they assert that women must wait to have their issues addressed until class equaiiw is achieved. Himani Banne rji argues that by universalizing 'wornan,' femlliist essentialism "eradicates real contradictions arnong women themselves and creates a myth ( 'wornan') and an abstraction, by isolating gender from ali other social relations" (Bannerji 1995,68). Furthemore, she argues that "Feminist essentialism, in the end, becomes a cloak for smuggling in the interests of priviieged women" (Bannerji 1995,69-70). Whether WTN is using feminist essentialism as a way to promote privileged women is debatable but at this point in WTNrs evolution it is clear that white, middle-class wornen are represented in the programrning and in decisionmaking positions in far greater numbers than other categones of women are.

The Peode Defininn Women's Proarammllie; at WTN

The rnajority of people who work at WTN are women, reflecting the Channel's application statement that "it matters who makes it." The staff came from aîi parts of the communications industry, ali parts of the country and ail politicai ideologies. Linda Rankin (former President) came from the telecommunications indusq; Barbara Barde (former V.P. Programming) and Melanie McCaig (Director of Independent Production) came from inde pendent filmmaking. Shirley Muir and Susan Millican (V.P. Programming) were journalists from the CBC. The principal camerawoman, C hristle Leonard, was recmited from Nova Scotia: other women came from Toronto and Ottawa. In terms of ideology, Shirley Muir stated that some women felt that WTN was going to revolutionize the television industry; others like Elaine Ali call this idea " being on a mission." Carol Darling, Vice President, Engineering and Operations and Affiliate Relations, objected to the name "the Women's Television Network because she thought it was exclusionary: " [we don? want to make] it mcult for women to watch with men in their households and certainly not for mothers with children. 1 believe very strongly that we don? want to offer stuff that mothers can't watch with their kids" (Darling 1996). When the channel launched, ninety-eight per cent of the staff (of forty-eight people) were women at WTN's head office in Winnipeg. In the technical areas fiper cent were women, partially because CKY-TV provides the operational facilities. The channel is, however, working to increase the numbers of women in the techcal side of the industry by providing training programmes and work placement oppornuiities through the ~oundation.36WTN is definitely giving many talented women opportunities that might not have been available to them through other broadcasters. The second producer of OFD, Karen Pauls, was given the opporninity to produce the national programme with little practical work expenence. For the former manager of acquisitions, Laura Michalchyshyn, it was her first job in broadcasting. An editor whom 1 met while she was working behind one of the rnost high-tech digital editing systems in the country, was a young woman who looked no older than twenty- five. WTN also promoted regional employrnent by making a concerted effort to fmd skilled women (or nain them) fkom Manitoba. In terms of representation off-camera, the channel promised that programming decisions would be made primarily by women, including women of colour and aboriginal women (Lifestyle Television Application, Schedule 27, Part 4, 22). Furthermore, the channel would "establish and maintain working relationships with organizations representing aboriginal peoples, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities in order to ensure recruitrnent and selection of suitable candidates from among the designated groups (Lifestyle Television Application, Book 1, Schedule G, section 8.2). Elaine Ali (President of WTN) stated that she hadn't done a tally at the network because employment equity is a way of life at WTN: "off air we are probably top in the country in terms of reflection of society in the work force that we have available to us . . . " (Aii 1996). When 1 asked Elaine Mi whether she thought there needed to be more diversity amongst the people making decisions at WTN. she responded by saying that she thought there needed to be more med7This response came as a great surprise to me since it contradicts the whole mandate of the channel as presented in the licence application. 1 believe that this response is reflective of the change in philosophy that has taken place at the channel since Unda Rankin left. There is less concern with the original comrnitments to represent a diversity of women (less hosts of colour) and more concern with appeahg to the advertiser's target market. The target market is not necessarily white women, but there is a general tendency amongst advertisers to want to appeal to the perceived " maj ori y"of the population. Besides the difficulties of negotiating amongst the staff at WTN over the parameters of women's programming, other contnbutors like the shareholders and the Board of Directors add to the complexiv of the process. Shareholders of course are most interested in maintaining the profit margin. Barde and Rankin accepted their positions on the condition that they could own a portion of the company. They wanted to gain financially frorn their hard work and they knew that shareholders have power over the direction a company will take. In 1995 the distribution of shares was as follows: Moffat Communications (68.1%)38, Rhodes Inc. ( l2.6%), Ihnat Inc. ( 10.5%), The Barde Group (8.4%), Linda Rankin (5.2%). Rankin gave up her shares in the company when she left but she is stiii an investor (10%)in the Barde Group. The Board of Directors was composed of Randy Moffat, Doma Moffat (sister to Randy Moffat), Linda Rankin, Ron Rhodes, Michael Ihnat, Christine Moffat (daughter to Randy Moffat), Barbara Barde, and Pat MacKay. When responses from the audience and the press were largely negative after the channel went to air on January 1, 1995, the conflicting ideologies of the people in control of the network became evident with high-level staff changes. Carlyn Moulton, Director on Independent Programming in the Toronto Office, left the network on Febmary 8, 1995. In an interview with Corinna Schuler. Moulton argued that WTN's original concept deserved a longer run, a chance to develop an audience. She said. "Everyone knows how to get ratings: hockey garnes and reruns of Beverley Hills 902 10. But specialty channels are not designed for maximum popularity. They are about finding a niche market" (qtd. in Schuler 1996, 23). Barbara Barde left her job as VP of Programming in July 1995 and retumed to Toronto to start ano ther independent production company called Up Front Entertainment, where she produces the WTN series Take 3, Girl Talk, .Tane Taber's Ottawa, Beautv Guide and Success Inc. Her reasons for leaving WTN. she told me, were simply because her goal had been to go to Winnipeg, get the channel on the air and then return to the production side of the industry. One month later, in August 1995, the President Linda Rankin and the Executive Producer of the Toronto Office, Susan Stranks, resigned. Linda Rankin's reasons for ieaving WTN were similar to those given by Barbara Barde. She told me that she had done what she had gone to do, which was launch the network and that she disliked living in Winnipeg. In a statement released to the press by WTN, "fundamentaldifferences in management philosophy" was given as the reason for Rankin's departure. Rankin told me that she didn't believe there were any Merences in imagement philosophy between Moffat and herself but there were between Rhodes, Ihnat and herself. She said that there was a whole lot of other stuff going on at the Board level that didn't make it worth her while, but she was not interested in elaborating. The press speculated that it was the move towards Lighter, mass-marketed programming which cos t WTN i ts founding president (Vale, 1995,u). In an interview with Shari Graydon, Barbara Barde stated that Randy Moffat is "more inciined to acquire greater volumes of Amencan programming than he is to fund especially progressive ideas" ( Graydon 1996, 134). Moffat and the other shareholders perhaps believed they had given the feminist mandate enough of a chance and were not satisfied with the results. After Linda Rankin left the channel Randy Moffat took over as interim-president until January 199G,when Elaine Ali was hired as President. Ali was a broadcast executive frorn CanWest Global, who had spent over twenty years rnoving through the ranks in the broadcasting industry to a senior position. 1 believe Moffat looked for a president who had the same consenative business approach to the channel that he had. This is not to deny that Rankin believed that the channel needed to be profit-oriented but she also believed in the original political mandate. Elaine ALi explained to me that she came frorn a male-oriented environrnent but that she thought the environment at WTN was refreshing and caring. She was originally apprehensive about taking the job because she was concerned that WTN was a channel on a mission as opposed to a broadcasting environment, but her research proved the contrary. She stated:

1 don't think it's anybody's place to utilize ouopportunities in the media to be on a mission, but if in fact what I heard was correct and that people working at WTN and the direction of WTN was to be a television network for women and for men (and that is secondary but not to be exclusionary, not to be on a mission and not to cater just to a very srnail group of women), then 1 saw an opportunity and from my research that is precisely what WTN was (Ali 1996). The Media Backlash

WTN seemed to receive more press coverage than any of the other specialty channels at launch and the majority of these responses were negative. Michael Coren (a notonous right-wing pundit often used by the media for his extreme views on issues) wrote that he thought that WTN was a "severely wasted opportunity . . .". He argued that the channel looked amateurish, was unprofessional and bo~g(Coren 1995, 1[Cl). He neglected to mention that WTN was starting a channel from nothing, unlike Bravo! and Discovery which were both affiiated with other channels (City TV and Discovery in the US) and that WTN was producing more new programming than any of the other channels. Another critic writing for the right-wing magazine British Columbia Report, who based his/her comrnents on an episode of Girl Talk, argued that "The Women's Television Network revels in lesbian-feminist fare" (Brunet 1995, 20)-39 Judy Waytiuk, a former TV journalist writing for the Winni~ee.Free Press, accused WTN of "conf'ig women to the ghetto by its very existence and by appealing 'to an appallingly narrow' audience spectrum" (qtd. in Portman 1995, 18[A]). And John Haslett Cuff, former TV cntic for the Globe and Mail wrote,

I doubt that anyone was surprised to leam this week that WTN, . . . is the least watched of all the new specialty channels, ranking dead last with an average audience of only 6,000 viewers per minute . . . . Most of the viewers 1 have tahed to over the past six rnonths describe WTN's programming as a seemingly endless parade of victims: wornen who have been beaten, raped, mutilated and abused . . . (Haslett Cuff 1995, l[C]).

The low audience figures and high-level staffiig changes at the network led the press to speculate about the demise of the network. In an article for Homemaker's Magazine in May 1996,Corinna Schuler attributed the changes at WTN to being partially the result of a "crack in the sisterhood." She wrote. It seerns that jockeying for power, back-stabbing and top-down management are not the exclusive domain of the old boys' networks. Insiders Say that WTN put a scary new spin on the word bitchiness. "It's like a coven of witches," one employee said of her bosses . . . . In the struggle. staff morale crumbled. More than a dozen people. . . left or were ousted (Schuler 1996, 14).

Many people consider Schuler's article to be "a crack in the sisterhood." It seemed unfair that a wornen's channel should have the spotlight placed on its employee relationships when this criticism would never be levelled against a network run by men. Schuler also primarily interviewed people who left the Toronto office and were alienated fkom it. which possibly led to more negative portrayals. Barbara Barde (former V.P. Prograrnming) feels that hostility in the media had less to do with the quality of the programrning than with a reaction to a women's channel. Media reporter, Antonia Zerbisias agreed in an article in the Toronto Star in March 1995. Zerbisias asked, "what is so threatening about such a concept?" especially since ali the women's channel wants to do is provide opportunities for women and information prograrnming with women's specific needs in rnind. Furthemore, the channel is 9 1.5% owned by men (Zerbisias l9%,3 [El). Perhaps what was so threatening about WTN was that it brought feminist issues into the foreground of popular culture. The existence of WTN highlighted the fact that women are largely excluded from the mainsrrearn media. The channel also confronted hegemonic consmctions of feminism. WTN wanted to discuss criticai issues which were not being addressed by the mainsmeam media. As Bonnie Dow argues. the rnainstream media presents a feminism that "seils well," that sells a lifestyle rather than social justice, and it condernns feminism that it argues emphasizes vic timization (Dow 1996,205). Even from the feminist community, however, there was negative response to the network. Feminists had very high expectations for the channel, partially based on the promises made in the licence application. Julia Creet has argued that her aversion to WTN "started with the immediate impression that its feed was a litany of troubles presented live and in person. Unlike the day-time talk shows, which opdy thrive on the exploitation of sor~ow,rnisery on WTN lacks entertainment value . . . . WTN takes a moral approach to rnisery: it is for information only, consciousness-raising, cornmunity buildingt' (Creet l9%,37). Lynne Hissey writing in Pacific Current argued that WTN out-mainstreamed the mainsmeam, in its approach to deaihg with issues and in the representation of women (Hissey 1995, 26). This hostility in the media necessarily played a role in the audience response to the channel and also put pressure on the programmers to make changes in order to irnprove critical opinion and audience ratings. There were some positive responses to the channel from the media. but since they refer to specific programming 1 have included them in the programming section of this chapter.

The Business of Commercial Television: Advertisinp.

By and large commercial television channels have been in terested in fernaie audiences not in their own right but for their attraction to advertisers--women are the primary domestic consumers/ purchasers (Nightingale 1990, 125). The role of commercial TV is to create programming to attract a 'quality demographic' which meets advertisers' needs. Women as consumers become the product sold to advertisers. The relationship between advertisers and WTN therefore creates many contradictions, since WTN purports to be interested in creating programming for, by and about women, yet the interests of the advertisers are not always those of women. Or put differently, advertisers are interested in women as consumers and this rnay be different from WTN's conception of 'women.' WTN has never denied the importance of advertisers, nor has it expressed much concern about advertiser influence. The following statement from the Executive Sumrnary of WTN's Application assures advertisers that the channel's programming would mesh seamlessly with the ads: Just as a good woman's magazine is designed to captivate its audience with appeaiing stories and glossy advertising, Lifestyle Television [MrTN] has programmed its day to emulate many of the same characteristics . . . advertising will be an important part of the information presented, as it wiU speak to women and th& concems much more directly (Lifestyle Television Application, Executive Summary, Schedule 27,s).

