I just noticed this story about Elizabeth Shaw, who was a women’s page editor in Arizona in the 1940s before a successful publishing career.

This is what the reporter wrote about Shaw’s work as the women’s page editor at the Arizona Daily Star in the 1940:
J.C. Martin, retired Star books editor, said Shaw was ahead of her time as a working mother and a journalist.

“I tend to think that good writing began to be valued in newspapers in about the ’50s and ’60s and Liz was there in the 1940s raising the standards of writing.”
Martin credits Shaw for subtly changing the mix of stories on the women’s pages. When Shaw began working at the Star, a gossip column competed for space with wedding and engagement news. Shaw sought to “put an emphasis on substance” during her seven years at the newspaper.

“There were still weddings and still engagements and still gossip, but it was sort of on the back burner by the time Liz left, and I thought that was kind of an interesting shift in content,” Martin said. “She certainly understood women’s interests and activities were changing and emphasized that in the pages of the Star – that women could do something more than make it to the altar.”

What is interesting is how early Shaw was doing this. Most journalism histories give credit to the Washington Post in 1968. Yet, time and again, I have discovered newspapers across the country that made changes much earlier.

Please follow and like us:

I just noticed this story about Elizabeth Shaw, who was a women’s page editor in Arizona in the 1940s before a successful publishing career.

This is what the reporter wrote about Shaw’s work as the women’s page editor at the Arizona Daily Star in the 1940:
J.C. Martin, retired Star books editor, said Shaw was ahead of her time as a working mother and a journalist.

“I tend to think that good writing began to be valued in newspapers in about the ’50s and ’60s and Liz was there in the 1940s raising the standards of writing.”
Martin credits Shaw for subtly changing the mix of stories on the women’s pages. When Shaw began working at the Star, a gossip column competed for space with wedding and engagement news. Shaw sought to “put an emphasis on substance” during her seven years at the newspaper.

“There were still weddings and still engagements and still gossip, but it was sort of on the back burner by the time Liz left, and I thought that was kind of an interesting shift in content,” Martin said. “She certainly understood women’s interests and activities were changing and emphasized that in the pages of the Star – that women could do something more than make it to the altar.”

What is interesting is how early Shaw was doing this. Most journalism histories give credit to the Washington Post in 1968. Yet, time and again, I have discovered newspapers across the country that made changes much earlier.

Please follow and like us: