Reporting Feminism in 2008

Forty years after the initial surge of Second Wave activism, to what extent is feminism still on the public’s agenda, and how has it been constructed in the press? While some continue to overlook the plethora of feminist activism that has persisted since the 1980s, others have recognized, if not embraced, the presence of this Third Wave movement. Because the current status of feminist activism is highly contested and debated, this chapter seeks to examine how it was constructed 2008, paying particular attention to what it is thought to stand for, who can be considered a feminist and what issues it is thought to combat in contemporary society. As a result, this chapter examines news of feminism in 2008 in eight British and American newspapers.1 While the chapter continues to draw upon the original four publications — The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Mirror, and The Times — four new ones were added to give a broader look at the range of discourses of feminism in circulation. These include the conservative Washington Times and Daily Mail (Bush 2002; Conboy 2006; Edwards 2002), and the more liberal Washington Post and The Guardian (Dean 2010; Decter 2002; Edwards 2002; McNair 2009; Sutter 2001; Taylor 1993).