ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: REDEFINING
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: REDEFINING WOMEN’S NEWS: A CASE STUDY OF THREE WOMEN’S PAGE EDITORS AND THEIR FRAMING OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT Kimberly Wilmot Voss, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Maurine Beasley, Professor, College of Journalism For many decades the main area of journalism to which women could contribute was women’s pages in newspapers. These sections, which ran from the late nineteenth century until the late 1960s, have been overlooked by journalism historians as containing significant content. While it was true that many sections concentrated on news of weddings, society events, routine notices of club meetings, fashion and recipes, other sections contained news of political and social issues that were important to women – especially throughout the 1960s when the women’s pages were often the only way that women could learn about the women’s liberation movement. This study details the lives of three progressive women’s page editors: Vivian Castleberry, Dorothy Jurney and Marjorie Paxson. Throughout their long journalism careers and in their private lives, they strove to redefine news for women by rejecting the limitations of traditional women’s sections. In addition to examining their lives through a biographical approach, this dissertation uses framing and feminist theories to analyze the content of the women’s sections edited by the three women. This study also includes an examination, using framing theory, of the winning submissions in the Penney-Missouri award competition from 1960 to 1971. These awards, which have not been studied previously, were meant to raise the standards of women’s pages by recognizing sections that went beyond traditional content. I found Penney-Missouri award winners, which included Castleberry, Jurney and Paxson, framed women’s news differently than male journalists framed news pertaining to women. Women’s page editors attempted to balance conflicting messages of staying at home versus fighting for change that were being given to women during the women’s movement. They did not focus on friction when they covered it. They created their own issue-based frame that took the women’s movement seriously without excluding women who wanted to remain homemakers. The findings support a revision in the history of women’s pages and their role in the women’s liberation movement. While traditional women’s pages filled with society, home and wedding news, appeared in many newspapers, some sections were progressive in content and writing style. Not recognizing the differences among women’s page editors at various newspapers leads to the invisibility of women in journalism history and overlooks the important role played by women in pressing for change. REDEFINING WOMEN’S NEWS: A CASE STUDY OF THREE WOMEN’S PAGE EDITORS AND THEIR FRAMING OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT by Kimberly Wilmot Voss Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2004 Advisory Committee: Professor Maurine Beasley, Ph.D., Chair Professor Douglas Gomery, Ph.D. Professor Katherine McAdams, Ph.D. Professor Claire Moses, Ph.D. Professor Judith Paterson, Ph.D. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I: Women’s Pages and Three Influential Editors....................2 The Media and The Women’s Liberation Movement.............................10 Research Question 1..............................................................................12 Research Question 2..............................................................................13 Research Question 3..............................................................................13 Theory and Methodology ......................................................................14 Oral Histories........................................................................................18 Women in Journalism............................................................................21 Chapters ........................................................................................23 Chapter II: Women’s Pages in Review: What the Literature Reports .28 Industry Research on Women’s Pages...................................................29 Academic Studies on Women’s Pages...................................................35 Newspaper Coverage of the Women’s Movement .................................41 Women’s Page Editors ..........................................................................47 Conclusion ........................................................................................49 Chapter III: Framing the Women’s Movement....................................53 The Media and the Women’s Movement ...............................................57 The Conflict Frame ...............................................................................59 Conflict-Related Habits Frame ..............................................................62 Objectivity Frame .................................................................................64 Women’s Page Frames..........................................................................67 Women’s Page Editors’ Subjectivity Frame ..........................................70 Women’s Page Editors’ Issue-Based Frame ..........................................72 Elimination of Women’s Pages .............................................................75 Chapter IV: Honoring the Best: Penney-Missouri Awards ..................81 Evolution of the Penney-Missouri Awards ............................................83 Penney-Missouri Judges........................................................................85 Penney-Missouri Story Topics...............................................................86 Penney-Missouri Workshops.................................................................95 Penney-Missouri Frames.....................................................................100 Conclusion ......................................................................................102 Chapter V: Dorothy Jurney: Pacemaker.......................................... 107 Childhood ......................................................................................110 Newspaper Career ...............................................................................112 Retirement ......................................................................................125 New Directions for News ....................................................................127 Conclusion ......................................................................................129 i Chapter VI: Marjorie Paxson: From Women’s Editor to Publisher ....135 Childhood ......................................................................................136 Becoming a Journalist .........................................................................138 Professional Networking .....................................................................147 A New Challenge................................................................................149 Becoming a Publisher..........................................................................156 Retirement ......................................................................................160 Conclusion ......................................................................................162 Chapter VII: Vivian Castleberry: An Editor Ahead of Her Time ........168 Childhood ......................................................................................170 Moving to Dallas.................................................................................173 Balancing Work and Family................................................................175 Women’s Page Content.......................................................................176 Dealing with Management...................................................................183 Retirement ......................................................................................189 Conclusion ......................................................................................192 Chapter VIII: Conclusions...................................................................197 Dorothy Jurney....................................................................................199 Marjorie Paxson..................................................................................200 Vivian Castleberry ..............................................................................200 Answering the Research Questions......................................................202 Frames of Castleberry, Jurney and Paxson...........................................207 Limitations ......................................................................................211 Contribution to the History of the Women’s Movement ......................212 Contribution to Journalism History......................................................213 Future Research ..................................................................................214 Appendix A: Penney-Missouri Awards Winners 1960-1971 ...............218 Appendix B: Penney-Missouri Judges ................................................223 Bibliography ......................................................................................226 ii The Women’s Page Peau de soie could have been Foie de gras for all I knew But syntax made the words go round As I typed from the form that asked About