Elon junior Brandi Little and Connie Book, assistant professor of journalism and communications, made a presentation about their research findings during a panel discussion held March 25 at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. Details...
Little and Book were part of a panel discussion titled “Women in Communications: How are we doing?” The group shared their perspectives with FCC staff members on the gains women have made in the communications field, and where there is still room for improvement.
After the meeting, the Elon contingent also had a chance to meet FCC Chairman Michael Powell (photo at right).
Little presented findings that she and fellow student Nichelle Harrison, along with Book, discovered during their analysis of women featured in Fifth Estater, a column in Broadcasting & Cable magazine. They compiled the latest data in research initiated by students in an earlier class taught by Book.
Each week, the Fifth Estater column profiles a successful executive in the broadcast or cable television industry.
The researchers found that the column featured more women, 15 percent, from 1998-2003, than it did from 1993-1997, when women were featured 10 percent of the time.
The increase in the coverage of women came after Book’s students met with the FCC and editorial staff at the magazine.
Little, a junior and recipient of a Rawls Undergraduate Research grant, says her research on the latest set of data has inspired her to do more to increase the role of women in media.
“We’re working on a paper about these findings, which I hope will be accepted by a journal or another publication,” Little says. “I want the opportunity to share this data with as many people as possible, because this is an important issue. The FCC can play a part in giving women more access to leadership roles in the future.”