More women's sports stories are making the newspapers,
but athletes "complain the articles are often written by new
or uninterested writers and stashed deep inside the sports
section," according to the AP's Joseph White, who writes the
"discrepancies between coverage of men's and women's sports
was the main topic" at a panel discussion Thursday at the
American Society of Newspaper Editors convention. Comets G
Cynthia Cooper, who was on the panel: "I am so tired of
ignorant journalists interviewing me. I am so tired of
being Sheryl Swoopes." More Cooper: "Why should I have to
beg and plead for attention? Some journalists, they just
don't care. They don't take the time, they don't put in the
effort to treat the women with respect. We're not getting a
fair shake." White notes the panel also discussed whether
newspapers should "set aside a special page or section
devoted to women's sports." Cooper "objected to the idea of
being 'tucked away in a corner.'" But SI For Women Editor
Sandy Bailey, who also sat on the panel, said that it was
"at least a step in the right direction" (AP, 4/14).
