In an open letter to top newspaper and network executives, the group said news outlets should not be alone think about problematic stereotypes of women who are considered for the position but “actively work to be anti-racist and anti-sexist in your coverage.”
The letter was signed by about a dozen women, including leaders at the National Center for Women’s Law, Planned Parenthood, TimesUp, Supermajority and more.
“We’ve seen so many disappointing things,” Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategist involved in the group, told CNN’s Brian Stelter on “Reliable Sources” Sunday. “A mockery of Kamala Harris’s ambition, as if any politician running for president would not be ambitious,” she said. “Whether candidates are the same or not. There were just so many examples that kind of abused us.”
Errin Haines, editor-in-chief of The 19th * who handled the vice-presidential contest, joined. (Haines was not involved in writing the letter.)
“We are all waiting to find out who Joe Biden will choose as his vice-presidential running mate, but what is known is a few things,” she told Stelter. “One is that she will be a woman. And the other is that she can expect to be attacked, devastated and criticized for weighing ambition, capacity and a voice in American politics.”
“That action involved being more cautious about the choice of narratives for stories, including more Black people and people of color on the front of reporting and behind the scenes producing and editing,” the letter reads. “In short, the times and the experience made you, the most powerful people in media, stop and think about your role in fighting inequality and the opportunity you had to promote equality and simple justice with your reporting of the news.”
Said Rosen: “What we’re saying is: you should think the same kind of thing to cover a woman.”
In addition to sexist portraits, the letter points out that Black women and other women of color vying for the VP position stand for more unjust control and stereotyping.
“For the women of color in this conversation, what we have seen is a disrespect that is a double attack on their race and gender,” Haines said.
Taking over these problems is a natural continuation of the conversations that chambers have had in recent months, according to the letter.
“Anything less than full involvement in this thought oversight would be a tremendous step backwards for the progress you have made to expand diversity of thought and opportunity in your newsrooms and in your coverage,” the letter reads. .
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