And the world over the last forty years. From the good folks at the Columbia Journalism Review. We owe our thanks to these trialblazers. Are there others you would have on this list?
Jill Abramson — First woman to be executive editor of The New York Times
Christiane Amanpour — CNN’s fearless, globe-trotting war correspondent
Tina Brown — Author and editor who rescued Vanity Fair, updated The New Yorker, and became the first woman on top at Newsweek
Betsy Carter — Visionary and mentorly founder of New York Woman magazine
Connie Chung — First Asian-American prime-time news anchor
Gail Collins — First woman named editorial-page editor of The New York Times
Katie Couric — First woman to solo-anchor a prime-time network news broadcast
Christine Craft — A 40-something TV news anchor who sued for age discrimination (she was demoted in 1981 after a focus group said she was “too old, too unattractive and wouldn’t defer to men”)
Anthea Disney — The Rupert whisperer, who blazed trails across all platforms of the Murdoch media empire
Nora Ephron — The most successful Hollywood director New York journalism ever produced (yes, she did time at the New York Post, Newsweek, and Esquire)
Arianna Huffington — Author and networker extraordinaire whose viral blog network upended the industry
Charlayne Hunter-Gault — Heroine of school desegregation who joined what was then known as The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978. She later left PBS to report from South Africa for NPR and CNN.
Molly Ivins — Trenchant columnist who stood taller in her cowboy boots than most men
Dorothy Kalins — Launcher of magazines (Saveur, Garden Design) and peerless spotter of young talent
Geraldine Laybourne — Longtime TV executive and cofounder of Oxygen, where she instituted a crossgenerational Mentor’s Walk for women in various fields
Frances Lear — Creator of her groundbreaking eponymous magazine “for women of a certain age”
Ellen Levine — Longtime editorial boss at Hearst Magazines, who has shepherded dozens of magazines and launched hundreds of careers
Carol Loomis Exemplary financial journalist at Fortune, where she’s worked since 1954
Susan Lyne — Now in online commerce, but a supreme role model and mentor as founder of Premiere and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Rebecca MacKinnon — Co-founder of the Global Voices online community and former Beijing bureau chief for CNN; now a wise voice on global Internet policy
Sonia Nazario — Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist (“Enrique’s Journey”)
Martha Nelson — Founding editor of InStyle, now a heartbeat away from running the almighty edit side of Time Inc.
Asra Q. Nomani — Muslim feminist author who spent 15 influential years at The Wall Street Journal
Peggy Orenstein — New York Times Magazine writer who has brought feminist and motherhood issues into the 21st century
Geneva Overholser — Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Des Moines Register, now a journalism educator and all-around role mode
Lynn Povich and the other women who sued Newsweek for sex discrimination
Anna Quindlen — Newspaperwoman turned novelist and essayist who makes everyday life lyrical
Maria Elena Salinas — Iconic anchor of Univision news programs
Diane Sawyer — First female correspondent on 60 Minutes now anchoring ABC News
Liz Smith — The grande dame of showbiz news, dogged campaigner for literacy, and mentor to many
Lesley Stahl — Trailblazer in Washington coverage who has become a standard bearer for 60 Minutes
Susan Stamberg — The original voice of NPR’s “All Things Considered
Gloria Steinem and the Ms. crew, who (among other things) changed the way the world addresses women
Martha Stewart — Embodiment of the human multimedia brand
Kara Swisher — Co-founder of All Things D, who crashed the frat party of tech coverage
Betsy Wade and the women who sued The New York Times for sex discrimination
Barbara Walters — TV news pioneer with many firsts to her credit
Ruth Whitney — Who in 31 years as editor of Glamour mentored talents such as Cindi Leive and Charla Krupp
Oprah Winfrey — Queen of all media
Susan Zirinsky — The first woman to produce a prime-time network news show, for CBS
The Divine Sisterhood — CJR
