The Women's Media Center Responds to Media Coverage of Michelle Obama CoverageJune 13, 2008 (New York) - The following statement from Carol Jenkins, president of The Women's Media Center, is given in response to increasing concerns about the tone and language used in media coverage of Michelle Obama: "The Women's Media Center congratulates mainstream media for finally raising the issue of sexism in its coverage. They join the thousands who have viewed our Sexism Sells, But we're Not Buying video-and the thousands who've signed our online petition to hold networks accountable. "Unfortunately, even as media professionals are finally taking a look at sexism in the coverage of Hillary Clinton's campaign, we must now pull the brakes on the building assault on the media's next target, Michelle Obama. She is now the subject of countless columns and conversations, websites and jokes-some of them racist as well as sexist, a very combustible mix. "An onscreen graphic during Fox News Channel's "America's Election HQ Coverage" referred to Michelle Obama as Barack's "baby mama" (the common term for the unmarried mother of a man's children). This should be a warning shot we all need to heed. If the media can, this time, take responsibility, employ good judgment, and mute the incessant talk and repetition of insults, perhaps we can avoid sexist and racist media coverage. These kinds of characterizations demean not just Michelle Obama, but women everywhere of every color. "Fox has said the offending graphic was poor judgment on the part of a producer-but we say it is more likely due to the absence of women and people of color in positions of power at Fox and elsewhere in the mainstream news media. An inclusive, clued-in staff might save the networks and other media entities from embarrassing themselves further."
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