CNN's Brooke Baldwin: Gender gap still an issue in broadcast journalism

CNN afternoon anchor Brooke Baldwin, who announced in February she was leaving the cable news network, says gender disparity remains an issue in broadcast journalism that affects how women and women's issues are covered.

Baldwin, 41, who joined CNN in 2008, said Tuesday on Ms. magazine's podcast "On the Issues with Michele Goodwi‪n": "The most influential anchors on our network, the highest-paid, are men. My bosses, my executives, are men. The person who oversees CNN dayside is a man, and my executive producer for 10 years is a man. So I have been surrounded by a lot of men."

Baldwin, whose book "Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power" came out Tuesday, allowed that during her time coming up in journalism, "Yes, there would be certainly women in the newsroom, but oftentimes, especially early on, they were women with very sharp elbows," a metaphor for aggressive careerism. Primarily, "I was surrounded by a lot of dudes."

That is changing, she said. "I know it is … just by looking at some of the faces that are popping up more and more on our channel and on other channels." She noted, "We have a woman who is in charge of CNN Digital, CNN.com. We have now a woman who is in charge of most of domestic newsgathering. So little by little, by having women in places of power — and I would argue behind-the-scenes, not just in front, but behind-the-scenes — that is how you then have stories that reflect who they are."

She cautioned against such change concentrating on "only white women. We talk about … being intersectional. There is no way we will have progress if a bunch of white women are winning. Right? There is no way. So it's brown women, Black women, Asian women, it's across the board. We have to see them reflected in our stories. And it's getting better but we still have a bit of a ways to go, I think."

On Thursday, thanking fellow CNN anchor Jake Tapper for having her on his show to promote her book the day before, Baldwin on Instagram gave a "SHOUT OUT to the many good men who support women huddling. We need you."

Baldwin had announced on Feb. 16 that she was departing CNN in April. "This next life chapter will focus on what I love the most about my work: amplifying the lives of extraordinary Americans and putting my passion for storytelling to good use," she said on air, adding, "No, I don't have a job I'm jumping right into. Yes, I'm feeling very vulnerable … And I am so excited about what is to come."