While WTN screens out many of the most sexist ads seen on other channels, the majority of its ads still perpetuate traditional ideas about the roles of women in the family and about beauty: shampoo ads, fabric softener (images of mother and child), mouth cleaner (images of a wedding), carpeting, hair colour, make-up. Some of the ads and promotions that WTN has created itself have not been any more progressive. A promotion WTN ran in 1997, the "Spring Spree- Your Chance to Win a $5,000 shopping spree" strongly endorsed the relationship between women and consumerism.~The audience was told to watch FlareTV, The Backvard Grill, Images of Home, or Debbie Travis' Painted House to win. WTN also CO-produceda series of infomercials with the Bay, which are broadcast as intersticials (fîllers)on WTN and are show on monitors in Bay stores, promoting a variety of perfumes available at the Bay. Elizabeth Huggins (former V.P. Marketing) argues that WTN is providing women with useful information: proper application of perfume, the importance of smeliing ferninine and of owning a variety of different perfumes for use in the different seasons. Infomercials. product placement, sponsorship, as weil as advertiser-created prograrnrning, are new ways advertisers have developed to counter the effects of new technologies such as remote controls and VCRs, which aliow viewers to avoid commercials. In a special issue of Camera Obscura dedicated to analyzing the American women's television channel, Lifetîme, Carclyn Bronstein presents examples of the detrimental effects these types of advertising can have on programming contentpl Prominent national sponsors like Bristol-Myers and Proctor and Gamble have created programming for Lifetirne. Bristol-Myers created a half-hour series cded In the Narne of Love and Proctor and Gamble created two half-hou parenting series cailed What Evew Babv Knows and Your Babv and Child. In these instances the advertisers had total control over the programming and Life tirne staff did not supervise production or review shows before they were broadcast. When advertisers create programming, it is designed to act as an extended commercial for the company's producrs. This rneans that the programming environment must always be suitable for the product: generaily happy, non- controversial and upbeat. This leads to programming which excludes those people who don't fit into the corporations' conception of their ideal consumer and leads to the exclusion of issues which are political or controversial. The creation of "Specials" is also comrnon practice at Lifetime. An exarnple is A Health~Challenge: the National Nutrition Test which Lifetime described as a nutrition special that would deliver "practical know-how people can actuaily remember and use when selecting healthy foods for their grocery carts or dinner plates" (qtd. from A Healthy Chailenpe: the National NuMtion Test in Bronstein 1994, 223). Bronstein argues that the show was actuaily an infomercial for processed foods (ConAgra's Healthy Choice foods) which " tapped into women's intemal fear of gaining weight and the dominant cultural belief that the ideal female body type is extremely thin" (Bronstein 1994, 223). This "Special" aired four times in October 1993. Another called Wornen and Hormones which was created by Wyeth-Ayerst (a large US pharmaceutical corporation) fully endorsed the use of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women with very little information about the potential side-effects (Bronstein 1994, 225). Bronstein argues that,

Lifetirne's cooperation with Wyeth-Ayerst is especially distubhg given the company's thirty-year his tory of using deceptive advertising tactics to sell women's prescription dnigs. Wyeth- Ayerst has extensively marketed hormonal replacement therapy since 1966, when its commissioned book, Feminine Forever, promised female readers that synthetic esuogen could stave off the natural aging process . . . . In the 1970s, however, medical studies reveaied serious heaith risks associated with the use of estrogens, including a five-fold increase in the occurrence of both endometrial and breast cancer. Wyeth-Aystst disputed these fmdings and poured research and development into new dmg marketing plans (Bronstein 1994,226).

For Lifetime these programrning relationships with advertisers are beneficial since the charnel gains "original" programming without incurring production cos ts. Bronstein argues, however, that " the sales motive that drives advertiser-created prograrns . . . rnay correspond to the central goal of commercial television. but it is antithetical to Lifetime's stated mission to serve women" (Bronstein 1994, 225, 229). Lifetime is dowing advertisers to exploit the trust it has established with women to sell products. Bronstein concludes that the female audience at Lifetime is losing out to advertisers' demands and the bottom line of the network. As advertisers have gained more control at Lifetime, the channel's programming has also become non- controversial, typically representing white middle-class wornen aged eighteen to forty-nine and the situations that deal with their concems, because this is the sponsor's ideal consumer (Bronstein 1994,216).42 Proctor and Gamble's interest in creating programming for Lifetirne is especially relevant to WTN since it was one of the corporations which sent a letter of support to the CRTC for WTN's licence application. Their letter sta ted that the Company wo uld consider buying advertising on WTN because "it promises to deliver a highly focused and targeted audience in programming that Proctor and Gamble Inc. is cornfortable being associated wi th..." and they also insisted that the CRTC should force the new specialty channels to provide extensive audience statistics: " Accurate audience measurement is and always will be a critical element in Our evaluation of the best marketing tool for our Brands, and the current local market..." (intervention 473 3 ). in WTN's licence application Proctor and Garnble is listed as the top advertiser in Canada, spending $90.5 million on advertising in 1992. In the interviews conducted with key decision makers at WTN, 1 asked whether advertisers have any influence on programme content at WTN and in di cases it was denied. Susan Millican (V.P. Programming) said, "1 don't think that there is any danger. I hope as long as I am doing this that we will never become influenced just by what advertisers want because by doing that we wouldn't be meeting our mandate" (Miliican 1996). She aiso mentioned that WTN chose to fimd one hundred per cent of Take 3 so that there was no possibility of sponsorship influence. The decision makers argue that they try to supply enough shows that achieve high ratings (good safe programming like Mary Tvler Moore, old Hollywood movies on Leadine; Ladies and movies-of-the-week) to bring in advertising dollars and that these shows fund the programming which supports their mandate (Shameless Shorts, Take 3, Jane Taber's Ottawa). Elaine Ali (President) is excited about the developing relationships WNhas with advertisers:

Flare TV has created a lot of hubbub in the advertising community because it is a place where advertisers can latch onto segments and sponsor segments as opposed to just running a thuzy second ad . . . . As numbers grow and as your audience grows, advertisers becorne more and more interested in your network. As you get more research and more and more data on who is watching, qualitative data in terms of who is watching . . . and marry that to who their major product buyers are, you can get very close to advertisers. But we are in no way close to advertisers looking at producing specific comrnercials for our network because we just don't get that mass media yet . . . . We won't have that, so you have to look at us a little differently we say. We are unique, we offer an environment... We offer the advertiser a very focused and targeted audience (Ai1996). In a document produced by WTN in 1998, designed to promote the channel to media buyers, the introductory statement on the frst page boasts, "It's aii here on WTN, in a program schedule tailor-made for you clients' needs." WTN now offers advertisers product placement (placement of products into programrning), as weli as product integration ( products cm be demonstrated or mentioned in a programme), extended commercial lengths, as weil as extended duration of ad campaigns. WTN will also create and produce ads. In its schedule listings, which it cails the WTN Magazine, WTN is also selhg advertising.Q The channel promotes sponsorship opportunities, such as themed network events ("Sp~gis on the Air") and themed programming blocks like "WTN Romance Sundays." In fact, all unsolicited series proposals for programming must now be accompanied by a "Gold" sponsor who is willing to invest $100,000 (Graydon 1996, 138-139).The corporate sponsors who have this kind of money to invest are primarily interested in programming that will attract that largest possible audience: non-controversial and tried and megenres. Who is the "very focused and targeted audience" Elaine Ali promotes to advertisers? In WTN's application the target audience was listed as iollows: "women 18+: at home alone, at home with children, working mothers, worhg with no children, and shift workers. Thus the programming has to rneet a wide range of needs and act as a good cornpanion" (Lifeswle Television Application, Section 27, Supplementary Bnef, Part 4, 25).The strongest support for the service (according to the focus group research conducted for the application) emanated from "the lower educated, less literate and less socially mobile lower income groups who tum to TV more readily for their informative support needs" (Lifestyle Television Application, Quantitative Research, Appendix I,8). Despite the insistence found throughout WTN's application and publicity material-that WTN is a specialty channel for all women-- one statement included in the application seems to contradict this lofty goal. In Part 2 of the .4pplication1sSupplementary Brief, titled "The Concept of the Lifestyle Service" the foliowing is written: "Lifestyle Television must stand for something of value to society and to the women we wan t to attract . Clearly, an aiignrnent of owner philosophy, program content and audience needs is required so that the program service will be taken seriously by both customers and advertisers" ( Lifes tyle Television Application, Section 2 7, part 4, 2 1 [emphasis added] ) . According to Linda Rankin, the audience who ended up watching WTN in 1995 consisted of two groups; "wornen over fîfty and.. . women benveen eighteen and thirty-six approximately. We gave them [the advertisers] the post-boomers who had rnoney to spend and we gave them the Generation Xers who didn't but were having their notions formed" (Rankin 1997). in 1998 the typical WTN viewer is listed as "a woman between the ages of 2 5 and 49, she works outside the home and is likely to be of higher education and income. Men are also watching WTN, with male viewers making up to 40 percent of WTN's viewing audience throughout the year" (WTN's Producers Guide, Spring 1998).M This new audience is obviously a "qualityt'audience in the eyes of the advertisers. The change in audience has been cultivated by the types of programrning offered. This issue will be addressed further in the following section. Extensive and very specific audience data are of fundamental importance to the functioning of the whole TV industry, since the television audience is seen as the commodity that is soid to advertisers. The amount that advertisers pay the broadcaster is relative to the size of the audience. The methods by which the ratings industry coilects audience data (set meters, diaries, people meters) are very subjective and have been questioned on many occasions by advertisers and broadcasters. In her study Des~eratei~ Seekinn the Audience, Ien Ang argues that the audience commodity is a symboiic object which is constructed and controlled through ratings discourse but which does not edst outside of this discourse (Ang 1991, 56). The audience is millions of people watching television in a day-to-day practice which would be impossible to measure. Nonetheless, the construct of the audience is vital to the economic functioning of the industry. Because the broadcaster needs to produce programming which attrac ts large audiences, television programmes which prove to be ratings winners are copied and prograrnming which is untested is less likely to be attempted. Carolyn Brons tein argues that " Lifetirne's [US women' s channel] drive to increase ratings has limited the amount of alternative women's fare on the network" (Bronstein 1994, 230). The same thing seerns to be happening at WTN. The flagship current affairs shows on WTN (POV: Women, then Take 3) were canceiied because they cost too much to produce and the audience ratings were low. In an interview with Corinna Schuler, one of the former hosts of POV: Women (Sylvia Sweeney) is quoted as saying: "This new chase-the- ratings thing meant we couldn't do anything serious around women's issues" (Schuler 1996, 24). In this section I outlined the influences on the development of WTN's programming schedule and 1 have show that this production process is subject to conflict and negotiation. In the next section 1 will look specificaiiy at the prograrnming on WTN in order to demonstrate how this process affects the discourses of gender offered on the channel.

The Original Vision for Proarammina: "for women. by wornen and about women"

In its licencing decision for WTN. the CRTC listed some of the following as reasons for its deusion: the channel would have "no impact on existing services" since it prornised to produce programming "not cmently available to Canadian viewers" ; the channel prornised to provide information programming directed towards women, which the CRTC deerned was lacking on mainsneam TV; the channel's programming would present positive portrayals of women, less stereotyping and more female on-air hosts, experts and commentators (CRTC94-282). WTN convinced the CRTC that its programming was going to be unique in one way, in that it was going to be presented from a wornan's perspective. Describing what constitutes a "woman's perspective" was, according to WTN's application, the most difficult element of programming for the channel. The definition that was developed is as foilows: collaborating, tearn building, comecting; nurturing, mending, healing; ernpowering, supporting, problem- solving (Lifestyle Television Application, Schedule 27, Part 3, 16).In Barbara Barde's opinion (former V.P. Programming) a wornan's perspective was achieved if there were women at the top of the broadcasting hierarchy who had the power to green-light projects. This ferninine perspective she believes is what separates a wornan's channel frorn other channels (Barde 19%). The content was the second factor that would rnake WTN's programming different frorn O ther "women's programming." The content would be "about women." It would

. . . focus on the issues of concern to wornen. Our programming wiU be written and produced by women. in almost aii cases, the protagonists of these programs will be women. In cases where a woman and a man are involved, then the idea is to portray them as equals. It is important for women to see a woman's point of view (Licence Hearings, 28 Feb. 1994.2).

It was snessed throughout the application that the programming would overcorne gender stereotyping, provide positive role models and avoid violence and sensationalist treatment of issues ( Lifestyle Television Application, Scheduie C). The two key decision makers who created the first schedule for the channel (Rankin and Barde),defme women's programming in the foliowing way: Linda Rankin (former President) argues that it is programrning that women can idem@ with and relate to. Women are pomaying "awide range of roles and they are played by real women. They are not played according to a man's version of what that woman would do in that role" (Rankin 1997).Outside of the "Signature Services" which were the official expression of the channel's vision of me"women's prograrnrning," Rankin cites Marv Tyler Moore and O~enfor Discussion as prime examples of women's prograrnming :

I think MW Tvler Moore has been one the best from the beginning. Much better than Mumhv Brown as to . . . who a woman is when she goes to work or has relationships and has to deal with a number of different roles and responsibilities. ûwn for Discussion has always been senously women's programming because there are women watching the programme with you and they are going to t& about it afterwards (Rankin 1997).

Barbara Barde (former V.P. of Programrning) defines women's programming in the following way:

1 think that for a lot of women, not feminists, for a lot of women who have no role rnodels. one of the very biggest things that WTN has done and continues ro do is place women in a plethora of roles, doing a variety of things. It doesn't mean that you can't be a feminist [and] like to cook . . . . Women tell stones differentiy than men. Women tend to make more character driven films . . . . Women see the world differently . . . ( Barde 1996).

