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Evaluating the Role of the Four Fs
Journalism history largely defines most of the content of the women’s pages as the four Fs: family, fashion, food and furnishings. Yet, my research has shown that these Fs were not treated equally. Most metro women’s pages had a fashion editor and a food editor. Some newspapers had a reporter devoted to the furnishings beat – but this topic might be covered in a real estate section instead of the women’s pages. For example, the above 1953 in-house ad for the Milwaukee Journal shows that former women’s page reporter Lois Hagen was now covering furnishings for the home section. I have yet to find a newspaper with a family editor.…
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Importance of Soft News
I enjoyed this Michele Weldon column in the Huff Post about Nora Ephron who I mentioned in an earlier post about her role as a food writer: “I did not want to uncover wrongs, chase fires, topple governments or even stay up all night waiting for a secret call. I wanted to write essays, columns, features, profiles, trend stories and books, digging into popular culture and honoring the sanctity of individual stories — even my own. I wanted to correct persistent ill-conceived notions through a personal lens, framed by my own experiences with wit and savvy intelligence that was part Erma Bombeck — but wickedly cool. I wanted to be Nora Ephron.”This concept is…
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A website devoted to the history of newspaper women's pages
