Dayhoff Soundtrack: L'Wren Scott, and the awful truth about women's obituaries-Well written By Stassa Edwards March 20, 2014 Just saying

Friday, March 21, 2014

L'Wren Scott, and the awful truth about women's obituaries-Well written By Stassa Edwards March 20, 2014 Just saying

http://theweek.com//article/index/258258/lwren-scott-and-the-awful-truth-about-womens-obituaries

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2014/03/lwren-scott-and-awful-truth-about.html

Labels: Journalism, Journalism sloppy, People Obituaries, Women, Women's Issues

Coverage of the fashion designer's passing was just the latest example of a sad journalistic tradition

By Stassa Edwards March 20, 2014

When news broke that respected fashion designer L'Wren Scott had passed away on Monday, The New York Times noted her suicide with the regrettable headline "Mick Jagger's Girlfriend Found Dead."

The Times wasn't alone in its faux pas; the Associated Press dutifully tweeted, "BREAKING: Law enforcement: Mick Jagger' [sic] girlfriend, L'Wren Scott, found dead in NYC of possible suicide." Though the AP managed to slip Scott's name in the headline of the report, both news organizations seemed to agree: Scott's death was newsworthy only because of her romantic association with a legendary rock and roller. Editors at neither The New York Times nor the Associated Press seemed to grasp that Scott's untimely death was newsworthy because of her professional accomplishments.

One would think that after the stroganoff incident, the Gray Lady in particular would have found a better way to note the passing of accomplished women, but it clearly hasn't. The poor handling of Scott's death speaks more broadly to the difficulty of recounting a woman's life — namely the determination of a hierarchy of facts, a project that should seem gender neutral but rarely is. It often seems natural enough to define women by their relationships — wife, mother, girlfriend, etc. — and let famous men be memorialized for their accomplishments, their family lives taking a backseat. This was certainly the case with the aforementioned stroganoff incident, in which the Times' obituary writers downgraded Yvette Brill from rocket scientist to pretty good cook.

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2014/03/lwren-scott-and-awful-truth-about.html

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