ABSTRACT
Understanding the differences between women and men and the implications for news media preferences, attitudes, and expectations is the news media’s twenty-first-century imperative. Without this understanding, the news media will never fully comprehend why women turn away from some news media but embrace others. Although it cannot be predicted with certainty that recapturing lost female readers and viewers will reverse the trend of a dwindling audience, it is clear that if no action is taken to reverse the decline, the deterioration of circulation will continue and may even accelerate, which could lead to a wounded Fourth Estate and a diminished democratic society because far fewer informed citizens will be present.