From the licencing of the channel until the launch on January 1, 1995, there were six rnonths in which to pull together twenty new series. The focus group research commissioned by WTN led the programmers to believe that women wanted a specialty channel that would act as their cornpanion and tmsted friend. A slogan from the frst months of the channel was "welcome to WTN, welcome home." Open for Discussion (OFD) episodes, up until very recently, had Bohdana Bashuk reassuring the audience that "you're noc watching alone." The majority of programmes on the channel were introduced by hosts that WTN wanted you to mst but the hosts didn't last. It soon became dear, after the channel was launched, from audience feedback, low audience numbers and cnticism in the press, that the abundance of hosts was unpopular. The colours used in the graphics and studio sets were soft pinks and light blues, like the WTN logo-- an attempt perhaps to make the channel appear more ferninine and less feminist. In terms of scheduling, the channel tried to programme in ways that fit into women's schedules. In its research for the application WTN found that forty-nine per cent of Canadian women were concerned that most of the prograrnmllig which dealt with topics of importance to them, was relegated to the daytime hours when they were not able to watch (Lifesyle Television Application, Appendix 1, 30). The original schedule line-up was seventy per cent information- based programming with "an emphasis placed on areas of special interest to women" and thirty per cent entertainment. The information-based programming included a wide range of series cove~gsuch varied subjects as car care (Car Care with Marv Bellows) , fishing (The Natural Ander), sports (On Your Mark), business (Mindina Our Own Business, Working Woman), health (Well Now!) ,parenting (Weeks),computer software (InfoLogic) and current affairs (POV: Women). This information line- up could almost be a list of traditional men's programming (with the exception of the parenting show. 39 Weeks and Countingl. With its first programme schedule WTN might be seen to be falling into the nap of what Tania Modleski cas, the "critical double standard," whereby men's popular culture is validated and women's is denigrated or trivialized (Modleski 1982, 11 ) . Apparentiy the fishing and car care shows drew more male audiences than fernale. The programming which provided WTN's thirty per cent entertainment included comedy (French and Saunders, Ooening. Niaht, Cornic Relief), the movie strands (Through Her Eves, Girl Movies, Herstorv, The World Film Festival, International Showcase) and British sitcorns (Birds of a Feather. No lob For a Ladv, Executive Stress), as well as music speaals. WTN's initial concern with providing " good TV" had led to the exdusion of many traditional women's genres in its first programming schedule and it also led to the predorninance of information over en tertainmen t prograrnming. For example, there were no cooking shows, home decorating shows, beauty or fashion shows and only one soap opera (a dubbed Latin Amencan soap opera caiied The Lady of the Rose). This lack of traditional women's genres was due to WTN1s response to the perceived negative impact of television on women. Susan Wcan (V.P. Programming) believes that when WTN launched there was a conscious political decision made to provide "good TV" :

When we started we did no traditional women's prograrnming . . . we did non traditional . . . . When you walk around this office (there are 44 women in this office) and someone says why don't we do a show on parenting, why don? we do a show on home decorating, and now we do those shows . . . . 1 think that there was sort of a feeling that traditional wornen's programming had in the past been a little condescending or that it was on another network .. . . 1 think that is mebut 1 don't think that the shows that we're doing are condescending or can be seen on another network because they are being produced by Canadian women. I think that is what makes thern different . . . (Millican 1996).

Linda Rankin and Barbara Barde argue that it wasn't a political decision no t to include nadi tional women's programming ; they merely wanted to provide programrning that was not on every other channel, especially since WTN was not supposed to be competing with existing broadcasters. This argument is questionable, however, since the prograrnming offered on WTN changed quite quickly after launch, to include prograrnming that was very similar to what was offered on other channels. WTN1s initial approach to women's television is very much reflective of the classic Marxist concept of ideology as " false consciousness." WTN denied women the pleasure they received from traditional women's genres because this pleasure was seen to lead to cornplacent acceptance of the messages of the patriarchal culture. Women are seen as powerless to attain any distance from the texts. This approach has been strongly criticized, as outlined in the second chapter, because it doesn't allow for the possibility of the existence of contradictory messages in the texts or for the construction of alternative meanings by the audience (White 1992, Allen 1992, Seiter 1992, Fiske 1989). Women in WTNrs focus groups (cornmissioned for the licence application) did Say that they wanted more information programming and that they didn't necessarily Like talk shows, but their responses may have been influenced by women's guilt at receiving pleasure from programming which is deemed to be escapist and unworthy of any attention ( MediaWatch 1994, Lee and Cho 1990, Brown 1994). Despite the fact that there is continuous debate amongst theorists over the impact of traditional women's genres, it is clear frorn audience studies that these genres play an important role in women's lives (Brown 1994, Radway 1984, Lee and Cho 1990, Rapping 1992). The recognition of the ways in which women use popular culture in their own stniggles over meaning has been an important step in the feminist movement. Where WTN was denying women pleasure in its programming it was however attempting to provide innovative new programming. Examples include a programme calied Writinn on the Wall which Linda Rankin describes as one of the more radical of their endeavors:

We thought nursing mothers needed time out. So one of the things we were going to do was a half-hour of turn the television off and go to sleep and just put a billboard up. Then we thought we wouldn't get away with that so we did something cailed Writing on the Wall. It was poemy and music. Our intent was at three in the afternoon you can sit down and watch this and go to sleep... We got dumped on for that programme but the five women who caled us and said it was wonderful during nursing time, [made it] worth all of the other shit... you can't do that on television (Rankin 1997). Writing on the Wall consisted of poetry text projected on walls, read by poets, with music. Another show which was equaily as "radical" was Eavesdro~~inq.Its premise was a casual discussion involving a group of women, in which the viewer was positioned as the eavesdropper on their conversation. The women involved in the discussion came from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives and they taked about issues ranging from parenting to relationships, children, work, values, aspirations and fears. People thought the show was too slow and that it had too many taiking heads. Melanie McCaig (Director of hdependent Production) thought this show was brilliant because it represented what women like to do (sit around and talk) and it showed that women have a different way of looking at the world. Other series that were unique to television included The Bubbie Break hosted by Marion Schwartz, which looked at the issues facing grandparents in their daily lives. Another was a lecture series caiîed S~eakingOur Minds, which was initiaiiy intended to be a weekly one hour feature which presented speeches by prominent women ( rnany feminists), including Gloria Steinern, Camille Paglia, Betty Friedan. Catherine McKinnon, Glenda Simms and others. Linda Rankin explained that the series didn't last because it was hard to get the rights to broadcast the speeches and they were few and far between. In the scheduie there were also two slots aiîotted to highlight the stories of visible minority women. The first was for Aboriginal prograrnrning and the only series created for the slot was storyeavers. It was hosted by Maqorie Beaucage and the purpose of the show was to present stones and perspectives of Aboriginal women. A series created for the second slot was cded Landed. It was produced by Sylvia Sweeney and feanired the experiences of immigrant women, explo~gthe impact of immigration on the farnily. None of these series made it past the first season-some only lasted a few months. They are, however, examples of the types of prograrnming which WTN promoted as exemplary women's prograrnming in its licence application. The shows presented women in a diversity of roles, they included hosts who represented a diversity of women (across race and age), they addressed issues of interest to a wide range of women, and they offered some women a voice who donTtnormaliy have access to rnainstrearn television. Besides these series, in its fxst year WTN also aired a selection of documentaries (rnany of which were NFB productions) in solidarisr with the Fourth UN Conference on Women and the NGO Forum, held in Beijing (September 19%). Films such as the Vienna Tribunal: Women's Riahts are Human Riphts, which is a record of the work done by non-governmental activists who attended the Global Tribunal on Violations of Women's Rights, which was held in June 1993 in Vienna; Sisters in the Strunnle, a black wornan's personal testimony of her dual fight against racism and sexism; Kee~ersof the Fire, profiles Canada's Native "warrior women"; By Women's Hand, a homage to three Montreai painters; Toward Intimacv, a documentary proclairning the rights of disabled women to intimate relationships. in its first year of programming WTN also foliowed through with the relationship it had developed with MediaWatch in the licence hearings, by producing a twen ty-six part series called Doubletake. Shari Graydon, who is a past president of MediaWatch and who had no previous experience as a television producer, was asked by WTN to produce an information series about the rnainstream media's portrayal of women. When Doubletake premiered in April 1996, John Doyle induded it in his "critical viewing" list in Broadcast Week (the Globe and Mail's TV guide). He argued that "WTN's programming is slowly getting stronger. . . . This new series is like Media Television with a feminist twist and it's very good" (Doyle 1996, 7). Some of the topics covered by the show induded wornen in the music industry, older women in advertising, working wornen and violence against women, as they were represented in the media. Each show interviewed women coming from a number of perspectives: women journalists, women subjects of media uiticism (actors, musicians), acadernics and women eduded from the media. One episode called "Caution: Women at Work" provided a history of how the media worked to promote or deter women's work outside the home depending on the economic environment. Despite Doubletake's criticism of the mainsneam media and advertisers, the potential threat of law suits for using footage, images or music which Graydon had not been able to obtain rights to broadcast, WTN aired the series. Shari Graydon argues, however, that this senes would not have been started in 1996 (one year after the channel was launched). By that time the channel was less willing to take risks on new producers, was requiring producers to fmd sponsorship (which would have been difficult for this series) and the channel was ais0 more adverse to controversial issues (Graydon 1996,139). 1 WUnow more thoroughly e.Yarnine WTN's "Signature Services" which officiaily represented the channel's liberal feminist political mandate and its conception of exemplary wornen's programming. The "SignatureServices" consisted of six original series which were developed to "exemplify the mission and values of Lifestyle Television [WTN] and underiine the responsibilities that women have in our cornrnunities" ( WTN Programming Highlights, 1995).45 1 wili focus specificaily on POV: Wornen and Girl Talk in this section because I feel that they are the best examples of the practical application of WTN's liberal feminist mandate into actual television prograrnrning. In the next section I will look at O~enfor Discussion. Girl Ta& is WTN's teen magazine show and it is one of the most progressive series 1 have ever seen on television. Segments are produced all over Canada, in rural and urban locations. As weil, young women are asked to send in videotapes of their own stories or rants for broadcasr. This adds a raw quality to the show, aesthetically because of the Hi-8 video and shaky camera movements, but also in the unconventional approaches to story telling. Topics on Girl Taik cover all issues that might be of interest to young women, including the arts, medical issues, sports, boys, hair, seu, employment, community activism, hornophobia, racism and sexism. One segment involved a group of young women of South Asian origin tallcing candidly in someone's Living room about the advantages and disadvantages of arranged marriages. Another segment covered a "Take Back the Night" raUy in Oakvilie. It included images of the march, interviews with feminist activists, a discussion about the root causes of violence against women in society and the conclusion for the show stated, "whether it is for human rights or better food in the cafeteria, make yourself heard." Another segment included interviews with visible minority wornen who live in small towns in northem Ontario. It involved discussions about the racism and isolation they face and about inter-racial relationships. Girl Talk offers a rare opportunity for young women to express their opinions about issues that are important in their lives. It also offers contradictory messages to those generally offered by the rnainstTeam media: young women are shown to be intelligent, assertive and concemed with other issues than their appearance and boys. in the programme's first year of broadcasting, Girl Talk drew low audience ratings. It was, however, well received criticaily; it was nominated for a Gernini in 1995, it was sold to TVOntario and Lifetime (US women's channel) expressed interest in acquiring the show in 1997. Melanie McCaig (Director of Independent Production) said that the audience figures were very disheartening, especially since the people who were watching weren't the audience that WTN was nying to attract--girls aged twelve to wenty something. According to McCaig, WTN is cornpeting for this young audience with other broadcasters like YTV (Youth Television), and WTN is just not a place where teenagers or even twenty year olds think to watch. One measure WTN tried to irnprove audience numbers was to strip the programme, which means that they aired it in a regular daily time slot. The low audience ratings meant that investors were uninterested in the programme and the independent producer (Barbara Barde, former V.P. Prograrnming) had difficulty coming up with her share of the funding for the programming--WTN usually only funds a percentage of its independent productions. For this reason, Girl Talk wasn't produced in the second season. Barde was eventually able to find funding through the Canadian govemment ( the Canadian International Development Agency [CIDA] and the Youth Employment Strategy) . With this source of funding however, Barde had to restructure the show slightly to include an international segment which involves interviews with Canadian women who are working for Canadian govemment-sponsored international development projects, as well as other women native to the city visited in the segment. The second of the "Signature Services" 1 wish to examine is POV: Women, WTN's flagship news analysis/current affairs programme which promised to present "world events as seen through women's eyes" (WTN Programming Highlights, May 1995). If, as Shirley Muir argues, O~enfor Discussion is a microcosm of the new WTN, 1 would argue that POV: Women represents the old WTN. With POV: Wornen, WTN was responding to wornen's requests in its research for an intelligent and serious treatment of issues cntical to women. The format was a one-hour studio discussion with invited guests, hosted by three women. which was broken up into five segments. Amongst the issues addressed in the segments were: women and health, women in the professions, women and politics and the women's rnovement. The rnajority of media critics reviled the show. It was too slow moving, too rnany tWgheads, too many technical problems and problems with the hosts. John Haslett Cuff wro te that " POV: Women, the so-called flagship show of this pseudo-network, has been a botch from the beginning" (Haslett Cuff 1995, 1[Cl). Corinna Schuler argued in Homemaker's Magazine that " POV ... simply didn't work. Eager to tackle women's issues that rarely get serious air time on big networks--wife beating, elder abuse, bag ladies, genital mutilation-- the show was dogged, pedantic and so deadly serious, viewers surfed away from it" (Schuler 1996. 18). In contrast to this cnticism, however, Liam Lacey writing for the Globe and Mail, suggested: "If you are trying to get a handle on contemporary women's issues, you'd need to watch WTN's POV: Women, with Sylvia Sweeney. Wednesday's show featured a panel of four wornen who plunged right into that volatile race and gender controversy. Believe it or not, this was happening TV: unpredictable, relevant to real Me, and urgent, in a way that those posnuing Point- Counterpoint political shows really aren't ... Author Susan Swan said she has been called worse narnes by other women (for asserting that gender was more complex than race) than she'd ever been caiied by chauvinistic men. Glenda Simms (President of the Advisory Council on the Status of Women) pointed out that race reaily can be more important than gender: a black woman rnight want to call the police to stop her husband from beating her but is afraid the cops might shoot her husband" (Lacey 1995,7[C]).

