EOTO #4: Journalism Heros

 I have always been fascinated by women in journalism and how they were able to make a name for themselves. Since it was a male dominated profession its extra impressive when a woman was able to break her way into the industry. Marlene Sanders did exactly that. 

Sanders has paved the way for women in broadcast journalism. She is the first network news woman to report from Vietnam, she is the first woman to anchor a  prime-time network newscast, and the first woman to become Vice President of a news division. 

Born on January 10 1931 Sanders originally wanted to be an actress. She went to the Theater on the Sea in Matunuck but didn't make it very far. In New York her acting career went nowhere but she was able to get close with one of the directors Mike Wallace the future producer of 60 minutes. 

In 1955 Sanders tried her luck in the news industry. She worked as an assistant to Ted Yates who was the producer of "Mike Wallace and the News". 

She became an associate producer when Yates gave Wallace a late night television program. She worked for Wallace on his late night show Nightbeats. 

She then started to move her way up and in 1960 became a writer and producer for Westinghouse Broadcasting News program. She then became assistant news director of WNEW radio in New York. 

This is where she started to do what she would become known for. Sanders started producing and writing documentaries which would turn into her specialty father down the road. 

She produced 20 documentaries for the radio station in her short time there. 

Sanders joined ABC in 1964 and covered a wide range of events such as the assignation of President Kennedy, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, and the Vietnam war. 

She is considered the first woman news anchor when she took over one night for Ron Cochran in 1963. He had laryngitis and had to call out. This was the first time audiences saw a woman behind the news desk.

In 1966 Sanders flew to Vietnam and went into the towns to talk to local people. She covered everything about the war and became the first woman reporter to physically go to Vietnam for news.

She even had her own broadcast show for several years called "News With the Woman's Touch". It was a daily five minute afternoon news broadcast where she would briefly talk about the current events at the time. 

In 1970 she started producing documentaries for ABC about the issues occurring during the women's movement. Her most notable documentary is a profile on Sally Jane Priesand who is the first woman to be ordained as a Rabbi in America. 

Sanders was doing so well producing her documentaries that she was promoted in 1976. She became Vice President and director of documentaries at ABC making her the first woman to achieve a role this high up.

Sanders switched from ABC to CBS in 1978 and stayed for 10 years. She was a correspondent and producer for "CBS Reports" which she actually won three Emmys for. She was laid off from CBS in 1989 because of budget cuts. 

She notes this point in news as a time when "the boys are running it again" and only 20 years later says she finally saw a change.

Sanders then went on to become a journalism professor at NYU for 25 years where she taught advanced TV reporting after she retired from the news world. 

A quote that really sums up Sanders career is as follows, "I always said yes when anybody asked me 'Can you do that?' Even if I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do, I would say, 'Yeah, I can do that."

Sanders completely broke down the wall and allowed for women to enter into the news industry. She was always concerned with the voice women had in the news industry and fought for a change in sexism. She thought the word "newsman" was outdated and rather they be called "news broadcaster" instead to be inclusive of the women breaking into the field. 

In her 1988 book titled "Waiting for Prime Time: The Women of Television News" she discusses the subject and status of women in the news profession. She co-wrote this book with Marcia Rock who is also a professor at NYU and is director of news and documentary at the university.

The book includes her reporting on women's rights protests and marches. She write about her experience and what happened when she was there. 

The two specifically mentioned are the 1970 Betty Friedans National Strike for Equality and The Hand that Rocks the Ballot Box in 1972.

Sanders will always be known as the woman who paved the way and allowed other women to enter the world of news. She was the first of so many things and will forever hold the title for being in the top 100 journalists according to NYU. 

Sanders passed away on July 14 2015 from a long battle with cancer. Her son, who is a writer for the New Yorker, made the announcement on twitter. Sanders has a legacy that will linger on for many years to come. She is too big of a sensation to be forgotten about. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/black-feminist-pioneer-dorothy-pitman-hughes-dies-at-84/

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/business/media/marlene-sanders-pathbreaking-tv-journalist-dies-at-84.html

http://www.shesbeautifulwhenshesangry.com/marlene-sanders

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/marlene-sanders-television-journalist-dies-at-84/2015/07/16/af9eea2c-2bce-11e5-a250-42bd812efc09_story.html

https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-marlene-sanders-20150715-story.html

https://www.veteranfeministsofamerica.org/legacy/Marlene_Sanders.htm