The Culture of a Women-Led Newspaper

THE CULTURE OF A WOMEN-LED

NEWSPAPER: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY

OF THE S A R A S O T A H E R A L D - T R I B U N E

By Tracy Everbach

This case study of a U.S. newspaper led by an all-female managementteam found that the culture of the newsroom reflected the so-called"feminine" traits of its leaders. Through qualitative, ethnographic meth-ods of interview and observation, the researcher documented ways thatthe female managers brought feminine standpoints to the workplace.Family-friendly policies, openness, teamwork, and communication, iden-tified by management and communication scholars as feminine charac-teristics, were hallmarks of the newspaper's culture.

The mainstream media in the United States emphasize male view-points, occasionally focusing news coverage on women and their con-cerns. The frequent absence from and trivialization of women in massmedia have been labeled "symbolic annihilation,"^ describing a publicagenda that reports mainly men's acfivities, interests, and experiences.^While women have composed a majority of journalism students forthree decades, their work in newsrooms has not significantly changeddominant news values in the United States. Few women serve in thehighest ranks of news organizations, where decision-making powerlies.̂ In 2006, 18% of newspaper publishers were women, the highestpercentage ever, but far from an equitable distribution with men."

Mass media scholars suggest that female journalists view newsdifferently from male journalists.^ Since women increased their news-room presence starting in the 1970s, they have changed some definitionsof news, Kay Mills notes.*" Women's greater numbers in newsroomscoincided with an increase in stories addressing social problems, person-alifies, and human interest.' Still, changing newsroom culture, meaningoverall shared values, beliefs, and expectations, has been a slow strug-gle.* Male interests continue to define dominant news values and shapeworkplace culture.

This research examines the only large American newspaper withan all-women management team at the turn of the twenty-first century.A female publisher, executive editor, managing editor, and two assistantmanaging editors led the Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune from 1999 to2003, creating an unusual opportunity for a case study. This researchexamines the female managers' influences on the newspaper's culture,

Tracy Everbach is assistant professor. Department of Journalism and Mayborn Graduate JC/MC QuarterlyInstitute of Journalism, University of North Texas. Vol. 83, No. 3

Autumn 2006

477.^93

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using theoretical bases in feminism and management. The centralresearch question is: Did the all-women managenient team at the SarasotaHerald-Tribune shape newsroom culture in a gendered way?

Journalism's routines and practices force reporters and editors toReview focus news coverage on government and corporations and on sources

who have authority and power, as Gans and Tuchman showed in seminalethnographic studies of news organizations.' Those who hold "the reinsof legitimized power" have greater access to mass media than othergroups and therefore are more likely to be quoted.'" In a patriarchal soci-ety such as the United States, that powerful group has become institution-alized as white, middle-aged males." Topics deemed "female" take sec-ondary status in news.'^ By reinforcing legitimized values and powerstructures while repressing and eliminating elements that contradictnorms, the news is socially constructed to emphasize male concerns."

Before the 1970s, societal and labor market discrimination kept allbut a few women from progressing to the upper ranks in journalism."The second wave of the women's movement helped change women'sroles in newsrooms, offering them new career opportunities.'^ Starting inthe 1970s, newspapers pledged to diversify their staffs and create news-rooms more reflective of their readers.'^ The results for women thirtyyears later were disappointing: By 2006, women composed nearly 38%of newspaper employees in the United States, a percentage that hadincreased only slightly since the early 1980s." In comparison, by the earlytwentieth century, women represented 46% of the total U.S. workforce.'"The American Journalist Survey reported that "compared to the U.S. civil-ian work force in 2000, women journalists are considerably less prevalentthan women in other professions. Women journalists also are less likely tobe managers than women in other areas of the professional work force.""

Women have not received opportunities equal to men's in theworking world, including education, training, hiring, promotion, con-tacts, and networking. They have faced barriers in part because of percep-tions that their roles in society should be family caretakers.^" Structuralbarriers, discrimination, gender stereotyping, and gender differenceshave precluded many women from advancing to management positionsin U.S. corporations and businesses.^'

In mass media organizations, culture is "largely defined in maleterms," according to Carter and her coauthors.^ In 2001, women made uponly 13% of top executives in media, telecom, and high-tech firms andonly 9% of seats on corporate boards of these companies.^ Women com-posed 26% of newspaper executives in 2002, and most of the high-rank-ing women held personnel, community affairs, and legal positions, "areasnot historically on the right track for moving into the highest posi-tions."^" In 2003, Al Neuharth, former chairman and CEO of Garmett Co.Inc., one of the largest American newspaper companies, criticized thenewspaper business for continued lack of diversity. "Too many middle-aged white men still make the decisions," in newsrooms and journalismclassrooms, Neuharth said.^ Management and staff homogeneity con-

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tribute to decreases in newspaper circulation and drive away potentialaudiences, including young people, women, and people of color.̂ ^

