Missing: Women's Voices from CNN Political Debate Show

by Jen Nedeau · 2009-09-09 19:09:00 UTC
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Apparently, only men are allowed to debate politics. Or at least that is the message being sent by CNN this week after they put out a casting call for a new "Crossfire" type show, where liberal and conservative thinkers will go head to head - except all the names of possible candidates so far are of men.

The names considered for the show include Roland Martin, Errol Louis, Cenk Uygur and Steve A. Smith on the left and Roe Conn, Joe Watkins, Steve Malzberg and Joe Pagliarulo on the right.

Women's Media Center covered the story after a tip off from Media Bistro. They write:

Hopefully the names of the women candidates being considered for these slots will be released soon. As we often note at the WMC, despite being 51% of the population, women hold only 3% of clout positions in media. And as the the recent success of Rachel Maddow has shown, news consumers are hungry for a break from all-male news shows.

I certainly hope they seek more gender parity in this political debate show. Otherwise, they may find themselves caught in the crossfire of gender discrimination and sexist casting practices.

Jen Nedeau Jen Nedeau is a media relations professional and a writer based in New York City.
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