By the fail of 1995 POV: Wornen was replaced by Take 3. Brenda Mcintyre in the Rverson Review of Joumalism argued that it was short-sighted of WTN to change POV: Women so quickly. She felt that the programme "was a strong journalistic forum for women, one in which serious issues were debated openly and at length. But it was never given the cime to correct its many flaws. Take 3, which replaced it, is a program about women at work, at home and at play. Heavy-duty journalism it is not" (Mcintyre 1996.49). Barbara Barde argues that they replaced POV: Women simply because nobody was watching. A daily current affairs show is expensive to produce and it was hard to jus- the eupendinire with low audience numbers (Barde 1996).Linda Rankin agrees:

There was a very srnail group of people, if there were any who were kedy interested in taWg about abortion for twenty minutes ... max. five minutes on television that is absorbing. You can deal with serious issues in that period of time and people WU stay with you. But women tune out if it is ponderous or devastating over a long period of time because that is not what they sat down to watch. They sat down to have the day off their shoulders, particularly after nine o'clock ... even the feminists were not tuning in. So they [feminists] may have this idealism about what should be on television but they are not prepared to watch it, nor is anybody else for long periods of tirne ... O~enfor Discussion still manages to be an hour long drama and a half hour discussion afterwards and it pulls audience and that is because of the way it's done. The issue has to be a drarnatically presented issue, not a taiking head. Talking heads just dont cut it except for short takes (Ranh 1997).

This shift from POV: Women to Take 3 many critics saw as evidence of the larger shift in the direction of programming at WTN, from hard issue prograrnrning to softer more entertainment-oriented programming. As of June 1995 WTN was the last in the ratings race with the other Canadian English-language specialty channels, with an average audience per minute (age two +) of 6,000 compared to the top rated channel, the Sports Network at 58,000 per minute (Enchin 1995, 2[A]). Why weren't women watching "their" channel in the first few months? The negative press the channel was receiving was possibly a factor, inaccurate Neilsen ratings is another, as weii as lack of time and adequate funds necessary to present a polished look. Findly, WTN was also attempting to offer information in different formats than people were used to and in a medium that rarely snays from established genres. Linda Rankin was quoted in the Financial -Post as saying that WTN's new season would "begin changing programming to boost its audience" (Financial Post 1995, 15). Starting in April 1995 WTN graduaily began adding more traditional women's programming to its schedule. As discussed earlier, rnany factors contribui-ed to the decision to change the programming: new personnel at WTN, shareholders, the media and ratings.

The New Vision for Programming: "what women want to watch"

WTN's new vision of women's programming may be addressed by examining Shirley Muir's statement that Open for Discussion is a microcosm of WTN today. Muir's basic argument is that OH3 has succeeded in providing the information women asked for in the channel's research for i ts application. but unlike other programming which WTN developed to meet this need (for example, POV: Women), -OFD has succeeded in working wi thin the conventions of commercial television. OFD appeals to the viewers, the advertisers, and the shareholders of the channel, and these are the concems of WTN today. ûFD is composed of three elements: a made-for-TV movie or documentary, a discussion and a toll free referral service. The TV movie is one of the only traditional wornen's genres which WTN has programmed since launch. The strong informational element of this genre is seen to be the redeeming quality. TV movies are considered to be a women's genre because for the most part they address 'wornen's issues' and focus primarily on how issues impact on the family. Some of the movies that have been broadcast on WTN include: "Child's Cry" (sema1 abuse by sports instructors),"BabiesM (donor insemination), " When He's Not a Stranger" (date rape), " Goodbye,My Love" (assisted suicide). The fact that WTN chose to include this genre as part of its "Signature Services" is in teres ting given the generaliy negative cntical opinion of this genre; TV movies are seen to be trashy, sentimental and exploitive. As noted in Chapter 2, there are many contradictions inherent in this genre. For one, producers attempting to create movies that deai with senous issues must sell them through sex and violence. The genre also tends to sensationalize an issue and ignore important social or histoncal context by limiting the discussion to a personal story that can be resolved within the fdy. WTN was perhaps sensitive to these limitations and decided that women needed assistance decoding the hegemonic messages in the movie texts by providing a discussion aftenuards, which puts the Hollywood version of the issue addressed within a critical context. WTN argues that this concept for programrning 'TV movies was influenced by discussions in the focus group research conducted for its licence application. Shirley Muir explains how the format came about What they [researchers] discovered was as viewers, women view television differently. For example, when you view a movie with disturbing subject matter, like The Bumina Bed with Farah Faucett, women tend to go away from that still thinking about it for hours or days later; the images are very powerful ... Wornen felt often that they were watching this in isolation ... and really needed someone to talk about it with afterwards. As weU, what we discovered is that generaily when television viewers watch TV and they see a subject that they are interested in and they want to know more about, they don't open the yellow pages and look for the appropriate organization that deais with that subject, they cal1 the W network ... We took those two ideas and created a show called CFD... What we discovered was that right away people would cd. From the very first night we were on the air people were phoning ... Monday night they ran a show on mental iiiness and they got 270 phone caiis ... people who up until then didn't know where to phone so they phoned us (Muir 1996).

The half hour discussion costs more than the acquisition fee for the movie and it draws a quarter of the audience but Susan Millican (V.P. Programming) said that this didn't rnatter since "what we're about is doing those hdsof programmes" (Millican 1996). After the broadcast of The Burnina Bed on WTN. the discussion included: Melissa Stewart, a woman who was convicted of manslaughter for kilhg her abusive husband and sentenced to serve two years in prison46; Brenda Keyser, a criminal lawyer "who defends abusive men and also battered women"; Nellie Nipheart, a battered wornan whose husband is swing a life sentence for her attempted murder. The women in the discussion compared their expenences to the one depicted in the film, e?rposed the elements that are not neto life and brought the issue up to date. AU of the women agreed that there is Little support, even today ( this movie was fxst broadcast in l984), for women mgto escape violent relationships. Where WTN has worked to address important issues for wornen in the discussions, the channel has also succeeded in repressing potentiaily progressive discussions by insisting that its choice of guests be as unbiased as possible. As Lynne Hissey comments in her review of an episode of -OFD that dealt with pornography, the discussion after the movie had the potential of being "a discussion likely to tackle the complex, difficult, and occasionaily acrimonious ferninist debates around the issue" but because the panel discussion included a Christian anti- pornographer and two women involved in the porn industry, it led to a discussion that was " reduced to a simple and moralistic pro- and con-disagreement" ( Hissey 1995, 2 7). This treatment of issues, she argues, is typical of mainstrearn media and she expected more from WTN. If WTN had selected an anti-poverty activist for example, instead of an anti-pornographer to participate in the discussion it could have addressed more complex issues. The breaks in the broadcast of The Burning Bed were also used to provide statistics about domestic violence and the call centre workers referred people to organizations across the country who could provide callers with information or assistance.47 Looking at the number of calls received this is obviously an important service that WTN is providing and ic is doubtful whether the tirne and energy it took to develop this service would have been spent by another broadcaster. Even without the discussion after the movies, the movie-of-the- week genre presents an opportunity to reach huge groups of people with progressive messages. in 198 1, the TV rnovie Ca~ne~and Lacey (later developed into a TV series), which contained overtly feminist subject matter, puiied 42% audience share for CBS in the US (D'Acci 1994, 72). Ln October 1984, 75 million American viewers tuned in for the frst broadcast of The Burnina Bed and it becarne the fourth- highest-rated TV movie ever shown ( Rapping 1992, xxviii). Elayne Rapping argues that The Burning Bed had political significance because many women have been positively affected by the rnediation of this film in their lives (Rapping 1992, xxviü). A documentary about domestic violence definitely would not reach the same size audience that The Burning Bed had achieved. Despite the potential of the TV movie, implicit in Muir's argument for the importance of the genre as a means of reaching women with information, is an acceptance that within the confines of commercial television there is room only for the discussion of critical issues of concern to women within certain formats. WTN1s enthusiasm for this programme is perhaps motivated more by its appeal to advertisers than the information interests of the audience.

