(Courtsey of www.smu.edu)
Awards and pictures hung on the walls of the small office and decorated the floor to ceiling bookshelf.
Sticky notes scrawled in a deft hand added small pops of color amidst the white papers, which riddled the dark wood desk.
They all told a story-or parts of one.
The assertive voice coming from the high-backed black swivel chair, a familiar one to most journalism students, filled in the rest.
“Well then, I decided that teaching was OK,” said SMU journalism professor Carolyn Barta as she laughed and concluded her story.
Barta’s story does not start with teaching, but with a young woman who had a passion for covering government and politics, and refused to give up on her dream. Through perseverance, hard work and an I-won’t-take-no-for-an-answer attitude, Barta paved the way for future female journalists, overcoming barriers in covering stories and discrimination as a working mother-to-be, leaving behind a legacy that cannot be forgotten.
“What happened to Carolyn affected other women in the newsroom, because we knew if the newspaper wouldn’t bend for her, it certainly wouldn’t bend for any of the rest of us either,” said friend and colleague, Cheryl Hall, business columnist at The Dallas Morning News.
Barta attended Texas Tech University, where she received her bachelor’s in journalism. After graduation she worked briefly for The Dallas Morning News, before taking a job in Hawaii.
In 1963, after about a year there, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Barta found herself feeling out of touch.
“I thought here I am in Hawaii playing golf, learning how to surf and writing for the community, while everything is happening at home and in D.C.,” said Barta.
Barta returned home and got a job in the office of a U.S. senator. Barta said her time there taught her what she wanted to do: cover government and public policy.
Barta applied and was accepted into the University of Texas’ Communication and Public Affairs Program, taking her back to her home of Dallas, where she earned her master’s.
Upon completion, Barta was hired by The Dallas Morning News to work on the city desk, writing obituaries, general assignments and rewrites.
“I started to try to work my way into what I wanted to do,” said Barta, “which was political writing.”
At that time the only options for women working on the city desk were stories on religion, education and health and medicine. Sports, the police beat and the county courthouse were all off limits to women.
“There were no women in management whatsoever, other than the lifestyle section, which was edited by a woman,” Barta noted. “It was an all boys club. That situation has totally changed today.”
That change is due, in part, to Barta’s refusal to give up on her dream.
Barta did not let the restraints hold her back. She pushed forward, looking for any opportunity to reach her dream. Soon the education beat opened up, so Barta asked to do that. Next the city council beat opened up, and she applied to that.
Slowly but surely, Barta began working her way into covering city government. She sighed, shaking her head at the memory, and saying at least it was some form of government.
Then came her chance; the local political beat had come open, and Barta jumped to ask the city editor for the position.
“I was told at the time, ‘you know you really can’t go to the bars with the politicians; you can’t go play golf with the politician like the guy at Dallas Times Herald. You can’t really compete with him,'” stated Barta, “So they gave it to another man.”
For most being turned down like that would have been enough to throw up the white flag and find a new dream, but not Barta.
In 1972, the local political beat opened up once more, and she decided to apply again. This time she was put on the beat, but with a man, becoming a co-local political writer.
“As luck would have it, he later moved to Austin and left me with it,” said Barta, a little twinkle in her eyes. “That was the real break through.”
Barta noticed a change fairly quickly after that as women started getting more opportunities for stories in different areas.
As the barriers on reporting for women began to weaken, other things had yet to change.
While working her way toward her dream, Barta had two children and was fired during both pregnancies.
“When I had my first baby, in 1968, the rule was probably unwritten, but I just remember being told, when you’re six months pregnant you have to quit,” she said.
At seven months an executive editor noticed Barta, who had chosen to ignore the unspoken rule, and the following day Barta was told she had to leave.
The city editor told her as soon as there was an opening they would take her back, so five months after having her baby, Barta went back to The Dallas Morning News-as a new employee.
Barta’s second pregnancy was much the same, although this time the city editor and she made a deal that she would take three months off unpaid, but they would hold her job for her.
That was progress, thought Barta. However, when she returned she was told to go get her paperwork and medical exam done. She had been terminated.
Both of her pregnancies led to the loss of her tenure, affecting her pension, vacation time and seniority.
“Carolyn truly had the rawest of deals with losing her seniority twice,” said Hall, Carolyn’s colleague.
Hall, herself, had to use 19 years worth of unused sick leave when she had her daughter.
Rena Pederson, former editorial page editor at The Dallas Morning News, helped establish the maternity leave policy, when she spoke with her editor about the lack of structure for her when she returned.
“He asked what was a reasonable amount of time, and here I was standing in the hall and off the top of my head I said, well, probably six weeks to two months,” recounted Pederson. “He said we will find a way to do that, and he did.”
Pederson went on to say she thought people had begun to realize something needed to change after what happened to Barta.
The Dallas Morning News later bridged Barta’s time.
From 1972 to 1976, Barta covered local politics, and then she began covering state politics from Dallas.
“I got my foot wet in covering presidential elections,” said Barta of her experience covering Jimmy Carter’s run for president.
Her next step came in 1980 when she covered the primaries for George H. Bush and John Connally, and was put on the campaign trail with Bush.
Barta continued to move her way to national government, and by 1984 she was the editor in charge of all election coverage for The Dallas Morning News.
In 1996, Barta decided she wanted to go back to actually covering politics. By then her kids were grown and she did not have the same guilt for not being there with them as she had when they were young.
When her kids were young it was up to Barta to make arrangements when she’d be gone, whether that be with family members or hired help, as husbands did not step in and share the responsibility of taking care of children. Barta said if her family had not stepped up to help, she doesn’t know if she could’ve traveled or worked as she did.
“If this was what I wanted to do with my career, I had to figure out a way to do it,” she said.
Barta was moved to the national desk, where she became the national correspondent, traveling around the country covering various trend and politically oriented stories, and ultimately covering the presidential elect
ions of 1996 and 2000.
She had achieved her dream.
In 2001, Barta covered, what she calls her last big story on the national desk: Sept. 11. For three to four months she worked as a reporter and editor coordinating coverage, covering stories from New York, and writing follow-ups.
“I think it took an emotional toll on me, and I thought, I need to do something else,” said Barta.
At that time, Barta was working as an adjunct teacher at SMU, and she decided it was time to take on teaching full time.
In 2002, Barta accepted a job as a journalism professor at SMU, but kept one foot in the door at The Dallas Morning News, in case she didn’t like teaching.
“I really enjoyed teaching,” said Barta smiling, “and thought I had an opportunity to pass on what I’ve learned to this generation.”
So in 2004, after 39 years at The Dallas Morning News, Barta retired.
“Everything I did there I loved. I loved my job. The various jobs I had. It didn’t seem like a long time,” said Barta.
Barta has been at SMU for just over ten years, and teaches several journalism classes, including a class called media and politics.
“I think professor Barta’s wealth of knowledge and years of experience in the industry truly inspires pupils in her classes,” said E.J. Holland, a student of Barta’s and junior at SMU.
Barta’s career of hard work in the newsroom changed the world of journalism for women, and to this day, she continues to make her mark as she passes her wisdom to the next generation of journalists.
“One thing I was able to do was blaze a trail in covering a new area for a female reporter,” said Barta of her career, but it is clear she has done much more than that.
