Out of the past: ‘Newshen’

JEERS TO those Philippine newspapers that continue to use outdated, sexist terms such as “newshen” when referring to female journalists.

In their stories about her murder, several broadsheets and tabloid referred to news correspondent Nerlie Ledesma as a “newshen”. These included:

• The Manila Bulletin (“Newshen’s gunman falls” Jan. 13, p. 9)
• Tempo (“Newshen’s gunman arrested”, Jan. 13)
• The Journal (“Bataan newshen shot dead”, Jan. 8)
• The Mindanao Daily News (“Bataan condemns newshen’s killing, offers P100,000-reward”, Jan. 10)
• Punto (“Suspect in newshen’s slay released: Cops given 15 days to strengthen case”, Jan. 13)

A quick online search of which other local news organizations have used “newshen” in their reports yielded the following results:

• Philippine Daily Inquirer/Inquirer.net (“Caught on cam: 2 TV newshens in tug of war over Deniece Cornejo”, Sept. 24, 2014); “Intrepid ‘newshen’ takes risks to tell urgent tales”, Dec. 30, 2014)
• Manila Standard Today (“Reward put up vs newshen’s two killers”, Apr. 11, 2014)
• Pilipino Star Ngayon (“P50K reward vs killer ng newshen”, April 10, 2014)
• Abante (“Moment of silence sa M’cañang para sa Abante newshen”, May 8, 2012)

Why news organizations continue to use “newshen”—a term that is as unnecessary, sexist, and outdated as male pompadours—is anyone’s guess.

In an email interview, Andrew Seaman, ethics chair of the US-based Society of Professional Journalists, told PJR Reports: “(T)his is the first time that I’m hearing the term newshens. So, I think it’s reasonable to assume the U.S. press doesn’t use the term.”

“Basically, I don’t see how the term ‘newshen’ is not a pejorative. Journalists are journalists regardless of gender. Journalists should not be made to feel inferior during the course of their work or in print or broadcasts based on sex, gender, race, age or any other attribute,” he said. “As the Society’s Code of Ethics says: Avoid stereotypes.”

“As for whether it’s the correct term to use, it’s not. A person may make the argument that the word describes a person’s gender and profession, but a person can get the gender from other details in a story, such as name and pronouns,” Seaman added.

Talking to the Philippine Journalism Review (PJR) 20 years ago, veteran journalist Malou Mangahas (now executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and host of GMA News TV’s “Investigative Documentaries”) lamented how female reporters were then called “newshens”. “She threatened to refer to male journalists as “newscocks” if the practice didn’t cease,” PJR wrote in “Women at the helm, women in the news”, Oct.-Dec. 1995, p. 11).