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Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City Seasons 1-6)
"Sex and the City" is a far fry from the journalistic dramas that make up this list. Instead, SATC centers in on the personal drama of its female leads, rather than the professional drama. Nonetheless, Sarah Jessica Parker portrays a journalist in a stereotypical female-cast role in a stereotypically female-cast niche: a successful sex columnist. -
Joan Callamezzo (Parks and Recreation Seasons 1-6)
Joan Callamezzo represents one of the worst stereotypes of a broadcast journalist. She is constantly trying to humiliate her show's guests (namely Leslie Knope, the protagonist) to get a "gotcha" moment. For Joan, it is all about the drama. She has zero integrity. Though she is clearly an exaggeration of broadcast journalists, she can be considered representative of the sensationalism that broadcast journalists have been criticized of perpetuating through their method of storytelling. -
Shauna Malwae-Tweep (Parks and Recreation Seasons 1-6)
Shauna is more ethical than her "Parks and Recreation" counterpart Joan Callamezzo, and overall has good intentions and motives. What she is stereotypical of is women in general. She is always on the heels of a big story, but unfortunately, is just as often on the arm of a male character on the show. Her proririties seem to ping pong back and forth between her professional life and dating life. Some may argue that's realistic - I think it is a show-writing cop-out. -
Maggie Jordan (The Newsroom Seasons 1-2)
Tsk tsk, Maggie Jordan. Maggie is first introduced to us by her character flaws- she "accidentally" got hired after interning at Atlantic Cable News, and makes some heinous mistakes along the way. Though she does express interest to strengthen her journalism chops by volunteering to work on a huge news package filmed in Africa, her primary motivation is get away from an office romance gone sour. Classic man-infatuated female journalist. C'mon Aaron Sorkin. Maggie deserved more independence. -
Mackenzie McHale (The Newsroom Seasons 1-2)
Mackenzie McHale is brilliant, but that is often overshadowed by her manic panicking over men, namely Atlantic Cable News anchor Will, and tension that remains from their past relationship. Unfortunately, the executive producer can't simply be an extremely intelligent woman- she has to have some element of "madness" to her, because apparently, standing alone as an independent, ambitious, goal-oriented woman is not enough to create a captivating character. -
Georgia Gibbons (Political Animals)
At the fictional Washington Globe newsroom, character Georgia Gibbons is depicted as the ambitious young hot writer who manages a Globe blog. She is trying to break onto the journalism scene with her first hard news scandal, and is willing to sleep with her boss, blackmail fellow colleagues and break other ethical guidelines to get a scoop. Yet another example of sex, in some form, dictating a female reporter's personal plotline. -
Susan Berg (Politcal Animals)
For the most part, Susan Berg has her stuff together. She is sharp and ambitious, and though she has her share of ethical slip-ups, she really tries to balance her morals with her career goals later on in the season, as displayed by her substantial character growth. But it is her initial introduction, as a female journalist whose claim to fame is criticizing another woman for being "anti-feminist," that earns her character the age-old stereotype of being a "parasite." -
Zoe Barnes (House of Cards Season 1)
Zoe Barnes is a widely critcized female journalistic character. She is smart and ambitious at her best, and manipulative and insulting to female journalists at her worst. Zoe trades sex for scoops with Congressman Frank Underwood, and uses the power of her attractiveness to her advantage. Newsflash: Rarely is a female reporter as attractive at actress Kate Marra. They generally have to rely on their journalistic skills to get the job done, something Zoe frequently fails to tap into. -
Janine Skorsky (House of Cards Seasons 1-2)
Janine Skorsky of The Washington Herald seems to be a serious journalist, despite her nonchalant reveal that she used to sleep with whoever she could to get dirt for a story. She is also condescending and disrespectful toward young reporter Zoe Barnes and initially dismissive of Zoe's support for social media and multimedia journalistic forms, before teaming up with Zoe. Overall, she is drawn as the veteran reporter who has seen it all and doesn't want to change with the times- until she has to. -
Ayla Sayyad (House of Cards Season 2)
Ayla Sayyad is journalistic gold in terms of being a fictional female reporter role model. She is the intelligent, fast-talking and meticulous reporter at the Washington Telegraph and is the first female reporter "House of Cards" introduces who, though she is attractive, has no experience using her looks, nor a currency of sex, to get the information she needs.
