WEBVTT 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:08.323 The mainstream media is so full of right wing and 00:00:08.323 --> 00:00:12.668 centrist news coverage that many of us who 00:00:12.668 --> 00:00:14.707 desire social change take to the internet to find 00:00:14.707 --> 00:00:16.245 out what's happening in the world 00:00:16.245 --> 00:00:18.585 The Huffington Post a so called progressive 00:00:18.585 --> 00:00:20.490 liberal newsblogs that you may have heard of 00:00:20.490 --> 00:00:23.298 was founded in 2005 by Arianna Huffington 00:00:23.298 --> 00:00:25.571 she wanted to create a liberal counterpoint to 00:00:25.571 --> 00:00:27.543 right wing sites such as the Drudge Report 00:00:27.543 --> 00:00:29.716 I'm all for liberal and progressive news blogs but 00:00:29.716 --> 00:00:31.353 the problem with HuffPo is they are continually 00:00:31.353 --> 00:00:32.830 throwing women under the bus 00:00:32.830 --> 00:00:35.676 the website is dripping with sexism 00:00:35.676 --> 00:00:38.105 Progressive politics includes issues around 00:00:38.105 --> 00:00:41.715 racism and sexism, class, disability and 00:00:41.715 --> 00:00:44.389 sexuality. According to Alexa.com the Huffington 00:00:44.389 --> 00:00:47.935 Post is the 36th most viewed site in the US 00:00:47.935 --> 00:00:50.381 It beats out the Wall Street Journal and the LA 00:00:50.381 --> 00:00:52.713 Times. In order to entice viewers they use a tactic 00:00:52.713 --> 00:00:55.387 called Link baiting. It's any content within a 00:00:55.387 --> 00:00:57.693 website design specifically to gain attention. 00:00:57.693 --> 00:00:59.765 Linkbaiting is an internet marketing strategy that 00:00:59.765 --> 00:01:01.470 relies on sensationalism to 00:01:01.503 --> 00:01:03.308 bring in viewers which then 00:01:03.308 --> 00:01:05.515 generates more ad revenue. In this case they 00:01:05.515 --> 00:01:07.587 regularly show women's nipples, cleavage and 00:01:07.587 --> 00:01:09.760 asses in order to entice views, and they even 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.099 have a section called Celebrity Skin because 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:13.971 apparently they aren't shy at all about their 00:01:13.971 --> 00:01:15.943 objectification. And let's be clear now 00:01:15.943 --> 00:01:18.216 objectification isn't just showing women's bodies 00:01:18.216 --> 00:01:20.489 it's using women's bodies to sell something 00:01:20.489 --> 00:01:22.963 so in this case they're selling "real" news stories 00:01:22.963 --> 00:01:25.236 but they are bringing people in by talking about 00:01:25.236 --> 00:01:28.278 celebrity nipples and which female politician is 00:01:28.278 --> 00:01:31.093 hotter. They often have images of half naked 00:01:31.093 --> 00:01:33.519 women right next to the "legitimate" news stories 00:01:34.919 --> 00:01:36.273 Or they will feature a popular news story like the 00:01:36.273 --> 00:01:38.773 one about the proposed mosque in New York City 00:01:38.773 --> 00:01:41.548 but they will use a nearly full screen image of a 00:01:41.548 --> 00:01:43.717 woman's body stratling a stripper pole 00:01:43.717 --> 00:01:45.659 This is fundamentally an issue about racism in 00:01:45.659 --> 00:01:47.230 America yet they're using a woman's body to 00:01:47.230 --> 00:01:49.770 gain attention. Since it's a powerful image to use 00:01:49.770 --> 00:01:52.678 as linkbait, they used it repeatedly on the site 00:01:52.678 --> 00:01:56.672 over and over and over and over again 00:01:57.057 --> 00:01:58.826 This would of course bother me in general 00:01:58.826 --> 00:02:01.336 but I'm specifically pissed off at this site because 00:02:01.336 --> 00:02:03.274 they claim to be liberal and progressive 00:02:03.274 --> 