The National Women’s Political Caucus has chosen USC Annenberg Professor K.C. Cole to receive an Exceptional Merit in the Media award (EMMA) in the newspaper category for her article, “Why does ‘CEO’ mean ‘white male’?”
The NWPC created the EMMAs to recognize journalists and media outlets that address issues that affect the lives of women. Many selections include topics that sometimes “get glossed over or slip through the cracks of mainstream coverage.”
Cole’s article discusses the tendency in society to fall back on the “default assumption” that all CEOs, doctors and others in professional careers are white males.
“Having default assumptions doesn’t make us bad, just human,” Cole said in her article. “We can’t get rid of them entirely. But we can recognize how they skew our judgment and take steps to mitigate the problem and even correct for it, just as you correct when you know your car pulls to the right.”
The winners in each category were selected by a panel of journalist, celebrity and academic judges.
The ceremony and reception for the EMMAs will be held on Oct. 24 in New York.
