Misconduct ousters open doors for women in media

As more than two dozen men have lost media jobs or projects after sexual misconduct accusations in the last several months, their departures have opened doors for a handful of women.

The wave of accusations has led to other changes as well, leading to hopes that newsroom culture is improving for women in media. Digital media company Vice says it will hire more women and pay them the same as men. And more women are speaking up about harassment and unfair pay and pressing for better treatment.

Historically, there have been far fewer women than men in news organizations. Women have made up about 36 to 38 per cent of newspaper newsrooms for roughly the last 20 years, said Scott Reinardy, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas who has studied newsroom employment.

“I think you’ll see more awareness in hiring, who is in those positions of power,’’ Reinardy said.

NBC News chose Hoda Kotb to officially replace Matt Lauer on the “Today’’ morning show after he was fired in late November, after weeks of strong ratings with her filling in with Savannah Guthrie on the show’s first two hours.

They are the first all-female team at the heart of “Today’’ in its 65-year history. The third hour is anchored by Megyn Kelly.

PBS replaced Charlie Rose, fired after several women complained of unwanted sexual advances, with a Christiane Amanpour program in the first half-hour and a BBC show co-hosted by Katty Kay and Christian Fraser, for the second half-hour.

Showtime’s political TV show “The Circus’’ is replacing Mark Halperin with Alex Wagner of CBS News and the Atlantic magazine.