During the three decades that newspapers have attempted todiversify their staffs, circulation has dropped. Women are more likelythan men to abandon reading newspapers.^' In 2003, men comprised55% of newspaper readers and women comprised 45%.̂ * Some reasonsfor fewer female readers include women's lack of representation in con-tent and a dearth of articles that appeal to their interests.^' In readershipstudies, women report they want stories that are relevant to their lives.*They are "interested in topics such as their children's education andhow they learn (not the politics of the school board); time and moneyand how to save both; safety and health issues; women in the work-place; social concerns, such as homelessness; and family and personalrelationships."'' Women also are interested in stories that have depthand sensitivity, rather than the detachment and factual superficialityattributed to stereotypical masculine news values.'^ In addition, womenare interested in different types of news from men, demonstrated by asurvey in which women said their top reading choices were communitynews, advice columns, and international news, while men preferredprofessional sports, international news, and local school sports.̂ ^ Manywomen stop reading newspapers because they say content is not rele-vant to them.^

Therefore, newspapers might attract more female readers if theypublish content that appeals to women's interests and portrays womenin positions of authority and power. Some journalists and scholars main-tain that a newspaper headed by women would appeal to female read-ers.̂ ^ Because "women are responsible for 81% of consumer buying" inthe United States, newspapers, which depend on advertising, couldimprove business by reaching out to women, according to Miller.̂ ^

However, including more female decision makers does not neces-sarily change news content. A 1994 study of women's magazines fromthe 1960s through the 1980s found that female editors did not substan-tially alter negative and stereotypical portrayals of women in magazinecontent.̂ ^ The authors concluded that the female editors adopted thesame stereotypes male editors had used in the past, and speculated thatchanging magazine content would require more than female leadership;it would demand "changes in the dominant culture."'* A 2005 study byLavie and Lehman-Wilzig noted that both men and women internalizenews traditions that focus on male hegemonic values, which makeschange difficult, no matter the leaders' gender.^'

A companion study to the present ethnography found that thecontent of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune under the all-women managementteam did not differ from other mainstream U.S. newspapers.''" The con-tent analysis revealed that the Herald-Tribune's front page, local news,business, sports, and lifestyle sections represented few women, so thefemale management team clearly did not change news values regardingcontent selection. For example, only 25% of sources quoted on theHerald-Tribune's front page were female, consistent with studies of male-managed newspapers.'"

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Although female management did not change newspaper content,female managers might influence workplace culture. Some managementstudies show that people's perceptions of "good managers" favor a "mas-culine" style.̂ ^ For many years, stereotypical male behavior has been con-sidered the norm for powerful positions.^' So-called "masculine" leader-ship traits emphasize control, strategy, lack of emotion, and analysis,while so-called "feminine" traits include flexibility, empathy, collabora-tion, and performance." However, some studies show that "men andwomen are similar in their overall effectiveness as leaders."""^ In onestudy, researchers considered defining management styles as "masculine"and "feminine" stereotyping and noted that empirical studies have foundno significant gender differences in managerial behavior, personality, oreffectiveness."" Other research notes that societal socialization forcesfemale managers into classifications based on stereotypes.^' Aggressivewomen are characterized as "bitches" or "pushy" when displaying thesame traits considered desirable in men.*^ Women also are accused ofexploiting their sexuality to advance.'"

Recent literature hypothesizes women perceive power differentlythan men. While Fortune magazine in 2003 published its sixth annual listof the fifty most powerful women in the U.S. workforce, it also publishedan article maintaining that women "see it (power) in terms of influence,not rank."^" In an October 2003 New York Times Magazine cover story.Lisa Belkin postulated that women are retooling the male definition ofwork, which has long been about money and power.^' Belkin wrotethat women's work definition also is liberating for men: "Because wo-men are willing to leave, men are more willing to leave, too—the numberof married men who are full-time caregivers to their children hasincreased 18%."^^ The nonprofit research firm Catalyst, which trackstrends and numbers of women in business, reported in its study "Wo-men in U.S. Corporate Leadership: 2003" that 26% of women who havenot yet reached the most senior posts say they do not want those jobs.Therefore, achieving hierarchical positions might not define success forwomen.

ineorettcal when female journalists enter male-dominated newsrooms, theyBusts become indoctrinated to accept "masculine" news values as professional

standards.^' Women have not achieved autonomy or authority to changedominant newsroom culture; therefore, male and female journalists con-duct their jobs in similar ways, with an emphasis on news that can betermed masculine.^ Certain norms, values, styles, and practices in jour-nalism are perceived as masculine or feminine. Van Zoonen has observed.The so-called masculine topics include politics, crime, and finance, report-ed with overwhelmingly male sources. Feminine topics include consumernews, human-interest stories, culture, and social policy, with mainlyfemale sources.'^

News judgment and news values in mainstream news media arebased on what white men consider news, according to Gist.̂ "" Femalejoumalists are socialized to view these standards as journalistic objectivi-

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ty, allowing the news to become "masculinized" even when reportedby women. '̂'

While men lead a majority of newsrooms, some scholars and jour-nalists contend female management would foster its own form of news-room culture. Cultural feminism views women with their own values,practices, and "standpoint."'^ Using feminist standpoint theory, thisresearch seeks to analyze ways the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's manage-ment team's gender shaped newsroom culture.