The shift in vision for WTN1sprogramming, from "for wornen, by women and about wornen," to providing programming that "women want to watch," Susan Millican (V.P. Programming) justifies in the foiiowing way: "1 don't see it as my job to tell women what it is they should watch. It is rny job to supply programming that we have leamed from Our experience that wornen want to watch. 1 think this is what has changed since Our inception" (Millican 1996).This argument sounds progressive and much Like the socialist ferninist arguments about the importance of validating women's preferences, yet the programming WTN offered was for the most part similar to that offered on other channels. WTN's research for its application stated that women didn't feel that e-xisting programmùig was meeting their needs. Mi of the new prograrnming also appealed more to advertisers and was more conducive to advertiser involvement. The programming became more entertaining, less controversial and less diverse in the topics and in the hosts. So what is it that WTN believes women want to watch? Starting in its second season (October 1995) new infoxmation and entertainment programming included home decorating and renovation shows, ta& shows, lifestyle programmes, cooking shows, fashion and Arnerican sitcoms. WTN had initialiy shied away from Arnerican syndicated series in its effort to provide alternatives. hstead it aired British series that were new to Canada. In April 1995 however, WTN acquired Kate and Aliie. The Maw Tvler Moore Show, and Rhoda and by Decernber, 1995, Marv Tvler Moore and Rhoda were amongst WTN's rnost popular shows. In the fall of 1996, the channel added That Girl, Cagney and Lacey. Laveme & Shirley, Moonliahtllig, and Silk Stalkings to the schedule. In terms of the representation of women in these series, the combination is interesting since in many ways they contradict each other. Both MaqTyler Moore and Camey and Lacey are considered classics of American TV, as weli as prime examples of the influence of "second wave" feminism on television programming. Mary Tvler Moore, which ran seven seasons on CBS ( 1970 to 1977), is argued to have been the first working-woman sitcom which asserted that women did not merely work as a prelude to marriage and that women could be just as satisfied by work as men presurnably are (Dow 1996, 21). Mary was a woman in her thirties who lived alone, had a career and was not especially concemed about finding the perfect man to rnarry. Many episodes of the series dealt with feminist issues such as sexual harassment. That Girl (ran from 1966 to 1971 in the US), a senes which preceded Mary Tyler Moore, was also about a single working-wornan but Anne-Marie was the exact opposite of Mary. She was an indecisive, absent-minded and had to be protected by her father and boyfriend. She was trying to fmd work as an actress but was more than anythmg waiting until she could marry her boyfriend and settle down. Cagnev and Lacev, which ran from 1982 to 1988 in the United States, is argued to have been no t only the first dramatic programme in TV history to star two women as the main protagonists but the series also "daredto go where no program had gone before (or has gone since)-that is, intrepidiy into the temtory of feminism, to a degree unmatched on prime tirne" (D'Acci 1994, 5, 142). The characters were policewomen who were strong , independent, non- glamorous, smart, very rarely in need of rescuing, and they both came from working-class backgrounds. The content of the show was also very much influenced by early liberal feminist issues. The other more recently produced cop show acquired by WTN is calied Sik StaIkings. The only criterion 1can imagine that WTN used to determine whether this show was appropriate for the channel was whether or not there was a lead female character. This show follows two detectives (one male, one female) on their investigations into " high profrle crimes of passion." This area of police investigation allows for an increased amount of graphic sexual violence and nudity. The promotional tag line for the show on WTN, "dangerously beautiful women, wickedly wealthy men" reinforces old stereotypes about gender roles in society. The show is full of sexually objectified women: the female officer dresses in high heels and tight oud%tsand she usually has to be rescued by her partner, and beach scenes always include close-up shots of wornen's bodies in bikinis. The ways in which entertainment programming, such as the above mentioned, function politically is that "they offer visions of what feminism means." This packaging of alternative ideology (feminism) by mainsueam television serves as part of the hegemonic processes of television. Where these shows address ferninist issues they also work "to limit, undermine or contradict its power" (Dow 1996,5, 21). Marv Tvler Moore may be independent and work outside the home but in the office she is constructed as the mother figure who nurtures the other characters, resolves disputes, etc. Thus, while wornen's roles didn't change. the location did. The media use ferninist ideas to promote its own interests. This, Bonnie Dow argues, involves a conflation between feminist identity and ferninist politics in the media, with the result being that the focus is placed on lifestyle questions rather than political ones (Dow 1996, 2 13).For example, characters are held up as feminist role models when their only real comection to ferninist principles is their independence. They are not interested in fighting for social justice; they are interested in their own personal advancement and the ability to make their own purchasing decisions. Other new prograrnming increasingly involved and prorno ted traditional representations of beauty which also tie beauty to consumer spending. The channel acquired Video Fashion in April 1996, then Planet Fashion (September 1996), Flare TV (October 1996) and The Beautv Guide ( April 1997). The latter two are created by independent producers for WTN. Flare is a Toronto women's fashion magazine and Flare TV is produced to represent many of the same elements as the magazine. The show includes make-overs, nuiway segments, interviews with super models and advertiser- sponsored segments for such products as perfume, designer clothing and water purification systems. Some of the information acquired from The Beauty Guide (ashow about beauty, fimess and fashion) included the importance of having regular manicures, the need for women to always Wear clothes that have a strong ferninine quaiity to them, the recognition that accessories are extremely important and that women should Wear plastic bags over their hands at night, and socks on their feet, so that their skin won't dry out. They also recornrnended professional footcare since their feet will hurt from wearing high heels. An increasing number of shows also tie women's interests to the home and women's traditional roles within the family. Debbie Travis' Painted House, a programme about home decorating is WTN1s most popular Canadian series. A programme cded Images of Home takes the viewer into very expensive homes in order to talk about decorating ideas, and another Inside Designer Homes shows you how to decorate your home like a designer home but at a fraction of the cost. Cooking shows were prograrnmed frorn April 1996 and included amongst others, the Backvard Grill and Bonnie Stern Cooks (now Bonnie Stem Entertains). in the fali of 1998 WTN is also launching its newest daily magazine show, Weekdav, which is a lifestyle show where the hosts and audience will "share knowledge and great ideas about family, food, the home, fashion, beauty, travel, decorating and enterzainrnent" ( promotional information). Taik shows are another genre which WTN argues women want to watch. Many of the tak shows the charnel offers celebrate celebrily culture: Lauren Hutton, Barbara Walters: Interviews of a metirne and Linehan (started March 1997). Other talk shows offer some of the regular day-tirne fare with studio audiences, such as The Best of Shirlev (Canadian) and Vanessa (British) but they tend to be less sensationalist than other day-time shows. For WTN's new season, the show that is advertised on the cover of the WTN Magazine (September/October 1998). is the al new Donnv and Marie one hour day-time talk show. It is listed as one of the channel's favourites from its fall line-up. Elaine Ali (President) is quoted in the magazine as saying that the channel wanted to do something different, something that would amact attention. The show is going to offer "a fast paced hour of celebris. interviews, entertainment news, humour and music" ( WTN Magazine, September/October 1998,2).The new biography series, Intimate Portrait, WTN acquired from Lifetime (US women's channel) for the 1998 season continues the focus on celebrity culture. It features one hour portraits of celebri ties including Marilyn Monroe, Bette Midler, Jackie Onassis and Cybill Shepherd. It also offers portraits of less well-known wornen like Maya Angelou and Josie Natori. Carolyn Bronstein argues this series celebrates "corporate and institutional culture while paying little attention to wornen's experiences within those structures" (Bronstein 1994-1995, 23 3). Bronstein offers the example of Josie Natori, FiLipina lingerie-maker; instead of e.Yarnining issues of race and class the episode presented Natori as "the hero of Arnerîcan capitalism: the 'self-made millionaire"' (Bronstein 1994-1995, 2 3 3 ). A new theme block of programming started in January 1998. "Romance Sundays" offers more biographies of famous celebrities, as weil as providing another element which has been traditionally considered a preoccupation of women: romance. The romance starts at 3:30 P.M. with a series cailed Great Romances of the 20th Cenhw, which involves half hour biographies of famous couples like "Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor", "George VI and the Queen Mother", "Nicholas and Ale4xandra","Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini." The last show of the day is Leading Ladies which starts at 8:00 P.M. In May and June 1998 Leadinn Ladies and Herstory featured a series of documentaries called "Men We Love" which included documentaries about farnous male Hollywood actors. Ali of the programmes on Sundays celebrate heterosexual relationships and are predominantly concemed with white celebrities. Advertisers are very interested in this type of programming because of its happy, non-connoversial environment. In fact, at Lifetime (US women's channel), Bristol-Myers (national manufacturer of over-the-counter cold and cough medicine) created and owned outright a very similar series to Great Romances which was cded In the Name of Love. By the winter of 1996 WTN's ratings had increased dramatically. The top shows in October 1996 were Marv Tyler Moore, Leading Ladies, Moonlighting; and the Sundav Niaht Sex show.4 The channel argued in its promotionai material that "According to the Neilsen ratings service, amongst women 18 years and older, WTN is the #1 specialty service with women ail day, everyday, seven days a week." And furthemore, "WTN is the fastest growing new specialty service in Canada. in fact, WTN's audience has grown 133% since last fail and 300% since their launch in January 1995" ( WTN news release October 1996). Ln examinhg the changes in the programming it is clear that there are many new assumptions being made about the WTN viewer: she is middle-class, heterosexual, Caucasian, interested in entertaining, cooking, romance, celebrity lives and fashion. The types of programming that WTN is airing also appeal more to advertisers than its original programming. The programming is non-controversial, happy and promotes quality consurnerism. As of October 1997, there is no longer a current affairs programme on the channel. Take 3, which had evolved from POV: Women, WTN's first attempt at current affairs programming, was cancelled. Despite the fact that Take 3 didn't allow for the kind of in-depth analysis of an issue that POV: Women had, it did however showcase the lives of interesting Canadian wornen and it was able to deal with issues that are of concern to Canadian wornen in a serious manner. The hosts were Kit Redmond and Jennifer Rattray ( Helen Hutchinson was also a host for a time). An example of an episode broadcast on October 30, 1996, induded a "mentor segment" which showcased the work of Lilian McGregor, the elder in residence at the University of Toronto's First Nations' House. Another segment looked at the increase in numbers of women leaming to play golf in order to attain the same kind of networking opportunities that men have in the business world. A third section called "focal point" looked into the debate around new reproductive technologies. There was also a section of " sneeters" where people were asked what they thought of the "business of making babies," another section on relationships, which looked at "touch therapy" and the show concluded with an interview with Doris Anderson (founder of Chatelaine Magazine) about her autobiography Re bel Daughter. Take 3 was the flagship current affairs show for WTN and as part of the "Signature Services" was supposed to represent what WTN was ail about. It was 100%funded by WTN and produced by Barbara Barde (former V.P. Programming, now independent producer) in Toronto. In the interviews with decision rnakers at WTN I was repeatedly told that the channel was committed to producing this show. and others arnongst the "Signature Services" such as Girl Tdk and Jane Taber's Ottawa. The fact that these programmes didn't draw huge audiences or advertisers, they argued, didn't matter. The recent cancellation of Take 3 (October 1997) and Jane Taber's Ottawa (Summer 1997) bring s that whole argument into question however. When I informally spoke to Melanie McCaig about the canceilation of Take 3, she told me that the major factor in its canceilation was low audience ratings. WTN had tried various scheduling tactics to amact larger audiences but they failed. Jane Hawtin Live!, an independent production commissioned by WTN, is the show that is supposed to fil1 the gaps in the schedule left by Take 3. Jane Hawtin Live! is a talk show described in WTN publicity material as "an alternative to local news." It is a one hour programme which includes in-depth discussions with guests on a story of the day, as ivell as an audience call-in component. It is an inexpensive programme to produce since the entire show is videotaped in a studio and broadcast iive. It is cumently broadcast at 7:00 P.M. and repeated at noon the following day. The daily topics on the show range fkom celebrity interviews ( Mary Tyler Moore was interviewed about her autobiography in a live show broadcast from New York City), to issues like gender bias in medicine, inter-racial niamages, eating disorders, "whether fear is threatening access to abortion" and " should homosexuals be protec ted under the provincial human rights codes?" Sometirnes the discussions cmbe very informative and inspiring, as in the episode on September 19, 1997, which dealt with Street prostitution. Prostitutes (who are very rarely given a voice on national television), were given an opportunity to tell their stories. Two of the guests were former prostitutes and are now advocates for prostitutes' rights and the two other guests were young male prostitutes aged fourteen and eighteen. This group was able to discuss with a Liberal MP and a police officer from the BC prostitution unit the problems with developing programmes to help prostitutes which do not directly involve prostitutes in the planning process. In other discussions the choice of guests led to an unproductive discussion, as was the case with the show dealing with abortion ( November 18, 1997).The guests included a representative from an anti-choice group, a doctor who performs abortions and a social worker who was stalked by an anti-choice activist. This show does offer discussion on current affairs but it couldnlt be considered a replacement for Take 3. With the changes from POV: Women to Take 3, as well as the change between the two versions of Girl Talk, carne change in the representation of diversity on the channel in terms of the hosts. Ln the first year of programming WTN's attempt to represent ethnic diversity and diversity in ages of women was more obvious than it is today. On POV: Women the hosts included Helen Hutchinson, an older white woman; Sylvia Sweeney, a middle-aged black woman and Jeanette Loakrnan, a young Asian woman. On Girl Taik the hosts included three young women: Denosh Bennett and Saroja Coeiho, who are both from visible rninority groups and Larissa Bengay, a white woman. On Take 3, the current affairs show that replaced POV: Women and recently on Girl Tak the hosts are ali white women. When 1 questioned Linda Rankin (former President of WTN) about the contradictions between statements in the application about the importance of diversity and the actual representation of diversity on the network she said, "maybe they are white [hosts] but they are still real people, not ta11 blond and unreachable, theyfrekind of cozy. The hosts have been chosen because they are good hosts, because they have done their job reaiiy well, not because they are white ..." (Rankin 1997). This argument seems to imply that it is unnecessary to actively recruit qualified people from visible minority groups. Where WTN has decreased the number of hosts from the fou designated groups, the number of male hosts on the channel has inaeased. WTN brought Brian Linehan back to television after a seven year absence, with his weekly celebrity interview show. And WTN recently launched (March 1998) a new gardening/travel show cailed The Earth's Garden, which is hosted by Ken Beattie. There are also male CO-hostson Flare TV, Herbal Primer, LifeStyle, Concrete Jungle and DOMV and Marie. It is not problematic that there are men on a women's channel but it is questionable that there are more male hosts than a diverse rnix of female hosts. Donna Holgate, a CO-hoston WTN1s new daily lifestyle magazine show Weekda~,was according to the WTN Magazine the first black woman in Canada ever to host her own daiiy, nationaily televised show, which was produced for the Life Network in 1997 ( WTN Magazine September/ October 1998,8). There is obviously vasr inequities for women from visible minority groups in tems of representation on television. One of the reasons the CRTC gave for licencing WTN was that the channel prornised to offer more female on-air hosts, experts and cornmentators. When there are stîll so few women who host programming and act as e.xperts on mainsneam television, having men host its shows seems to contradict WTN1s initial goals. Even though these shows are not necessarily considered to be attractive to a male audience, the only reason 1 can imagine for WTN to actively remit male hosts, is to appeal tu a wider "qualityaudience" which includes men. Critics argue that one of the major factors in determining who is being included in WTNrs category 'women,' is whether or not a representation is deemed to be profitable or not. Julia Creet argues that "The absence of signs of lesbianism quite clearly demarcated the limits of what WTN has decided is a profitable representation of 'Woman"' (Creet l995,41). Lynne Hissey writes that she expected WTN "would act as a forum for those women largely excluded and marginalized in mainstrearn television: women of colour, women of age, lesbians, disabled women and poor women, for exampie" but that she was deeply disappointed since WTN, in her view, hadn't made an attempt to effect change in this regard (Hissey 1995,26). Whether or not it is necessary for all people to see themselves represented on television or whether this is even an achievable goal is debatable. It is obvious though that as a social justice issue women (in ali their diversi ties) should participate in media production. While women's participation may also lead to an increase in the perspectives offered, the fact that there are women hosting shows on television doesn't mean that these people will be interested or even able to address political issues in their programmes. WTN did, however, in its licencing application promise to reflect di women on its channel but since commercial television has by and large faded to enlarge the diversity of representation in Canada, perhaps it is unrealistic to expect WTN to succeed where other broadcasters have largely failed. Besides Jane Hawtin! and Girl Talk there does remain other feminist and political prograrnming on WTN, but today it is no longer found in series, except for sporadic segments or episodes. It is now typicaily found in documentaries, in short public service announcements ( PSAs) and in fund-raising drives. For example, the channel recognizes international Wornen's Day, Black History Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month through PSAs and speaal programming. On the documentary strand Hot To~ics,Nms like The Last Harvest and Under Wra~sare regularly seen. The Last Harvest is dîrected by a Japanese-Canadian woman and is the story of her farnily's internent during World War II. Under Wram is an NFB documentary about societal attitudes towards menstruation (WTN was the only national broadcaster interested in acquiring this film). On Girl Movies the NFB documentary Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stones of Lesbian Lives, was broadcast in July 1996. The main carneraperson for the channel, Christie Leonard, initiated a series of PSAs which are titled "Just a Minute." The hosts are children and they cornmunicate progressive messages. For example, one involved a young Asian-Canadian girl who talked about the importance and relevance of math to daily life. On April4, 1998, Mini Holmes, host of the WTN comedy show She's So Funnv, heid a gala benefit performance marking the 25 th anniversary of Interval House, Canada's first women's shelter. The performance, which involved Canadian woman cornedians, was broadcast live from the SkyDorne Hotel in Toronto and viewers were asked to cal1 in and make donations to shelters across Canada through a toii free number.