00:02:04.377 when they are clearly not when it comes to 00:02:04.377 --> 00:02:07.419 women. They have categories like Obama, Sarah 00:02:07.419 --> 00:02:10.093 Palin, economy, housing, Glenn Beck, the war 00:02:10.093 --> 00:02:11.898 And then they have an Entertainment section 00:02:11.898 --> 00:02:14.973 with categories like celebrity skin, sex tapes 00:02:14.973 --> 00:02:17.748 Lindsay Lohan, Jersey Shore, and these are all 00:02:17.748 --> 00:02:19.753 readily and easily available, they show up 00:02:19.753 --> 00:02:23.330 regularly on the home page yet I have to dig 00:02:23.330 --> 00:02:25.603 in order to find Women's Rights tucked away 00:02:25.603 --> 00:02:27.542 in the World section, which hardly ever shows up 00:02:27.542 --> 00:02:30.483 on the front page. Apparently women's rights 00:02:30.483 --> 00:02:32.555 don't rise to the level of importance as naked 00:02:32.555 --> 00:02:34.818 celebrities. 00:02:36.299 --> 00:02:37.837 This is even more apparently on their 00:02:37.837 --> 00:02:39.876 Activism section which is also tucked away and 00:02:39.876 --> 00:02:41.781 hard to find because the first three featured 00:02:41.781 --> 00:02:45.124 articles are of half naked women, you can thank 00:02:45.124 --> 00:02:47.096 PETA for that one. Because of this it's not 00:02:47.096 --> 00:02:49.235 surprising that women bloggers on the site are 00:02:49.235 --> 00:02:51.642 also treated with a similar disrespect. Although 00:02:51.642 --> 00:02:53.846 there are female and feminist bloggers on 00:02:53.846 --> 00:02:56.154 Huffington Post they rarely get featured as 00:02:56.154 --> 00:02:58.628 news items. So if it doesn't make it to the front 00:02:58.628 --> 00:03:00.232 page or the front page of their respective 00:03:00.232 --> 00:03:02.739 sections it's going to get very few views because 00:03:02.739 --> 00:03:05.480 there is so much content filtering through HuffPo 00:03:05.480 --> 00:03:07.419 everyday. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting 00:03:07.419 --> 00:03:09.625 did a study that found that only 23% of featured 00:03:09.625 --> 00:03:10.962 content was written by women. 00:03:10.962 --> 00:03:13.402 I know what you are thinking, it was founded by 00:03:13.402 --> 00:03:16.377 a woman, a powerful woman and yes but Sarah 00:03:16.377 --> 00:03:18.850 Palin is also a powerful woman and look at how 00:03:18.850 --> 00:03:21.424 disgraceful she is when it comes to women's 00:03:21.424 --> 00:03:24.065 rights. Just because it's female fronted doesn't 00:03:24.065 --> 00:03:25.636 change the fact that it's structurally and 00:03:25.636 --> 00:03:28.577 institutionally excluding women from the 00:03:28.577 --> 00:03:31.017 intellectual sphere and most often only featuring 00:03:31.017 --> 00:03:34.560 women as linkbait. The popularity of this site 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.599 serves to define progressive politics and they're 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:39.106 saying that woman aren't really included in any 00:03:39.106 --> 00:03:42.014 substantial capacity. Too often websites like the 00:03:42.014 --> 00:03:44.254 Huffington Post gets to claim a progressive slant 00:03:44.254 --> 00:03:46.493 while treating women in ways that liberals would 00:03:46.493 --> 00:03:49.000 be pretty pissed off about if they saw it on Fox 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.340 News. Any progressive news site worth following 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:54.048 clearly and transparently includes race, gender, 00:03:54.048 --> 00:03:56.722 sexuality, class and ability throughout the entire 00:03:56.722 --> 00:03:58.660 site, not just when it's convenient for their 00:03:58.660 --> 00:04:00.432 marketing strategy.