Previous research that included the Sarasota Herald-Tribune is rele-vant to this examination. Impact, a study of 100 American daily newspa-pers, found that the Herald-Tribune's culture differed from 80% of otherstudy subjects. The study classified the newspaper's culture as "con-structive," defined as "encouraging members to work to their fullpotential, resulting in high levels of motivation, satisfaction, teamwork,service quality and sales growth." Cooperation, teamwork, communica-tion, and higher profltability and readership also are associated withconstructive cultures.^'

In contrast, a majority of U.S. newspapers had "aggressive defen-sive" cultures, defined as workplaces where change occurs slowly, hardwork and devotion to the job are valued, and "people are expected toapproach tasks in forceful ways to protect their status and security."* "̂These findings mirror management research that identifies stereotypicalmasculine and feminine management styles.*"' Masculine managementis characterized as less interpersonal and more autocratic, and femininemanagement is called more interpersonal and democratic." Manage-ment and communication research shows that women and men learn tointerpret power differently, with men generally regarding power as sta-tus and women interpreting it in terms of connections." Women gener-ally place importance on community and connections while men tend tobe concerned with competition and status." The attributes associatedwith female leadership, including communication, collaboration, andinnovation, are more consistent with a constructive culture than a defen-sive one.^'

Because the newspaper industry, facing waning readership andcirculation, is being forced to adapt technologically and economically,a constructive culture that encourages innovation and change couldprovide a successful business model for newspapers' future.**̂

This study recognizes constructive culture as reflective of a femi-nine management style marked by openness, concern for family issues,collaboration, teamwork, and acknowledgement of workers' view-points and perspectives. This is not to say that women are the only man-agers capable of employing a feminine management style; men also candisplay these traits.

This ethnographic case study examined the Sarasota Herald- MethodTribune's newsroom culture for three weeks during a nineteen-monthperiod in 2002 and 2003. The researcher employed observation and in-depth interviews to study the workplace.

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The researcher observed daily work routines inside the newsroomand conducted in-depth interviews with managers and employees togather evidence on pracfices, policies, and routines.^' Depth interviewsconsisted of quesfioning newsroom workers to gather information ontheir perspectives and beliefs and to create rapport that allowed her tounderstand and interpret behavior.'"''

Fieldwork took place during one-week periods in June 2002,September 2003, and December 2003. These weeks were chosen afternegofiafion with the newsroom managers. The researcher observed news-room operations, including editors' budget meefings, conferences amongemployees and managers, story assignments, story proposals, edifing ses-sions, reporter interviews with sources, general discussions amongemployees, decisions on news coverage, and other newsroom routinesand practices.

Interviews took place in the newsroom and outside of work to pro-vide discussion freedom. The researcher conducted open-ended, in-depthinterviews with twenty-six female and male reporters, photographers,page designers, and editors about the workplace and their impressionsand feelings about management pracfices and policies. All employeeswere promised anonymity except the top editors and the publisher, whoagreed to be idenfified by name in the study. The interviewees answereda standardized list of open-ended questions developed by the researcherwith provisions for follow-up, specific quesfions, and comments.

After the interviews and observation, the researcher coded all in-terview and observafion subjects, then organized data into categoriespointing to key concepts that revealed the nature and culture of the news-paper. For example, the researcher considered issues, symbols, and ritu-als involved in the news process; news convenfions, indoctrinafion, andtraining; and employees' and managers' interpretafions of their news-room roles.

The researcher examined the data for influences the managementteam had on the newsroom culture, including interactions and communi-cation between and among managers and employees, policies and prac-fices, and general workplace atmosphere. She paid parficular attenfion towomen's standpoint as a marginalized or oppressed class and the rever-sal of this standpoint at the Herald-Tribune because the top managers werewomen. Also taken into account was management and journalism litera-ture that noted women tend to bring emofion, cooperafion, infimacy, anda "holisfic" approach of blending personal and professional lives to theworkplace.""'

The Herald-Tribune, owned by the New York Times Company, hada daily circulafion of 106,000 in 2004, making it one of the 100largest newspapers in the United States. The newspaper is located alongFlorida's west coast in Sarasota County, which has a populafion ofabout 335,000. Before the women assumed control of the newspaper in1999, the daily circulafion was about 110,000. However, it would not befair to attribute a drop in circulafion directly to the female management.Almost all American newspapers saw circulafion decreases during thistime.™

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The Herald-Tribune distributes five zoned editions, four beyond theboundaries of Sarasota County, in Manatee County, population 275,000;and in Charlotte County, population 147,000,̂ ' The total audience com-prises a population of about 757,000 in three counties. The news or-ganization operates bureaus that produce zoned editions in Venice,Bradenton, Charlotte, and Englewood. The Herald-Tribune newspaperwas created in 1938, when the Sarasota Herald bought the Sarasota DailyTribune.'^ The New York Times Co. bought the paper in 1982.

Herald-Tribune Publisher Diane McFarlin, Executive Editor JanetWeaver, and Managing Editor Rosemary Armao said when they formedtheir management team in 1999 that their goal was to "put out a hardcharging, high quality newspaper in a more effective newsroom, onethat is fun, family-friendly and diverse."^' The employees called thenewsroom "Amazonia" because of the all-women management team.The managers noted that filling the top jobs with women was not in-tentional,'" As of September 2003, the paper employed 155 newsroomworkers, 41% of whom were women, a higher percentage than the 37%national newsroom average for female employees that year.''

In interviews, Herald-Tribune managers said they believed their Resultsgender influenced the newspaper's culture in positive ways. NotedPublisher Diane McFarlin: "This organization probably has more 'femi-nine' traits than other newspapers. We tend to be more communicative.There is more of a sense of well being of employees, more of a nurtur-ing environment, and this is true of our male employees, too.""*

The consistent themes that arose among employees and managersregarding the workplace culture were the newspaper's family-friendlypolicies, an atmosphere of openness emd transparency in decision mak-ing, a consensus-building managerial style, and clear communicationbetween management and employees.