Shirley Muir's analogy of Open for Discussion as a rnicrocosm of WTN viewed one way implies that the channel, like the TV movie genre, is willing to compromise the information it is providing women in order to draw large audiences and advertisers. This chapter has demonstrated that the shift in vision for women's programming at WTN is evidence of a drive to meet the bottom iine rather than a commitment to providing programming which might affect social change and be of interest to a diversity of women. WTN1s seemingly progressive assertion that it is merely interested in providing women with programming that they want to watch is not followed up by a continued commitment to creating alternatives to programming offered on other channels. WTN cancelled the majority of its prograrnming which chdenged dominant ideology and offered alternative consmxtions of femllunity. Today, WTN is more Uely to acquire old syndicated American series, entertainment taîk shows such as DOMYand Marie and commission Mestyle programming such as Weekdav, because advertisers are cornfortable being associated with these types of programmes. Shirley Muir's analogy viewed another way however, wi thin the context of Elayne Rapping's analysis of the TV movie genre, can be seen as the channel merely acknowledging that a watered down feminist message is better than no message at ail: "to work in TV, compromises and seil outs notwithstanding, is to participate in a powerful national discourse that few 'high art' forms offer" (Rapping 1992,42 ) . To reach women with critical information that is needed and sought after, which is what O~enfor Discussion and WTN have generally accomplished, is extremely diffkult to achieve through O ther means, such as wornen's organizations, the alternative press, and independent film, aii of which have Limited funding and reach. Despite this acknowledgement it is still important to keep reminding WTN of its promises to provide wornen, in al1 of their diversities, with representations which offer alternatives to mauistrearn images. CONCLUSION

1s the licencing of a women's television channel the best way to correct the inadequacies of the representation of women in television? Two key feminist issues are the focus of this problematic: the stmggle for equal access to employment in the media industry and the struggle over hegemonic constructions of 'woman' and fernininity . With regard to the first part of the problematic, one of the pillars of the liberal feminist approach to the media is that an increase of women in decision-making positions necessarily leads to an increase in opportunities for women in the industry. WTN strongly argued to 'the CRTC that it rnattered that women were involved in the production process ("it matters who makes it"). Over WTN's near four year broadcasting his tory, i t is clear that a women's channel has provided many more opportunities for women than rnight have been available without the channel: opportunities for independent filmmakers, producers. writers. technical staff and administrators. The work of PVTN's Foundation has the potential of making a positive contribution to encouragîng women's careers in the technical sides of the industry. The Foundation also States that "it will place particular emphasis on prornoting women of colour, First Nations wornen and women with disabilities" (The WTN Foundation Inc. pamphlet, 1996). This commitment to promoting a diversity of women was also present in WTN's licence application; however, from my discussions with key decision makers 1 have no reason to believe that this remains a concem. WTN's commitment to diversity is an important issue because the channel promised the CRTC that it would be a television channel for nll wornen and that it would represent a(l women. Rita Devereu (V.P. Production at Vision TV) stated in an interview for the accompanying video that if you don't specifically encourage diversity you won? get diversity: "you can't get out what you dont put in" (Deverell 1998). According to Devereu, Vision TV, Canada's national multi-faith, non-profit television nenvork, which doesn't profess to be women's television or visible rninority television, has gender diversity and cultural diversity at the core of its mandate. She argues that as the Senior Producer of Vision TV's daily programme, Skvli~ht,she very purposely constmcts the tearn of people who work on the show to reflect a whole number of diversities: race, age, se.wal orientation, faith, culture and class. in tems of the ideological representation of women, liberal feminists argue that the presence of wornen in decision-making positions in mainstrearn television necessarily leads to progressive changes in the discourses of gender offered in the teuts. As was show in WTN's case, many groups influence decisions on the prograrnming broadcast on WTN: staff at the channel, shareholders, advertisers, ratings industry, audience and media. Therefore, the women in key decision-making roles at WTN are only one part of a larger entity that determines the content of the programming. Furthermore, not al1 wornen are concemed with providing prograrnming which challenges dominant ideology. But as Julia D'Acci concludes in her study of the American poiice drama series Cagnev and Lacev, although one of its creators, Barbara Corday, tasabout the difficulties women face in trying to change television from within, "the involvernent of many wornen and feminists in the production of Cagnev and Lacev had a considerable impact on the series and its possibiiities for feminism" (D'Acci 1994, 207). This is also hie of WTN. Progressive projects like the database for referring calers developed for Open for Discussion, the training programme for inmates, the Foundation, as well as the programrning which has promoted wornen's film and video talent and allowed women's voices and concems to be heard. are all evidence of the impact of womenrs involvement in the creation and operation of WTN. In WTNrs first programrning schedule the channel attempted to provide progressive, feminist, alternative prograrnming, in order to offer positive role models and decrease sex-role stereotyping. Based on Liberal feminist arguments about the direct negative effects of the sexist messages in traditional women's genres, WTN chose to exclude feeminine genres (soap operas. tak shows, fashion). After only a few months of broadcasting, however, the channel's vision for women's television changed. The programming decisions became primarily driven by economic goals rather than a desire to effect social change. Socialist feminist concerns about the limited possibilities for effecting social change simply by urging wornen to enter into the commercial television industry, without altering socio-econornic structures and power relations, have proven to be well founded (van Zoonen 1996, Kaplan 1992).When I asked Susan MUican (V.P. Programming),at the end of WTN's second year of broadcasting, what her vision of WTN was for the years to corne. she replied:

We want to be the channel women turn to when they want to watch television. Right now Our irnrnediate goal is to get Our numbers up. We would like to have 30,000 people watching every afternoon. We want to have 50,000 people watching at night and 75,000 people on Saturdays and Sundays. We are already close to that goal because our ratings have gone up so significantly (Susan Millican 1996).

WTN today, has become more like the women's channel in the United States ( Lifetime). As Carolyn Bronstein argues, whereas channels like Lifetime, " increase the variety of programs available to the television audience, it is less clear that they offer ciramatic diversity regarding dominant political or ideological assump tions and beliefs" (Bronstein 1994-1995, 234). My examination of WTN's texts demonstrates that the messages offered on WTN are occasionaiiy feminist and chalienging of dominant ideoiogy but overail the programming offers messages that perpetuate hegemonic consmctions of gender. The commercial television industxy is heaviiy controiled by market demands and this fact necessariiy results in the creation of strong preferred messages that perpeniate women's ties to consumerism, a certain beauty ideal and promote certain "ferninine" interests. Such messages are all produced in the interests of capitalism and indusuy. It is clear that the social and political concerns of the licence application are not as central as they once seemed to be. 1s it WTN's responsibility to provide "good TV" (which liberal feminists argue involves 'realistic' and positive representations of women)? Many feminis t media theoris ts today, influenced by cultural studies and poststructuralism, argue that mainstream TV is not necessarily "bad" for women. In other words, audiences are producers of meaning and women receive pleasure from traditional women's genres partly because there are multiple meanings offered in these texts (Fiske 1989, Radway 1984, Brown 1994, hg1996). Television is one of the central sites at which the negotiation over hegemonic constructions of gender take place but women construct their gender identities from the multitudes of discourses available throughout society. The preferred messages the media offer are very powerful, however and it is still important that feminists continue to advocate for diversity and alternatives in wornen's representation. The licencing of a women's television channel in Canada provided an exciting opportunity through which to explore the debates in feminist media theory, as weli as an opportuniS. to examine the practicd applications of feminist theory in the context of the commercial television industry. There are no clear-cut conclusions to be made from my research, 0th- than that the licencing of the Women's Television Network exposed flaws in the liberal feminist approaches to the media and created many paradoxes and conmadictions in the charnel's relationships to feminism and commercial television. Despite all of the compromises the channel feels it musc make, the e.xistence of a women's channel in the Canadian television landscape has allowed for increased participation of women (although not necessarily all wornen) in a powerful national discourse. APPENDIX A

Carole Gets a TV a documentary treatment

A video exploration into the feminist debates about "women's television" and its impact on the construction of gender identity.

The documentary begins with Carole pacing back and forth in her bamen apartrnent an.xiously awaiting the delivery of her new television. Carole ( fic tionai character ) is a young woman who, after feeling excluded from the passionate discussions around the water cooler at work about the latesi developments on the Y&R and the newest wonder beauty products, has decided that in order to participate socially with her coileagues she must take the leap and buy her first W. This stor-y is about what happens to Carole after she gets a TV. The purpose of this fictional character in the documentaq is to represent a liberal feminist approach to the media which views mainstream television, with its sex-role stereotypes and limited portrayals of women, as having a direct, negative impact on a passive audience. When Carole's television arrives she sits down to watch "women's programrning."Throughout the documentary we return to Carole and each time she is graduaily transformed from her book-reading, natural-looking, feminist origins. Around her appear more and more of the products she has purchased because she saw them advertised on television. Are women directly affected by the television they watch? WU a women's television channel affect the discourses of gender offered on mainsueam television? Interviews with four 'experts' and the fernale TV watcher on the Street, explore the other sides to the debate. The experts includc: feminist media theorist, Ien Ang, feminist media critic Julia Creet, Director of Independent Production at the Women's Television Network, Melanie McCaig and Vice President of Production at Vision W.Rita Devereii. The documentary ends with Carole becorning "TV woman." She is seen on television in elaborately coiffed hair, bold makeup and glamourous clothing, selling a wonder cosmetic produc t.

Targie t audience

This video would be most useful in a classroom setting (university or high school) to assist in the exploration of the debates in feminist media studies and cultural studies, about the effects of media consumption on the construction of gender identity. Women's groups might also be interested. Background Information

The concept for this video was developed through the research 1 conducted for my MA thesis titled, "Srnart, Confident, Yet Ferninine": Paradoxes and Contradictions in Women's Television. A case study of WTN. This documentary is an attempt to present, in a visual format, some of the theoretical issues I address in my thesis, with the goal of making the ideas more accessible to a larger audience. Interview subjects were chosen for their contributions to the discussion about women and the media. Melanie McCaig, the Director of Independent Production at WTN (Toronto),provides the liberal feminist perspective of the Women's Television Network. Rita Deverell was asked to participate for her perspective as a highiy experienced media professional and for her writing on women, diversity and the media (TWIFT 1991). DevereU has worked as an actor, she was the Director of the Regina School of Journalism and she is currently the V.P. of Production and a host, at Vision TV in Toronto. Ien Ang is a weil-respected feminist media theonst who has written many books and articles on wornen and the media, including Des~eratelvSeeking the Audience ( 1991) and "Gender and/in Media Consumption" (Mass Media in Society, 1996). She is currently a Professor at the University of Western Sydney in Australia. 1 was able to conduct the interview with her when she gave a guest lecture at York University in March 1998. Julia Creet is a feminist media critic who wrote an article on the Women's Television Network for Borderlines Magazine, titled " Watching WTN: The Woments Television Network purports to be for women, by wornen, and about women. 1s it?" (December 1995).She is also a professor in the English Department at York University. Carole Nelson. the actor in the documentary, is a singer/songwriter and poet. She also works in the media industry as a make-up artist. Structure: Carole Gets a TV

* please note that this was a working structure and does not final video struc tue. audio Defining Women's Television Programming graphic-the de bate continues amongst feminists: how is television impacting on wornen's identities? MS Carole pacing- "1 Am Wornan" - Helen Reddy

door bel1 sounds

audio: " your TV ma'am" title empty chair- C. walks in sits down turns TV on ( aero bics) 1 reverse shot- 1 changing channels -nail polish ad STREETERS [OO:2O:5 41 My favourite TV shows that what are 1 like to watch ... Xena. Simbad [young Yom black woman #15] favourite [00:23:07] Really I can't even Say that TV there is a favourite [white woman-ring shows? in nose ++ 161 [OO:O7:3 61 The British cornedies and the British dramas are what we watch rnost [white woman 50s $11 [OO: 11:s 7 Jemy Springer, 902 10, Melrose Place [young bik. woman # 111 [OO: MO31 1 like to watch Vision TV, WTN.. [South-Asian woman # 121 [00:09:44] discovery for the animal shows Wheel of Fortune- [white woman 60s # 101 [OO: 13:3 51 Law and Order, Late Night with Conan O'Brian.. 1 watch ER.. the news [two young white women # 31 Melanie Mc Caig [03:00:46:00] 1 think our mandate line is the best first description to start with; programming for women by women and about women... [03:08:54] frtvourite Canadian series -decorating, repair, cooking, garden. Ien hg [O2:O4: 181 I always find it more interesting if it is about women but not for women, for women but not about women.. . Julia Creet [02:20:30] They started this network because of a gap in terms of programming - filling with things already on TV - no increase in diversity of women. Nta Devereil [Oq: l%O2 -04: 19:s 71 Whether the wornenfs movement is open to ail women is always something that is up for debate... race.. and gender must be specially encouraged.. Ien Ang [O1:10:15 - 01:11:08] We can't generalize so much. One of the pro blems.. tendenc y to homogenize this huge category of women as one audience which is of course not the case at dl. Link Between Gender and Genre Carole painting "the problem started on our honey toes-watching moon Saiiy" - domestic violence Saily Jessy reverse -zoom into L'Oreal le grand curl, old movie, TV screen hairtastic, Joan Rivers "I starve mvself" [0:08:05] Oh very definitely. My 1s there a daughter and 1 like to watch what we difference caU " girly movies" ... husband sports between [# 11 what [O: 13: 131 No t between me and my male wornen fnends. You always here there are and men differences ... I like to watch a bit of like to sports X 3 [two young white wornen] watch on [0:28:39] probably 1 fmd that men like TV? to watch the dramas, the comedy shows don? hold much appeal... [# 5 Asian woman in 30s] [0:03:02] When it cornes to sports 1 guess. Some men could watch sports ail day (man taking) [# 8 couple] [0:07:311 If it is a love story men don't want to watch [#9 white crossing gwdl [l Oh yeah, definitely. Men rather see more sports and news. Women more into drama and soap ops. Me and my bovfriend we have to have two TVs. Ien Ang [O l:OO:37] There is a history of feminist concerns about wornen and media.. especially since the second wave feminist rnovernent. [l:Ol:3 81 So the interest with women and gender and genre was very much developed within feminisrn from the point of view - gender differences.. second thing need to recognize specificities. [O 1:02:06:23] What has happened from the 70s onwards..sole focus on gender and genre unproductive the moment it becarne the sole concern r1:02:341 Julia Creet [2:17:01] 1 don't think there is a link between gender and genre. Women's TV programming to me seems Like an oxymoron. (Cut sentences) I'm not sure you can target programming to a particular gender. WTN 60% women, 40% men. Impact of Television on Women [00:01:23] Role models on television ... 1 Who do couldn't really Say. you see as [OO: 12:181 The anchor ladies.. used to positive be always men. role [05:35:05] 1 don't think Aii McBeal is a rnodels on ferninist role model - Horner Simpson TV? is your role model (#8couple) [OO: lO:3 81 Demy Petty, she's a role

