Female chauvinist digs

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/20/5 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

LUCKY ME. No one can accuse me of being a token female columnist, because I'm the only full-time columnist writing for this opinion page. (Editorial writer Ken Garcia writes a weekly column.)

Last month, when syndicated columnist Susan Estrich went public with her feud with Los Angeles Times Editorial Page Editor Michael Kinsley for not running enough columns by women and local writers, she put the gender card back on the table.

Credit Estrich for getting the pack journalists to find a big story in a phenomenon any rube can see. Stop the presses: Most opinion writers are men.

It doesn't help Estrich that the Los Angeles Times is not the worst offender. In the first nine weeks of 2005, the L.A. Times reported, 20 percent of its op-ed pieces were written by women, while just 17 percent were at the New York Times and a mere 10 percent at the Washington Post. Editor & Publisher, the news industry's trade magazine, looked at eight news syndicates and found that 24 percent of their opinion writers are women.

It also doesn't help Estrich that she went ballistic on this issue after the L.A. Times ran a piece written by a woman -- Charlotte Allen of the conservative Independent Women's Forum.

Estrich explained on the phone that she wants to promote both liberal and conservative women, but "after you've been trying for years to get more women voices heard, to find one of the few women voices saying where are the women voices?" -- well, she found that "insulting."

Estrich may say she wants to promote diversity of opinion as well as gender diversity, but I've been watching the diversity game for some years. In journalism, diversity is a club the left uses to increase the hiring of lefties....

[SmithL]

Well said, Debra!

[goldstategop]

As long you're a liberal, that's all that matters. "Diversity" is just an excuse to push through a slanted agenda. And the American people are wising up fast.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[HappyHere]

Someday that journalism professor is going to have students in his class who read FreeRepublic. The new media. And he thinks they don't question the status quo.

[blitzgig]

Go Debra Go!

[InABunkerUnderSF]

"Conservative" Debra J. Saunders?

"Conservative " Debra J. Saunders, who supported Clinton for reelection in '96

"Conservative " Debra J. Saunders, who supported Gray Davis in '98 and 2002, and who opposed the recall?

"Conservative " Debra J. Saunders, the token conservative columnist for the SF Comical, who writes a pretty conservative column until election season, when her real views come to the fore.

[beyond the sea]

I've been watching the diversity game for some years. In journalism, diversity is a club the left uses to increase the hiring of lefties. Feminists say they want more female columnists when what they really want are only more liberal female columnists.

So true. Sad to say, most lefty women are often very short on logic and reason.

And, sorry to say women in general tend to use tears and emotions to try to win one for their side. Sorry to say.