The concept of balancing work and personal life is a relatively newU.S. workplace phenomenon, coinciding with women's entry into man-agement positions after the feminist movement of the 1970s.

In interviews, Herald-Tribune managers said they made particularefforts to accommodate families and employees' family issues. This con-tradicts a phenomenon many women with children have reported in thecorporate world, known as the "mommy track." In the 1970s through1990s, female managers who left corporations temporarily to raise chil-dren found that when they returned, they did not attain the same statusthey had when they left.'̂ The "mommy track" concept not only causedwomen to lose managerial ground, but also ignored the needs of meninterested in assuming greater roles in raising children.™

In fact, a male Herald-Tribune reporter,''' considered one of thetop reporters at the Herald-Tribune, said the paper's female leadershipallowed him a family life he did not have in previous journalism jobs.Over more than a decade as a single father, he had not found a job thatallowed him to spend time with his son.*" When he interviewed at theHerald-Tribune, Publisher McFarlin asked him what made him happiest.

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"I know my answer should have been, 'Having a page one story onSunday,' but I said, 'My son,'" the reporter recalled. "I was mortified, butshe looked at me and said, 'Good answer.'"*"

The managers value family life, a philosophy that fosters employeeloyalty, according to the male reporter and other employees interviewed."I worked eight straight days after 9/11 and I had no problem with it,"said Reporter No. 1.'̂

Several veteran employees reported that before the female manage-ment team assumed power, the newspaper's culture dictated they sepa-rate work and personal lives. Managing Editor Diane Tennant said thatmandate has changed: "It's different now. We make accommodations forpeople."'*^ Publisher McFarlin said she recognized that "when employeesget to interact with their kids, they are happier. We're going to feel moresuccess if employees are happier."**

The female editors said they considered themselves role models forfamily-friendly policies. Executive Editor Janet Weaver gave birth to adaughter and took three months' maternity leave while serving as thenewspaper's managing editor. Weaver's husband, Mark Weaver, stayedhome with their children.

The family-focused environment helps retain employees, the man-agers said. "Some of the ways to keep people from going to bigger news-papers is to see how inflexible they (other newspapers) are."^^

Still, the policies are not perfect. One day in the newsroom, a femaleeditor»«* with a 3-month-old baby talked with a colleague about the diffi-culty of seeing her husband, also an editor at the paper. She said theywere working different shifts to share childcare duties, and she often wasasleep when he arrived home from work.*'

Weaver said the newspaper's family accommodations were attrib-utable in part to female leadership, but also to a "generational" phenom-enon.** "You have people in there (the newsroom) that don't want to livethat kind of life—out drink 'em, work a billion hours, out cuss 'em," shesaid, referring to the stereotypical journalists' lifestyle. "Younger peopleare coming in and saying they don't want to live in newsrooms. Peopleare saying they don't want to work 80 hours a week."*'

As Tannen has noted, a male communication style tends to empha-size hierarchy, status, and competition.'" In contrast, the female leaders atthe Herald-Tribune made a point of welcoming employee input, offeringopen-door conversation policies, and coming out of their offices to com-municate with the staff. McFarlin noted of the newsroom: "There aremore conversations here. Meetings are not directive. They're veryopen."'' Tennant added, "We want people to question and debate."'^

Employee input became important in an extraordinary way inDecember 2003, when the paper hired a new executive editor to replaceWeaver, who left for another job. Employees met with candidates apply-ing for the management position, a non-hierarchical method. WhenMcFarlin announced she had decided to hire a male executive editor,therefore breaking up the all-female team, she gathered the staff in thenewsroom and told them in person, rather than issuing a memorandum.'^"You made a great choice," she said. She also told the staff that the new

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male editor, Mike Connolly, was the best candidate, no matter his gen-der. Allowing the staff to participate in the decision to hire an upper-level manager by offering their feedback to the publisher, meeting thejob candidate in person and asking him questions, and announcing thedecision in an open forum are actions contradictory to the hierarchical,rational, bureaucratic structures of most newsrooms.'^

Another theme that emerged was the Herald-Tribune's consensus-building management approach. Managing Editor Tennant said teamparticipation is a style superior to strict hierarchical formulas. "I stillthink that the best solutions come from a team—not from a managingeditor or some other editor."^^

As part of the managers' team approach, Herald-Tribune employeeswere encouraged to express their opinions about the newspaper in anIntranet site called the "Hot Spot." The site encouraged employees toget to know each other and included an employee face book. On aninter-office message board, employees openly teased managers. On theinter-office message board, after an announcement about the PoynterInstitute's National Writers Workshop featuring an all-male list ofspeakers, a male columnist"" posted a tongue-in-cheek reply: "Soundslike that all-male journalism group we've been planning." A maleemployee answered him: "Thank God! We finally get a voice. Power,brothers."'' This facetiousness showed male employees did not feel theirfemale bosses stifled their words.

The managers' openness extended to newspaper readers. Theyallowed and even welcomed input from the public and from employees.McFarlin instituted the Reader Advocate, a telephone hotline that read-ers could call with concerns and complaints, and invited members ofthe community to sit in on planning meetings, an unusually open poli-cy for a newspaper."* Open connections with the community continuedin other sections of the newspaper. Executive Editor Weaver said sheencouraged reader and source input, noting that she often "disarmed"people by giving them her home and cell phone numbers and askingthem to call her."