L mode1 I like her. (#IO) CU pan across add vacuum noise/TV noise 1 products on table -vacuum in front reverse shot Silk S talkings. fashion runway, MTM, Carole vacuuming cleaning, Ali McBeal - -. .- -- .- - - - Carole vacuuming soap - "we're having a baby" 1 one foot on chair 1 -reacting to show

1 CU of Carole's face Creet that the impact of television on identity is completely straight fonvard. I don't think that it's you show this and people will autornaticaiiy conform. ELlen.. 1don't want to be that.. distinguishing between fantasy and reality Creet [3:25:5 11 might Say important to have black ... and les bian charac ters, only s tereo types- only thing the medium cmsustain. [00:16:23] For myself I don't take cues from television .. .depends on who the affect women are (two yng. wht. women # 3) wornen [00:27:50] rnany images of in a overachieving beautiful women.. negative difficult for women to get a sense of way? what normalcy is (wht. woman 40s #4) [0:20:48] If you watch Baywatch too much you probably have a view of women that is quite distorted # 14 [00:30:03] not really because TV is just entertainment. Don't take it seriouslv. Ien Ang [O1:1 l:O8 - 01:11:56:29] This notion of victims is part of the dominant discourse.. notion of powerful media as harrnful.. aii media studies work hasn't led to a deconstruction of that dominant discourse at all. Melanie McCaig [Os: 13:30] CRTC application we spoke about perspective ..women aren't given a voice on TV.. [04:04:08] It is very important who makes the programme ... you can't get out what you don? put in. [04:07:35 - 04:08:11] if you are not in the picture you don't count .. diversity of human kind on Skvlinht important for rep. on screen and how we make decisions [O4:OS:S 21 1 don? think thaî gender is the only factor that connibutes to what's important about a programme. graphic: Does Carole get a TV or does TV get Carole? pan across hear Carde's voice on television but products on table - canno t see her no Carole reverse shot - slow zoom into Carole on TV selling product Credits corne up Madonna- " Material Girl" over white Dramatic Shoot in Sound Studio: Carole Gets a TV

Segment 1

SHOT 1 props: old chair, coffee table, TV stand. TV guide, books cos turne: Caroie wears overalis, no shoes, hair is messy, no make- UP camera position A (camera behind TV, top of TV in bottom of frame) - opening shot- MWS. est. shot (tighter than shot 2) of set - Carole walks through frame ( pacing) from camera right, turns, leaves frame camera right - camera pans down to books on TV stand-> pans across books

special lighting: need to light books

SHOT 2 camera position C (camera off to side of TV, behind) - Carole pacing (back and forth a few times) cfi-E [door beii sound-added in post] - walks out of frame [voice says "your new TV rnaJam"- added in post]

new props: TV, VCR, TV box TV goes on TV stand - jump cut of Carole sitting in chair watching TV *TV takes up 2/3 of frame* audio: workout programme SHOT 3

carnera position B (reverse, over the shoulder, POV) - Carole's head and shouider in left corner of frame - She has rernote control in hand and is flicking channels - camera zooms to CU of TV images of women's programming ( pre-edited tape in VCR)

Segment 2

SHOT 1 pro p s: bottles of household cleaners. hairîare products, make-up, on the coffee table costume: Carole has her hair done, is wearing make-up, hip- hop dress camera position B (reverse, over the shoulder, POV) Carole sitting in her chair. watching TV,painting her fmger -wide shot Carole's head and shoulder in left corner, carnera zooms ulto TV screen, women's programming -ECU shots of products -remote control in hand SHOT 2

camera position A (camera behind TV, top of TV in bottom of frarne)

Carole sitting on couch painting nails and watching TV, behind products on coffee table audio: talk show

Segment 3

SHOT 1

prop s: new vacuum, vacuum box, costurne: more efaborate hair style, high heels, business suit camera position A (camera behind TV, top of TV in bortorn of frarne)

Carole vacuuming, watching TV, then stops and sits down. audio: soaD oDera

SHOT 2 fiv camera position B (reverse, over the shoulder, POV)

Carole in corner of the screen, zoom into women's programming SHOT 1 props: more products camera position A (camera behind TV,top of TV in bottom of frame)

- carnera pans across set looking for Caroie, she is not there audio: [cm hear her voice coming from TV]

SHOT 2 camera position B (reverse, over the shoulder, POV)

- camera zooms into TV screen. Carole is on TV selhg a product props/ costume: same as above Studio Lighting Design: Carole Gets a TV

high key three point lightîng Production Budget: Carole Gets a TV length: 18 minutes shooting days: four Description Rate Period no. Sub-Total Budget

Producer/Director $0.00 1 $0.00 a Total Above the Line "A" $0.00

Production " B" 1 Rate 1 ~eriod1 no. 1 Sub-Total 1 ~ud~etl 1 Eq uipmen t Ren ta1 1. J Beta SP camera 2 Hi-8 carnera sound equiprnent I batteries/ recharger cube van 2 days $150.00 To ta1 $180.00 Production labour1 1 1 1 1 camera production sound talent I I I I I

Video Stock BetaSp Metal Fuji $27.92 20 min. 4 BetaSp Metal Fuji $30.16 30 min. 3 +ta Hi-8 stock- Fuji $9.76 30 min. 2 +tax VHS stock $3.00 120114.20

Total Production " B" $597.87 Post Production "d'~ate1 ~eriod1 no. 1 Sub-Total 1 Budget Video Transfers 1 1 1 1 BetaSp to VHS 1 1 1 $122.48 Hi-8 to VHS 1 1 1 1 1 Total $122.48 Pos t Eq uipmen t Off-line edit- AVID 1 I On-line edit- AVID 1 1 1 1 1

Editorial labour 1 1 1 1 1 Editor 1 1 Dialogue transcripts 1 To ta1 I J Video Post Sound mix * 1 Total 1 [TO~Post Production "C" $122.48 1

