NOW calls out nets on women
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/31/2002 1:00:00 AM MT
NBC's The West Wing and Law & Order, CBS' Judging Amy and UPN's Girlfriends portray women as 'smart, resourceful and in charge,' while shows such as NBC's Fear Factor, ABC's The Bachelor and The Drew Carey Show and UPN's WWE Smackdown! show women as objects to be 'ogled, used and demeaned,' according to the National Organization for Women's third annual feminist report on prime time television.
While the Washington, D.C.-based organization had many positive things to say about many shows, it also believes much could be improved on network television in terms of reflecting real American women.
'The networks clearly feel little responsibility for what they put on the air, as long as it brings in advertising revenue,' the report said.
'The corporations who manufacture products favor targeting viewers ages 18 through 34, so that's the type of content we all get. It doesn't matter that 64 percent of prime time viewers on an average night are 35 or older.'
NOW hired field analysts to review a night of a network's regularly scheduled prime time programming, for a total of 107 prime time shows, and then to fill out a diary about the shows they watched.
The analysts responded to specific criteria, such as gender omposition and diversity, violence, sexual exploitation and social responsibility. The NOW Foundation compiled the results, assigning a score to each show and then using these scores to grade the networks in each of the four categories.
Overall, CBS appeared to be the most responsible network from NOW's point of view, winning high marks in all categories.
In gender composition, UPN and CBS had the highest scores, while ABC and Fox had the lowest.
In violence, CBS and The WB Television Network were graded to have the least violence, while Fox and NBC had the most.
CBS and NBC showed the least amount of sexual exploitation of women, while UPN and The WB showed the most, according to the report.
Finally, CBS scored the highest on social responsibility, with the other five networks 'far behind,' NOW said.
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