Several employees said they welcomed the workplace environ-ment created by the female management team. The female managersmade the newsroom more "interesting and creative" than previousregimes, said a longtime male editor.̂ ™ A male reporter who has workedat the paper since 1974 said the female team created a more comfortablework environment: "Women editors definitely make a difference."'"'Male Reporter No. 2 said a friend who had worked for a large Californianewspaper was visiting him in the newsroom when McFarlin stoppedby his desk to say hello. The friend was incredulous. "He said, 'Youknow the publisher^'" The publisher at his newspaper never came intothe newsroom nor talked to newsroom employees.'"^

Longtime employees said the Herald-Tribune's female managersabolished past sex discrimination. A male reporter who worked at thepaper two decades said a past male editor instituted a policy thatwomen could not cover the police beat. "The bureau chief felt they(women) were endangered," covering crime, the reporter said.'"' Some

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female employees said they felt more comfortable working for femalemanagers than for men. A female photographer said she felt she couldshow emotion in the Herald-Tribune newsroom: "I've cried in the news-room. I've broken the cardinal rule."'"* She noted that in three previous,male-dominated, large newsrooms where she worked, managers frownedupon crying, but tolerated "men showing anger." A female reporter whobegan working at the paper in 1986 said that when the women took over,the newspaper addressed some social issues it ignored in the past, includ-ing homelessness and affordable housing."'

One employee offered a throwback to the practice of men hiringother men, known as the old boys' network: she said she landed her job asa page designer through connections in the "old girls' network."'"*

Despite positive responses to the female management, some em-ployees said they saw downsides to working for female bosses. Onefemale employee admitted she could not use her sexual wiles to charm herfemale managers as she had male bosses in the past.'°' Another femalereporter acknowledged the newsroom had more of a family structure thanother newsrooms where she had worked, but "I do feel more cattiness."'"*She reported that gossip served as a staple of interactions between hersupervisor and her employees. "Not that men can't gossip, but there ismore of a blur here between work and personal life." Tennant noted thatsome women prefer working for men because they consider female man-agement a "coffee klatch" thing.'"'

On the other hand, former Managing Editor Rosemary Armao,known as an advocate for hard, investigative news, said the female-lednewsroom discouraged traditional, tough male journalists from applyingfor jobs. She said she saw two types of people come in for job interviews:"Strong, intelligent, powerful women, and men who are not assertive."""Armao asked, "Where are all the big men of joumalism, the JirrunyBreslins? We're not seeing it anymore."

The Herald-Tribune employed a slightly higher percentage ofwomen, 41%, than the national average of 37% female newsroom employ-ees. The perception by many outside the newsroom was that the Herald-Tribune's diversity problem was men—"that was the rumung joke,"McFarlin said."' When McFarlin hired a man for the executive editorposition, she joked that she was implementing a diversity program. Shesaid she enjoyed the distinction of being the only large, female-led news-paper in the United States, but "it was not a mantle we were required towear forever.""^

Although the newsroom displayed gender diversity, the staff suf-fered from a lack of racial and ethnic diversity. Before the female manage-ment team took over the newspaper, the Herald-Tribune reported 11% of itsnewsroom employees were racial and ethnic minorities. By 2003, the per-centage had dropped to 8%.'" In the meantime, the community hadbecome more diverse, about 11% non-white.'" Turnover among youngerreporters, minority and white, was common and many left the Herald-Tribune after two or three years for larger newspapers. The managers con-ceded they had trouble retaining minority employees, in part becausesome could get better paying jobs elsewhere. Managing Editor Armao

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explained: "We're a 100,000-circulafion newspaper in an area that haslots of bigger, better-paying papers (for example, the 233,000-circulationTampa Tribune and 344,000-circulafion St. Petersburg Ti'mes"̂ ). The popu-lation is old and white. Getting young people is hard, period. It's partic-ularly hard to get young minorifies.""^ Weaver said other newspapers"offer more money and prestige" to minorities. She also confirmed thatthe paper's minority recruifing efforts had been "unfocused.""'

Under the female leadership team at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Conclusionteamwork, collaboration, and balancing family and professional liveswere primary goals. Several employees said they were satisfied withtheir jobs and mofivated to work because of the supporfive, egalitarianenvironment.

The managers brought their experiences as women to the news-room culture. They forged their own approach to the workplace, differ-ent from the tradifional hierarchical male approach of most newsrooms.In fact, the Impact study confirmed this by characterizing the Herald-Tribune as part of the 20% of U.S. newspapers with "construcfive" cul-tures.

Manifestafions of the culture included an open newsroom, exem-plified by top editors' willingness to keep office doors open most of thefime. Employees understood they could approach managers aboutproblems and concerns without having to go through hierarchical lev-els. Problem solving was often done by consensus and teamwork ratherthan by unilateral decisions. These are characteristics of a feminine man-agement style rather than a masculine, or hierarchical and bureaucrafic,one.»"

As Tannen noted, most women deal with problems and decisionsin terms of connection and community rather than in terms of hierar-chy."' Many of the Herald-Tribune's major decisions involved teamworkand consensus, such as choosing a new executive editor. Employeescould voice their opinions on the newsroom's Intranet bulletin board.Even readers had a say in what the paper published through the ReaderAdvocate telephone line.

