Culture
OU Professor’s Book Spotlights Female Broadcast Pioneer
By: Amy Schmitt
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This Wednesday, the Ohio University Women’s Center will spotlight E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Professor Marilyn Greenwald and her new book, Pauline Frederick Reporting: A Pioneering Broadcaster Covers the Cold War.
A party celebrating the book’s release is being held on March 25 from 4-6 p.m. in the Women’s Center, located in Baker Center 403.
“We’ve had a number of book parties to celebrate women faculty members who have published, which obviously is a great accomplishment. It’s just a fun, relaxing event,” said. Women’s Center Program Coordinator Sarah Tucker Jenkins.
Greenwald’s book follows the life and career of the first female network news correspondent. Frederick made her name as a journalist during the 1930s – a time when many male politicians wouldn’t even consider being interviewed by a woman.
Frederick faced many obstacles throughout her career, but, through hard work and determination, ended up having a successful 50-year career in a heavily male-dominated field.
“I hadn’t heard of Pauline Frederick before I started planning the book party, but she’s clearly a pioneer in journalism for women, which has continued to be a very male-dominated field,” Jenkins said. “It’s horrible that more of us don’t know who she is.”
Greenwald, who was a journalist early in her career, will speak at the event. In addition to working as a reporter for The Painesville Telegraph, The Columbus Citizen-Journal and The Columbus Dispatch, Greenwald has written and published multiple biographies, including A Woman of the Times: Journalism, Feminism and the Career of Charlotte Curtis, and Cleveland Amory: Media Curmudgeon and Animal Rights Crusader.
Jenkins encourages the OU and Athens communities to attend the event and learn more about Greenwald’s latest subject.
“I definitely think it’s a history that anyone who’s interested in journalism–especially women, but anyone else as well–should know about,” she said.
The Little Professor Book Center will provide copies of the book for purchase and to be autographed by Greenwald. The event will also include a Q&A, food and refreshments.