This study is the first book-length discussion about the ways in which the print and broadcast news media have covered women's issues in Canada. It is a feminist cultural studies analysis of an important time period in the history of Canadian women, 1966-1971. It was during this time that issues of concern to women across the country were aired before a federal inquiry, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, which issued its recommendations 30 years ago. Using the media coverage of the concerns women raised at the time, Satellite Sex demonstrates the strengths and weakness of journalism practice, and questions in particular the notion of professional objectivity. It finds that in the Canadian case, the ways in which the media covered women's issues were much more complex that previous, mostly American studies of the same era have revealed. Specifically, this book addresses the relationship between the commission and the media, the reporters' understandings of professional practice, and the ways in which they covered the issues as they came up at the hearings and were discussed in the commission's report. The issues included cultural understandings of both femininity and feminism; the meaning of equality for women in education, the work force and public life; new definitions of marital status, "working mothers" and reproductive freedom; and the specific goals and needs of aboriginal women. It also raises questions about the marginalization and loss of strong feminist voices in today's news media.

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