{"id":19,"date":"2023-11-29T19:41:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T19:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/?page_id=19"},"modified":"2024-05-15T13:58:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T13:58:33","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/","title":{"rendered":"How news organizations can better support working mothers and other caregivers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Illus\u00adtra\u00adtion by Haleigh Schmidt<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How news organizations can better support working mothers and other caregivers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Made\u00adline Pap\u00adcun<\/a> | UConn Jour\u00adnal\u00adism
April 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a senior jour\u00adnal\u00adism major attend\u00ading the 2023 Jour\u00adnal\u00adism and Women Symposium\u2019s Con\u00adfer\u00adence and Men\u00adtor\u00ading Pro\u00adgram in Chica\u00adgo, Illi\u00adnois, I noticed a replay\u00ading theme. Speak\u00ader after speak\u00ader ref\u00ader\u00adenced their dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adties bal\u00adanc\u00ading fam\u00adi\u00adly life and their careers as jour\u00adnal\u00adists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether shared as a quip or quick joke while the crowd laughed, or morose\u00adly recount\u00aded as a time where they were forced to choose between their fam\u00adi\u00adly and their job as the audi\u00adence solemn\u00adly nod\u00added, every\u00adone seemed to \u201cget it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My dou\u00adble major in jour\u00adnal\u00adism and human devel\u00adop\u00adment and fam\u00adi\u00adly sci\u00adence con\u00adverged: Why is it so hard to be a jour\u00adnal\u00adist and a moth\u00ader or care\u00adgiv\u00ader? What will it take to rec\u00adon\u00adcile the two?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a soon-to-be col\u00adlege grad\u00adu\u00adate embark\u00ading on my own career in the news indus\u00adtry, I won\u00addered why work-life bal\u00adance strug\u00adgles were such a uni\u00adver\u00adsal expe\u00adri\u00adence among female-iden\u00adti\u00adfy\u00ading jour\u00adnal\u00adists. These are the ques\u00adtions I sought to inves\u00adti\u00adgate over the course of this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the ear\u00adly stages of my research, I came across Christy DeSmith\u2019s insight\u00adful Jan\u00adu\u00adary 2022 opin\u00adion piece for Poyn\u00adter, \u201cJour\u00adnal\u00adism can\u2019t keep los\u00ading moth\u00aders and oth\u00ader fam\u00adi\u00adly care\u00adgivers<\/a>.\u201d DeSmith argues that news cov\u00ader\u00adage is lack\u00ading with\u00adout a care\u00adgiver\u2019s per\u00adspec\u00adtive in the news\u00adroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSmith\u2019s piece opens with her acknowl\u00adedg\u00ading that she\u2019d always known it \u201cwouldn\u2019t be easy to be a jour\u00adnal\u00adist and a moth\u00ader all at once.\u201d DeSmith left her \u201chard-won news\u00adpa\u00adper career\u201d when the demands of \u201cpan\u00addem\u00adic-era fam\u00adi\u00adly life\u201d began to over\u00adwhelm\u00ading\u00adly clash with the demands of her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was already dif\u00adfi\u00adcult hav\u00ading to be in two places at once,\u201d DeSmith said to me in a Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 2023 video call inter\u00adview, explain\u00ading the needs of par\u00adent\u00ading and the needs of being an edi\u00adtor. \u201cThen the pan\u00addem\u00adic hit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSmith explains in her Poyn\u00adter essay that she noticed she wasn\u2019t the only female jour\u00adnal\u00adist doing so, not\u00ading that while any care\u00adgiv\u00ader who \u201cstepped up for their fam\u00adi\u00adlies\u201d was affect\u00aded pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly by the school and day\u00adcare dis\u00adrup\u00adtions and youth men\u00adtal health cri\u00adsis that COVID-19 caused, moth\u00aders were impact\u00aded at high\u00ader rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I did more research and talked with female jour\u00adnal\u00adists, I heard sim\u00adi\u00adlar themes. These accom\u00adplished pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adals that I strive to be like told sto\u00adries about bal\u00adanc\u00ading acts and sup\u00adport sys\u00adtems, miss\u00ading out on child\u00adhood mile\u00adstones or bring\u00ading their kids along to press con\u00adfer\u00adences \u2014 every\u00adone had an anec\u00addote that spoke to sac\u00adri\u00adfice, both at home and in the work\u00adplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For exam\u00adple, Angela Greil\u00ading Keane, pres\u00adi\u00addent of JAWS<\/a> and news direc\u00adtor at Bloomberg Gov\u00adern\u00adment, told me about her time as a reporter cov\u00ader\u00ading the White House. She explained it was a \u201ccool\u201d beat to have, but the extreme\u00adly long hours and the amount of trav\u00adel\u00ading required made it hard as a par\u00adent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a unique expe\u00adri\u00adence,\u201d Keane said. \u201cIt\u2019s some\u00adthing a lot of peo\u00adple jug\u00adgle.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s not a unique expe\u00adri\u00adence, and it is some\u00adthing a lot of peo\u00adple jug\u00adgle, sure\u00adly news\u00adrooms would have fig\u00adured it out by now? My research and inter\u00adviews point\u00aded to larg\u00ader sys\u00adtemic fail\u00adures with\u00adin the news indus\u00adtry that ulti\u00admate\u00adly placed the entire bur\u00adden on the indi\u00advid\u00adual \u2014 hence DeSmith\u2019s fears of jour\u00adnal\u00adism lack\u00ading sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant cov\u00ader\u00adage as moth\u00aders and care\u00adgivers are forced out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter, Bar\u00adbara Selvin.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Next: Case Study \u2014 Bar\u00adbara Selvin<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How news orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions can bet\u00adter sup\u00adport work\u00ading moth\u00aders and oth\u00ader care\u00adgivers By Made\u00adline Pap\u00adcun | UConn Jour\u00adnal\u00adismApril 2024 As a senior jour\u00adnal\u00adism major attend\u00ading the 2023 Jour\u00adnal\u00adism and Women Symposium\u2019s Con\u00adfer\u00adence and Men\u00adtor\u00ading Pro\u00adgram in Chica\u00adgo, Illi\u00adnois, I noticed a replay\u00ading theme. Speak\u00ader after speak\u00ader ref\u00ader\u00adenced their dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adties bal\u00adanc\u00ading fam\u00adi\u00adly life and their careers as\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":908,"featured_media":229,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-no-title.php","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/journalism-mothers-caregivers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}