Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Author’s Note: This morning Media Matters for America announced the results of a gender and ethnic diversity study focusing on the Sunday morning talk shows. The breakdown of guests who appeared on the shows in 2005 and 2006 shows that men outnumber women by a 4-to-1 ratio.
For at least this moment in time, television news in Iowa is a man’s game.
Overall, the employees who produce Iowa’s televised newscasts are divided 58 percent male and 42 percent female. Of a total of 219 persons (news, weather and sports) throughout the state, 126 are male while 93 are female.
Of the 219 total, there are 63 individuals serving as primaries or anchors throughout the state. When we look at these individuals the gender gap widens to 70 percent male and 30 percent female.
The picture looks more balanced in the lower levels of the newsroom where 53 percent of workers are male and 47 percent are female.
At the various networks, most females work in the news department: 87 percent at ABC; 90 percent at CBS; 82 percent at FOX; and 77 percent at NBC. Overall, only 15 percent of women who work for television news organization do not work in the general news department. Further, only two percent statewide work in the sports department as compared to 25 percent of males in the field.
Libby Allison of Davenport’s KLJB FOX affiliate and Heidi Soliday of Des Moines’ KCCI CBS affiliate are the only two primary sports anchors/directors who are female in the state of Iowa. No female chief meteorologists could be found in Iowa.
Of the 16 television stations across the state examined for these statistics, most had primary anchor crews of one female and three males or two females and three males. Only one station featured a single-sex anchor team. The KWWL, Waterloo’s NBC affiliate, has a team of three men – News Anchor Ron Steele, Meteorologist Jeff Kennedy and Sports Anchor Rick Coleman. This team also holds the distinction of being the only anchor desk in the state of Iowa that includes a person of color. Coleman, a black man, more or less grew up both watching and working for KWWL, beginning his career there while still in high school.
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