The managers' family-friendly policies also reflected the news-room culture. Employees said if they needed fime off to take care of fam-ily members, children, the ill, or elderly, they would be able to take itwithout reprisal. The managers set the stage for these policies byobserving them as well.

However, it should be noted that while the Herald-Tribune's cul-ture can be characterized as "feminine," such a culture is not exclusiveto women. As Executive Editor Weaver noted, the Herald-Tribune's fam-ily-friendly policies cater to a generafion of journalists, male and female,who put more emphasis on family and personal fime than past genera-fions. One of the employees who benefited most from these policies wasa single father. It also is important to point out that other newsroomsidenfified in the Impact study as having "construcfive" cultures musthave been led by male managers, since the Herald-Tribune was the otúyfemale-managed U.S. newspaper during this fime.

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The Herald-Tribune did not exclude or marginalize female perspec-tives in the workplace, as many male-dominated newspapers do. WhenHerald-Tribune employees became indoctrinated to the organization'sexpectations, they did not see women as being held back from advance-ment. Neither men nor women interviewed for this study viewed genderas an obstacle to advancement within the organization. In fact, manyemployees reported a sense of well-being and comfort in their positions.Employees reported that the organization considered men and women tobe on an equal playing field. However, employees did acknowledge thatwhile gender was not an issue affecting hiring, promotion, salary, andrank, the newspaper staff lacked racial and ethnic diversity. Minorities didnot hold any of the top positions at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Also, thefeminine culture had no effect on the newspaper's content, which favoreda male perspective.

Overall, employees were generally positive about the organization,particularly its acceptance of family concerns, its gender fairness, theopenness of management, and the feeling that the newspaper staffworked as a team rather than a hierarchy. This standpoint reflectswomen's roles as communicators who flourish in networks of cormectionsand relationships, including family and work colleagues.'^"

It should be pointed out that this research provides a window intothe management, operation, and content of the newspaper; a study inwhich a researcher spent considerably more time in the newsroom mighthave produced different results.

The Herald-Tribune's culture may serve as a model for other newspa-pers to retain employees, particularly those with families, and improveemployee morale by valuing employees' input and opinions. Both femaleand male employees can benefit from working in an open and encourag-ing environment. Since constructive cultures foster innovation andchange, the Herald-Tribune's cultural model also could serve as a means torevitalize the sagging newspaper industry.

NOTES

1. Gaye Tuchman, Arlene Kaplan Daniels, and James Benet, eds..Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media (NY: OxfordUniversity Press, 1978), 3-38.

2. Kay Mills, "What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?" inWomen, Media, and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris (NY: Oxford University Press1997), 43.

3. Maurine H. Beasley, "Is There a New Majority Defining the News?"in Women in Mass Communication, ed. Pamela Creedon, 2d ed. (NewburyPark, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1993), 130-31. See alsoMaurine H. Beasley and Sheila J. Gibbons, Taking Their Place: A Docu-mentary History of Women and Journalism (Washington, DC: AmericanUniversity Press, 1993), 26.

4. Mary Arnold and Mary Nesbitt, Women in Media 2006: Finding theLeader in You (Evanston, IL: Media Management Center at Northwestern

JOURNALISM & MASS COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY

University, 2006), 13.5. Mills, "What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?" 41-42.6. Mills, "What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?" 39.7. David Weaver, "Women as Journalists," in Women, Media, and

Politics, ed. Norris, 38-39.8. Arnold and Nesbitt, Women in Media 2006, 18; Weaver, "Women

as Journalists," 39.9. Gaye Tuchman, Making News: A Study in the Gonstruction of Reality

(NY: The Free Press, 1978). See also Herbert Gans, Deciding What's News:A Study ofGBS Evening News, NBG Nightly News, Newsweek & Time (NY:Pantheon Books, 1979). Both Tuchman and Gans spent months observ-ing routines and practices in newsrooms, interviewing and followingjournalists. Their groundbreaking ethnographic studies focused on thenotion that the news is a social construction rather than a reflection ofevents that happen each day in the world.

10. Tuchman, Making News, 133.11. Tuchman, Making News, 152.12. Tuchman, Making News, 138.13. Tuchman, Making News, 292-99.14. Mary Arnold Hemlinger and Cynthia C. Linton, Women in

Newspapers 2002: Still Fighting an Uphill Battle (Evanston, IL: MediaManagement Center at Northwestern University, 2002), 19.

15. David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The AmericanJournalist: A Portrait of U.S. News People and Their Work, 2d ed. (Bloom-ington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991), 181.

16. AJR staff, "Diversity Delayed," American Journalism Review 20(1998): 9. See also American Society of Newspaper Editors, 2002Newsroom Census, http://www.asne.org/kiosk/diversity/2002Survey/2002Census Report.html (accessed December 19, 2002).

17. American Society of Newspaper Editors 2006 census, http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=5660 (accessed June 12, 2006); IndianaUniversity School of Journalism American Journalist Survey, "WomenJournalists Aren't Increasing Overall," Poynter Online, http://www.poynter.org (accessed July 28, 2003). These figures are part of data col-lected by David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit for an update totheir book. The American Journalist (Personal correspondence, March 22,2004.)

