Communications and Media

Thesis Journalism should not be limited to men only. Photo-Journalist Margaret Bourke-White disproves the ideas of E.A. Bennett. Any profession in this new age, is now acceptable for women. E.A. Bennets Practical Guide is now obsolete in this modern age. His theory maybe acceptable in the 30s but not in the 21st Century. Nowadays, we have great women leaders, women scientists, etc, and terminologies when pertaining to women must be gender-sensitive.

E.A. Bennett raised the following points and reiterated these in his Practical Guide The points raised were First, women fail to appreciate the importance of  the maxim business is business second, that women gives inattention to detail and third that women, lack of restraint.

Photo-Journalist, Margaret Bourke-White is the first female  HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiWar_correspondent o War correspondent war correspondent and the first woman to be allowed to work in combat zones during  HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiWorld_War_II o World War II World War II. In 1941, she traveled to the  HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiSoviet_Union o Soviet Union Soviet Union just as  HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiGermany o Germany Germany broke its pact of non-aggression. She was the only foreign photographer in  HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiMoscow o Moscow Moscow when German forces invaded. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy, she then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera. served as an accredited war correspondent affiliated with both LIFE and the Air Force. She survived a torpedo attack on a ship she was taking to North Africa and accompanied the bombing mission which destroyed the German airfield of El Aouina near Tunis. She later covered the Italian campaign (recorded in the book They Called It Purple Heart Valley) and was with General George Patton in spring 1945 when his troops opened the gates of the concentration camp at Buchenwald. Her photos revealed the horrors to the world.

Today, there are several women-journalists and all of them have proven their worth. Bennetts article is written in a male perspective and stereotypes women. It is not also politically correct to say women journalists why not say journalists be they male or female. Bennets guide is not gender sensitive, even his choice of words is so sexist. Another point is that when he mentioned about having to know people in the industry to get the job, that is not fair, women are there because they have the skills and intelligence. When he mentioned about the special correspondent getting the assignment simply because she was the editors wife is so sexist and prejudiced to women.

I strongly disagree if we were to compare the works of Bourke -White and  Ernie Pyle. Both works gives us a clear picture of the war. In Purple Heart Valley, Bourke White explicitly explained what a Nebelwerfer is, so this contradicts the statement of Bennet in his Practical Guide that women give inattention to details.

If we are to study the life of Margaret Bourke-White we would say that Bennett was totally wrong in his Practical Guide specially when he said women lack restraint that women are too soft in their literary style by using italics, this we did not see in Bourke-Whites novel. The famous photo-journalist has a strength of character as opposed to the category of women-journalist written by Bennett. During World War II Bourke-White served as an accredited war correspondent affiliated with both LIFE and the Air Force. She survived a torpedo attack on a ship she was taking to North Africa and accompanied the bombing mission which destroyed the German airfield of El Aouina near Tunis. She later covered the Italian campaign (recorded in the book They Called It Purple Heart Valley) and was with General George Patton in spring 1945 when his troops opened the gates of the concentration camp at Buchenwald. Her photos revealed the horrors to the world. If the photos of Margaret Bourke-White showed us the realities of war then we would say Bennett is wrong. Bourke-White even survived a torpedo attack in the Mediterranean she was strafed in Luftwaffe and even got stranded on an Arctic island. She even survived a helicopter crash in Chesapeake, and was known to all the Life Magazine staff as indestructible.

They said she was one of the most effective chroniclers thus this would contradict again Bennett when he said that women do not pay attention to details, in Purple Valley Heart, the stories were vivid, the story was more graphic that Ernies War where it was written on a first person and that the reader is brought back to where the war occurred, how it was written made the reader feel that as if experiencing the war itself, as compared to Ernies War where it was in narrative form but not as graphic as Purple Heart Valley.

Thus, women can be at par with men in chronicling war, in fact, Bourke-White was more effective than Pyle. When he posed the question that women are less accomplished journalist than men, this is not true. Both works are comparable, and Purple valley Heart even surpassed the literary style of Ernies War.

In terms of style and syntax, I would say Bennetts judgment is not fair to all women-journalist. Whatever his contentions are, it is far from obsolete in this new age.