1 Contingency ( 10% of B and C) $72.00 1

TOTAL BUDGET $792.26 ENDNOTES

1 The majority of my interviews were conducted between November 1996 and Febniary 1997. From this tirne und 1 fished my research many changes occurred at WTN which made me consider formal foiiow-up interviews. 1 decided, however, that because of the time pressures 1 was under and the vast amounts of research 1 had already completed, this was impossible. 1 do not feel that 1have compromised my conclusions with this decision. 2 This classification of feminist approaches to the media into "ideal types" 1 have borrowed from Liesbet van Zoonen's article, "Feminist Perspectives on the Media." 1 will not be addressing the radical feminist approach, since 1 am primariiy concemed with the terms and conditions of conventional media. Radical feminists generally take an exclusionary approach to the media arguing for the production of al temative women's media and strongly against pomography. 3 Examples of other typologies which rnight be used include academic/activist or essentialist/post-stnicturalist,but I feel that these divisions are too limited or too theoretical. 4 Postsuucturalism may be defined as follows: "Postsnuctualism asserts first of ail that subjectivity is non-unitary, produced in and through the intersection of a multitude of social discourses and practices which position the individual subject in heterogeneous, overlaying and competing ways. A person's subjectivity cmthus be described in terms of a multiplicity of subject positions taken up by the person in question" (Ang and Hermes 1996,3 15). 5 See Ferdinand de Saussure Course in General Linguistics, trans. Wade Baskin (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966); Umberto Eco A Theorv of Semiotics, ( Bloorninton: indiana University Press, 1976); Roland Barthes Mvthologies, trans. Annette Lavers (New York: Hili and Wang, 1995; reprint, Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1957). 6 See Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes towards an Investigation." Chap. in Lenin and Philoso~hvand other essavs, trans. Ben Brewster (London:NLB, 1991). 7 Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst, is credited with reinterpreting Freud through stnictural linguistics. Althusser drew on Lacan's theory of the "Rhror Phase" which involves the child's frst development of an ego. The child (six to eighteen months) identifies in a mirror an image that is more complete than itself, an "ideal ego", which satisfies its need for the unity which it cannot fmd in itself (Ritterman-Lewis 1992, 208). 8 See htodoGramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Noweii Smith (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 197 1). 9 See Michel Foucault, The Historv of Sexuality. An Introduction. Volume 1:, tram Robert Hurley (New York: Vintage, 1980). 10 By "critical double standard" she means that critics will accept traditional "male" popular culture (like sports programming or police dramas) as worthy entertainment but they wiU denigrate women's popular culture. 11 The double text Fiske is referring to is a text which might be read by different people in different ways. For example powerful wornen characters who disrupt men's power are both loved and hated, their actions praised and condemned (Fiske 1995, 342). 12 The women's groups which were members of the Canadian Radio League included: the National Council of Women of Canada (the frst national women's group in Canada. formed in 18% ), the Catholic Women's League, The Women's Institutes and the Canadian Federation of University Women (Trimble 1990, 134. 3 2). 13 The women's groups who submitted briefs to the Massey Commission included: the Canadian Federation of University Women, Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario, National Council of Women of Canada, Provincial Council of Women of New Bmswick, Saskatoon Councii of Women, University Wornen's Club of Regina, Vancouver Business and Professional Women's Club, Women's Canadian Club of Winnipeg, National Council of the Young Women's Christian Association, Calgary Business and Professional Women's Club, Women's Institutes of Manitoba, and the Winnipeg Council of Women and the Imperia1 Order, Daughters of the Empire (Trimble 1990, 195). 14 Compiled by MediaWatch for their cornplaint action form, from the CRTC report Imanes of Women: Re~ortof the Task Force on Sex-Role Stereotwinn in the Broadcast Media. Cornplaint form published in Canadian Woman Studies Volume 8, Number 1 (Spring 1987): 11. - 15 Feminist Task Force members included Maria Eriksen (founding rnember of the Alberta Status of Women Cornmittee), Beth Percival (P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women), Sylvia Spring (Vancouver Status of Women), Lynn MacDonald (President of the National Action Cornmittee on the Status of Women), and Camille Bachand (Advertising Industry Representative, Publicité Club de Montréal). 16 In 1986 the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) created the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC),which acts as an intermediary between the CRTC and the CAB. The CRTC endorsed the principles and responsibilities of the Councü in late September 1988. By 1990, the CAB had developed three codes that are administered by the CBSC: the Code of Ethics ( l988), Vo1unm-y Code Regarding Violence on Television ( 1987) and the Sex-role Portrayal Code for Radio and Television ( 1990). Ln a review of the decisions involving sex-role stereotyping and violence frorn 1993 to the present, 1 saw Little evidence that the Council is taking public concems seriously. Many of the concerns about sexual violence were refuted based on the notion that gratuitous violence must be measured against the content of the programme. Gratuitous violence is defined in the code as "material which does no t play an integral role in developing the plot. character or theme of the material as a whole." In one comp1a.int against a TV movie about a seriai rapist, the Council argued that the graphic depictions of rape were necessary to tell the story" (CBSCDecision 04/95-0022). The CRTC Task Force's conclusion that, "it is the cumulative effect of associating women and girls with certain roles, products and behavior that is the source of concem," seems to have had little impact on decisions made by the Council (CRTC 1982.6). 17 In the 1960s wornen composed 14% of the NFB production staff, mostly in the positions of assistant and editor. "They [wornen] were prornoted slowly, surpassed by their own male trainees and were even openiy discouraged from aspiring to become directors" (Sherbarth 1987b, 9). 18 Chris Sherbarth in her study of Studio D found that "Opinion is mixed within Studio D as to whether its birth 13 years ago can be chalked up to rnere tokenism or to the honest attempt of a federal institution to make amends for the near exciusion of women filmmakers frorn the NFB payroll for three decades" (Sherbarth 1987, 9). When Kathleen Shannon and Anne-Claire Poirier were finally offered the opporhmity to found a French and an English wornen's studio, Poirier declined. She rejected the offer because she believed that the sum of money offered was inadequate and tokenistic and she thought that a wornen's studio would create a ghetto (Sherbarth 1987b, 10). Shannon responded to this suggestion by saying that "Ghettos are where others put you, in their minds." She argued that "Studio D is where we wanted to be, it wasn't a ghetto but a refuge. Besides, no one ever caiis aU-men situations a ghetto" (Sherbarth 1987,lO).The French counterpart to Studio D, Regards des Femmes, was founded in 1986. Studio D was able to produce ground-breakhg films that were political, often from a feminist perspective, and people were watching thern. From the start the films produced by Studio D received critical acclaim. A first Oscar was awarded for 1'11 Find a W~Y(1978), a film about a courageous nine-year-old girl with Spina Bifida. A second Oscar was received for If You Love This Planet (1983),an inspiring film based on a lecture by peace activist and physician Helen Caldicott, which presents a very strong argument for the need for nuciear disarmament. This film was deemed to be so provocative that it was banned by the US Department of Justice for being political propaganda. Another film by the studio, Not a Love Storv is argued to have catalyzed the ami-pomography rnovement in Canada. The Ontario Censor Board refused to ailow this film to be screened publicly. Recently a feature documentary, Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1993),about the history of Canadian lesbian culture in the '50s and %Os, was released and was extremely weil received by the public and critics. It also garnered the Studio its frst Genie Award. 19 As a result of the recent and continuous budget constraints, there is also more pressure to produce films that will pay for themselves. This bodes iil for any hdof film that is conuoversial, that doesn't fit inro one of the documentary slots on Canadian television, or that won't draw mass audience. In the past the NFB was able to produce films that pushed ~~itLLrdboundaries because their primuy concern was to tell Canadian stories, even if the potential audience was relatively srnail. 20 MediaWatch argued that its 1994 survey, Please Adiust Our Sets: Canadian Women Watching- Television: Habits, Preferences and Concems, was the largest, most comprehensive survey of Canadian women and their television viewing habits, preferences and concerns ever undertaken. 21 Address by Mrs. Gertrude Mongella. Secretary-General, Fourth World Conference on Women, to the International UNESCO Symposium "Women and the Media: Access to Expression and Decision-Making" Toronto. February 28, 1995. 22 Toronto Platform for Action adopted by the participants in the "International Symposium: Women and the Media, Access to Expression and Decision-Making ," held in Toronto from February 2 8 to March 3, 1995. 23 Randy Moffat was not interested in being interviewed for my research. 24 The other application for a women's channel, T'elie'vision, did not undertake the same level of research as WTN. They commissioned an Environics consumer survey of cable subscribers, they conducted focus groups, and they referred to audience measurements in order to determine who the audience rnight be. 25 Lifestyle Television Inc. Application to the CRTC. Appendix E. "Canada's Women's Magazine Market 1989-1993. Prepared by Dorothy MacKinnon. 26 Lifestyle Television Inc. Application to the CRTC. Appendix G. "Focus Group Report" Prepared by CornQuest Research Group, a division of BBM Bureau of Measurernent. 27 Lifestyle Television Inc. Application to the CRTC, Appendix 1. "Qualitative Research Study Produced for Lifestyles TV Lnc." Prepared by Compusearch/InfoGroup inc. 28 The demographics of an audience would include the sex, age, education, occupation and income of those people selected by a ratings Company like Neilsen. Psychographic research "utilizes complex surveys with many different variables relating to lifestyles or activities, interests, and opinions for quantitative analyses" (Johnson 1994,68). 29 Lifestyle Television Inc. Application to the CRTC, Appendix H. "Analysis of the Market for the Proposed Lifestyle Television Channel." Prepared by Bay Consulting Group. 30 Lifestyle Television Inc. Application to the CRTC, Appendix A. "The Ferninist Landscape." Prepared by Joanne Rogers under the direction of Dr. Abbyann Lynch. 31 Lifestyle Television Inc. Application to the CRTC, Appendix B. "It Matters Who Makes It: A Review on Women, Audiences and the Media." Prepared by Shari Graydon, Theresa Kiefer and Jackie Bo tterill under the direction of Steve Kline and Catherine Murray at the Mountain Media Lab, Simon Fraser University. 32 The numbers in the brackets refer to the number assigned by the CRTC to the interventions it received for the licence application. These interventions are available for reference from a CRTC office or the York University Law Library which received a donation of documents from the CRTC Toronto office which closed in '1995. 33 The Foundation was created out of a promise made to the CRTC in WTN's Licence application that the network would develop programmes to advance women in broadcasting . 34 John Fiske's terrn "secondary texts" 1 quote from Bonnie Dow 1996,6. 35 Feminist organizations who use[d] the mandate "for women, by women, about wornen" inciude the National Film Board's Studio D (closed in 1997); the alternative radio programme "By AU Means: prime-time feminist radio." which is broadcast on CIUT (University of Toronto); SHE/TV. a wornen's television collective which produces television programming through Roger's Cable 10 communiw access in Toronto. 36 The WTN Foundation offers a programme of paid internships to assist women in advancing in the technical sides of the broadcasting industry, with particular emphasis on promoting women of colour. First Nations women and women with disabilities. The Foundation is funded by WTN: three-quarters of one per cent of WTN's gross revenue is contrîbuted each year for its programmes. 37 In my interview with Elaine Ali 1 did nor ask for an elaboration of her statement that there needed to be more men in decision-making positions because it took me by surprise. Since she had been taking about the need for more balance in the decision making process I assumed she was referring to the need to have more women from visible minorities or women who were physically challenged in decision-making positions. 1 did, however, write to her on Aprii 9, 1997, to ask if she would like to elaborate on her statement and she has not repiied. 38 Moffat Communications Limited owns cable television companies in Manitoba, northwestem Ontario, Houston Texas and Florida. It also owns CKY-TV in Winnipeg (CTV affiliate in Manitoba) and has a fourteen per cent interest in the CTV television network. 39 In a review of the new specialty channels Robin Bmnet referred to Girl Talk as probably the most questionable programme that aired on January 16, 1995, because the episode featured Ontario lesbian student counsellors urging other girls to "corne out" and "deal with their sexuaüty when they're young" (Brunet 1995,20). 4 The Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing , warned against encouraging the relationship between wornen and consumerism. "The world-wide rrend towards consurnerism has created a climate in which advertisernents and commercial messages often portray women primarily as consumers and target girls and women of aii ages inappropriately" (UN FWCW, Platform for Action. J. 23 6). 41 Carnera Obscura is an American journal concerned with feminism, culture, and media studies. 42 While removing advertising is not an option for private television channels because of the immense cost of production, Ms. magazine, an international ferninist magazine that has been publishing in the United States since 1972. decided in 1990 that "in order to represent (and protect) the interests of its readers as the magazine defined them--intelligent, independent women, eager for credible information relevant to their needs--it was sirnply forced to stop c-g advertising" (Andersen 1995, 17). Advertisers had been censoring its stories; they demanded that "'adjacencies' express an appropriate emotional tone and thernatic content and that topics antithetical to the product or its image be eliminated" (Andersen 1995, 17). Gloria Steinem, in her book Sex, Lies. and Advertisin~ which chronicles her evperiences in the ten years she worked as the advertising representative at Ms. Magazine, gives an example of the kinds of demands made by advertisers: Proctor & Gamble, told Ms. that "its products were not to be placed in any issue that included any materiai uil gun conuol, abortion, the occult. cults, or the disparagement of religion. Caution was also demanded in any issue covering sex or drugs, even for educational purposes" (Steinem qtd. in Andersen 1995. 16).&O ther example of advertiser interference in content, cited by Robin Andersen, refers to a five-year study of -- - women's magazines conducted by Lauren Kessier at the University of Oregon. The study found that cigarette smoking was promoted when the magazines contained cigarette advertising. During the time of the snidy, lung cancer was found to be the number-one killer of women, surpassing even breast cancer, yet none of the magazines mentioned this fact" (Andersen 1995, 18).There were even two short items found in Cosmo~olitanand McCaii's which associated smoking with losing weight. 43 WTN first started to publish a programming schedule for the public in April 1995. It was maiied free of charge to anyone who requested programming information. The schedule was named the WTN Magazine in the Fa11 1997 issue. In January 1998 WTN began charging a $6.00 yearly "postage recovery fee" to new subscribers. The magazine is currently issued six times a year. 4 The means by which WTN collects audience data are primarily the Neilsen ratings, but a toU free nurnber is available to the audience for feedback, comrnents and complaints. Focus groups are also occasionally conducted. 45 cUso amongst the "Signature Services" was a programme cailed The Creators which was designed to "present art and culture through the eyes of women." This show provided an opportunity for talented Canadian female artists to gain national e.xposure. The format involved short segments featuring artists and their work: playwrights. dance troupes. folk singers, as well as film reviews. It was CO-producedwith Createher Productions inc. in Vancouver. CaU -Us was a live cross-country phone-in show. Jane Taber's Ottawa (formerly Bird's Eve View) is a behind the scenes look at Parliament HU: "Politicians have star power and Jane Taber's Ottawa brings us up close and into the political personal lives of the movers and shakers on Parliament Hill... Those with an appetite for current facts, the latest rumor and gossip will be one step ahead in the political garne ..." (WTN FaU Programming Highlights, 1996).This show is soft politics for Canadian women, who are presumably uninterested in straight Canadian politics. None of the above shows are still in production. 6 Melissa Stewart is one of the wornen who participated in a 1994 NFB documentary, directed by Barbara Do~~II,cailed When Women KU. This is where the Producer of OFD discovered her. -- 47 The women who answer the phones at the cail centre for WTN are involved in an innovative training programme developed by the channel, which trains and pays inmates in the Portage Correctional Institution to provide the service. The work experience has been useful to several of the women who have returned to their cornrnunities and found employment. 48 The Sundav Night Seu Show is a cd-in show hosted by Sue Johanson, a registered nurse. 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Canada. Nanonal Film Board. Xnnual Report, English Programme Branch Evaluation. Montreai: NFB, 1996-97. ---.---. Biography of Kathleen Shannon (2 pp. press release). Montreal: NFB. --- . --- . "Ir Matters Who Makes It"--Proceedings frorn the Pre- Conference of the 23rd International Institute of Communications Conference " Women. Film and Television-- Sharing Worldwide Strategies for Change." Montreal: NFB, 1992.

Canada. Statistics Canada. Cultural Studies Proaram: Television Viewing. 87FOOOGXPE, 19%. ---.---. Household Facilities and Ea ui~ment.Catalogue 64-202-WB, 1996.

Canada. Status of Wornen Canada. Round Table on the Portraya1 of Young Wornen in the Media, convened by Secretary of State for the Status of Wornen. the Honourable Hedy Fry, 6 March 1997. Report Prepared by Shari Graydon. Ottawa: SWC, March 1997.

United Nations. Reoort of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Platform for Action: Women and the Media. New York: United Nations, 19%.

---.UNESCO. Toronto Platforrn for Action adopted by the participants in the "International Symposium: Women and the Media, Access to Expression and Decision-Making," held in Toronto from February 28 to March 3, 1995. Unoublished Material: Theses

Clarke Torres. Ale?

Graydon, Shari. "Lessons of the Marketplace: Embracing Pragmatism in the Pursuit of Gender Equity in the Media." MA. thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1996.

Off, Shirley Ann. "Defining the "Wuin WTN: A Feminist Case Study of the Women's Television Network ( 1993-lW6)." M.A. thesis, Carleton University, 19%.

Trimble, Linda. "Coming Soon to a Station Near You: The Process and Impact of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission's Involvement in Sex-Roie Stereotyping." Ph.D. diss., Queen's University, 1990.

Wornen's Television Network

Lifestyle Television Inc. Application by Linda Rankin on behalf of a Company to be incorporated for a new national EngLish language Canadian specialty service. Toronto: 15 September 1993.

Weekdav Promotional Information. 1998.

"Women Watch WTN." Promo tional Material for Media Buyers. 1998.

WTN Fall Prograrnmuig Highlights. 1996.

WTN Foundation Inc. Pamphlet. 1996.

WTN Magazine. September/October, 1998.

WTN News Release. October 1996.

WTN Television Prograrnming Schedule. February 14, 19%. Interviews

Ai& Elaine. Presidenr. Interview by author, 20 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording. WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg.

Ang, Ien. Feminist Media Theorist and Professor at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. Interview by author/director, 17 March 1998, Toronto. Video recording. York University, North York.

Barde, Barbara. Former Vice President Programming. Interview by author, 7 August 1996. Tape Recording. WTN's regional office, Toronto.

Creet, Julia. Feminist Media Critic and Professor at York University. Interview by author/direc tor, 12 May 1998,Toronto. Video Recording. York University, North York.

Darling, Carol. Vice President, Engineering and Operations and Affiliate Relations. Interview by author, 19 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording . WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg. Devereli, Ri ta. Vice President of Production at Vision TV. Interview by author/director. 17 Xpril. 1998, Toronto. Video Recording. Vision TV, Toronto.

Flett, Tracy. Communications Manager. Interview by author ( date ) Tape recording. WTN's Head Office. Winnipeg.

Forde, Joy. Scheduling and Screening Advisor. Interview by author, 2 1 November 1996. Tape recording. WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg.

Huggins, Elizabeth. Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Strategic Innovation. Interview by author, 4, December 1996. Private home, Toronto.

Knise, Dana. Viewer Liaison. interview by author, 21 November 1996. Tape recording. WN's Head Office, Winnipeg. Leonard, Christle. Camera Operator/Editor/Producer. interview by author, 22 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording. WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg. McCaig , Melanie. Direc tor of Independent Programming . Interview by author, 7 August 1996, Toronto. Tape recording. WTN's regional office, Toronto. ---.Director of Independent Programming. Interview by author/director, 17 April, 1998,Toronto. Video Recording. WTN's Reg ional Office, Toronto.

Michalchyshyn, Laura. Manager of Acquisitions, Producer of Shameless Shorts. Interview by author, 22 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording. WTNts Head Office, Winnipeg.

Millican, Susan. Vice President, Programrning. Interview by author, 19 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording. WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg.

Muir, Shirley. Executive Director of the WTN Foundation. Interview by author, 2 1 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording. WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg.

Pauls, Karen. Producer. Open for Discussion. Interview by author, 20 November 1996, Winnipeg. Tape recording. WTN's Head Office, Winnipeg.

Rankin, Linda. Former President. Interview by author, 10 Febmary 1997. Toronto. Tape recording. Private home, Toronto.