18. U.S. Department of Labor statistics, http://www.dol.gov/wb/ stats/main.htm (accessed June 12, 2006).

19. Indiana University School of Journalism American JournalistSurvey.

20. Sue A. Lafky, "The Progress of Women and People of Color in theU.S. Journalistic Workforce: A Long, Slow Journey," in Women in MassGommunication, ed. Creedon, 100-110.

21. Claartje J. Vinkenburg, Paul J.W. Jansen, and Paul L. Koopman,"Feminine Leadership-A Review of Gender Differences in ManagerialBehaviour and Effectiveness," in Women in Management: Gurrent ResearchIssues Volume 11, ed. Marilyn J. Davidson and Ronald J.Burke (London,Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage, 2000), 120-37.

THE CULTURE OF A WOMEN-LED NEWSPAPER 489

22. Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston, and Stuart Allan, News, Gender andPower (London and NY: Routledge, 1998), 2.

23. Carrie Johnson, "Women at the Top? 'We're Still Talking TokenNumbers,'" Austin American-Statesman, April 1, 2001, JIO.

24. Hemlinger and Linton, Women in Newspapers 2002,15.25. Matthew Daneman, "Former Gannett CEO Neuharth Crusades For

Media Diversity," (Rochester, NY) Democrat and Chronicle, February 21,2003, http: / / www.democratandchronicle.com / news / 0221story 19_news.shtml.

26. Daneman, "Former Gannett CEO Neuharth Crusades for MediaDiversity."

27. Editor and Publisher, "Newspapers post strong 3Q profits," October17,1998,16.

28. Newspaper Association of America booklet. Facts About News-papers: A Statistical Summary of the Newspaper Industry, 2003.

29. Debra Gersh Hernandez, "Good and the Bad About Women'sNews in Newspapers," Editor and Publisher, May 21, 1994, 17. See alsoKaren Schmidt and Colleen Collins, "Showdown at Gender Gap,"American Journalism Review 15 (6,1993): 39-42.

30. Hernandez, "Good and the Bad About Women's News inNewspapers"; Schmidt and Collins, "Showdown at Gender Gap."

31. Hernandez, "Good and the Bad About Women's News inNewspapers"; Schmidt and Collins, "Showdown at Gender Gap."

32. Liesbet van Zoonen, "One of the Girls? The Changing Gender ofJournalism," in News, Gender and Power, ed. Carter, Branston, and Allan36.

33. Susan Miller, "Opportunity Squandered—Newspapers andWomen's News," Media Studies Journal 7 (1-2) (winter/spring 1993): 168.

34. Kim Walsh-Childers, Jean Chance, and Kristin Herzog, "WomenJournalists Report Discrimination in Newsrooms," Newspaper ResearchJournal 17 (3-4,1996): 86-87.

35. Hernandez, "Good and the Bad about Women's News in News-papers," 17.

36. Miller, "Opportunity Squandered—Newspapers and Women'sNews," 167.

37. Lee Jolliffe and Terri Caflett, "Women Editors at the 'Seven Sisters'Magazines, 1965-1985: Did They Make a Difference?" Journalism Quarterly71 (winter 1994): 800-08.

38. Jolliffe and Caflett, "Women Editors at the 'Seven Sisters' Maga-zines, 1965-1985: Did They Make a Difference?" 806-07.

39. Aliza Lavie and Sam Lehman-Wilzig, "The Method is the Message:Explaining Inconsistent Findings in Gender and News Production Re-search," Journalism 6 (1, 2005): 67-69.

40. Tracy Everbach, "The 'Masculine' Content of a Female-ManagedNewspaper," Media Report to Women 33 (fall 2005): 14-22.

41. Everbach, "The 'Masculine' Content of a Female-Managed News-paper," 20-21.

42. Gary N. Powell, Women & Men in Management (Newbury Park,London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1993), 153-69.

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43. Ann Harriman, Women/Men/Management, 2d ed. (Westport, CT,London: Praeger, 1996), 2-4.

44. Linda L. Lindsey, Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, 3d ed.(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997), 262-64.

45. Powell, Women and Men in Management, 167.46. Vinkenburg, Jansen, and Koopman, "Feminine Leadership-A

Review of Gender Differences in Managerial Behaviour and Effective-ness," 123-4,130.

47. Lindsey, Gender Roles, 53-59.48. Angel Kwolek-Folland, Incorporating Women: A History of Women

& Business in the United States (NY: Palgrave, 1998, 2002), 168-69, 201.49. Kwolek-Folland, Incorporating Women, 202.50. Patricia Sellers, "Power: Do Women Really Want It?" Fortune,

October 13, 2003.51. Lisa Belkin, "The Opt-Out Revolution," The New York Times

Magazine, October 26, 2003, 45.52. Belkin, "The Opt-Out Revolution," 86.53. Van Zoonen, "One of the Girls? The Changing Gender of

Journalism," 33-46.54. Van Zoonen, "One of the Girls? The Changing Gender of

Joumalism," 34.55. Van Zoonen, "One of the Girls? The Changing Gender of

Journalism," 35-36.56. Marilyn E. Gist, "Through the Looking Glass: Diversity and

Reflected Appraisals of the Self in Mass Media," in Women in MassCommunication, ed. Creedon, 109-110.

57. Stuart Allan, "(En)gendering the Truth Politics of NewsDiscourse," in News,Gender and Power, ed. Carter, Branston, and Allan,126,133; Gist, "Through the Looking Glass," 108-09.

58. Josephine Donovan, Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions ofAmerican Feminism (NY: Continuum, 1992), 199.

59. Arnold and Nesbitt, Women in Media 2006, 19; ReadershipInstitute, Media Management Center, Impact Study (Evanston, IL:Northwestem University, January 2000).

60. Readership Institute, Impact Study.61. Harriman, Women/Men/Management; Powell, Women and Men in

Management.62. Harriman, Women/Men/Management; Powell, Women and Men in

Management.63. American Press Institute, "Women, Men and Newsroom Leader-

ship," DVD, 2003.64. Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in

Conversation (NY: Ballantine Books, 1990), 24-25.65. Arnold and Nesbitt, Women in Media 2006, 52.66. Arnold and Nesbitt, Women in Media 2006,16-17.67. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds.. The Landscape of

Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues (Thousand Oaks, London, NewDelhi: Sage Publications, 1998), 134-36.

68. Thomas R. Lindlof, Qualitative Communication Research Methods

THE CULTURE OP A WOMEN-LED NEWSPAPER 491

(Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1995), 5.69. Linda McGee Calvert and V. Jean Ramsey, "Bringing Women's

Voice to Research on Women in Management: A Feminist Perspecfive,"Journal of Management Inquiry 1 (March 1992): 79-88; Harriman,Women/Men/Management; Liesbet Van Zoonen, Feminist Media Studies(London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publicafions, 1994), 56-64.

70. Newspaper Associafion of America, "Facts About Newspapers: AStafisfical Summary of the Newspaper Industry, http://www.naa.org/info/facts04/cmi.html (accessed August 17, 2004).

71. U.S. Census Bureau, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states(accessed September 15, 2003).

72. Sarasota County records.73. Sherry Ricchiardi, "Where Women Rule," American Journalism

Review 23 (1, 2001): 52.74. ASNE 2003 armual census; Ricchiardi, "Where Women Rule," 52.75. Ricchiardi, "Where Women Rule," 52.76. Interview with Sarasota Herald-Tribune publisher Diane McFarlin in

her office, September 11, 2003.77. Kwolek-Folland, Incorporating Women, 203-05.78. Kwolek-Folland, Incorporating Women, 203-05.79. Male Reporter No. 1, interview with author, September 11, 2003.

Note: Employees interviewed for this study are not idenfified by nameper agreement with the author, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune managers, andthe University of Missouri's Institufional Review Board. The decision tokeep employees anonymous was intended to allow them to speak freelywithout fear of retribufion.

80. Interview with Male Reporter No. 1 in Sarasota-Herald Tribunenewsroom conference room, 11 September 2003.

81. Male Reporter No. 1, interview.82. Male Reporter No. 1, interview.83. Interview with Sarasota Herald-Tribune Managing Editor Diane

Tennant at a Sarasota restaurant, September 10, 2003. Tennant replacedRosemary Armao as managing editor after Armao resigned in June 2002over an ethics dispute with Execufive Editor Janet Weaver.

84. McFarlin, interview.85. Janet Weaver, interview with author, September 12, 2003.86. Female Editor No. 1.87. Newsroom observafion of Female Editor No. l's conversafion with

another employee, December 17, 2003.88. Weaver, interview.89. Weaver, interview.90. Tannen, You Just Don't Understand, 38.91. McFarlin, interview.92. Tennant, interview.93. McFarlin, interview.94. Newsroom observation, December 19, 2003.95. Linda Steiner, "Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work," in News,

Cender and Power, ed. Carter, Branston, and Allan, 146.96. Tennant, interview.

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97. Male Reporter No. 6, posting May 16, 2002.98. Intranet posting. May 23, 2002.99. Observation of news budget meeting, June 6, 2002.

100. Observation of editors' meeting, September 10, 2003.101. Interview with Male Editor No. 1 in the newsroom, June 6, 2002.102. Interview with Male Reporter No. 2 in the newsroom, December

15, 2003.103. Male Reporter No. 2, interview.104. Interview with Male Reporter No. 3 in news bureau office, Decem-

ber 16, 2003.105. Interview with Female Photographer No. 1 in newsroom, June 5,

2002.106. Interview with Female Reporter No. 2 in the newsroom, June 5,

2002.107. Interview with Female Page Designer No. 1 in the newsroom, June

5, 2002.108. Interview with Female Reporter No. 4 at a restaurant, December

16, 2003.109. Interview with Female Reporter No. 3 at a restaurant, December

16, 2003.110. Tennant, interview.111. Interview with Rosemary Armao in newsroom conference room,

June 2, 2002.112. McFarlin, interview.113. Lisa Rab, "H-T Publisher Names New Top Editor," Sarasota Herald-

Tribune, December 20, 2003,12A.114. Bill Dedman and Stephen K. Doig, report compiled for Knight

Foundation, May 2004, http://powerreporting.com/knight/fl_saraso-ta_herald-tribune.html (accessed August 17, 2004).

115. McFarlin, interview.116. St. Petersburg Times, "Circulafion of Florida's Largest Newspa-

pers," http://www.sptimes.com/Marketbook/circulation.html (acces-sed January 15, 2004).

117. Armao, interview.118. Weaver, interview.119. Steiner, "Newsroom Accounts of Power at Work," 146.120. Tannen, You Just Don't Understand, 25.121. Donovan, Feminist Theory, 173,177; see also Tannen, You Just Don't

Understand, 38.

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