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The performance appraisal process has been the focus of much researcher and practitioner attention. In spite of this attention, methods used in performance appraisal are generally ineffective in increasing the quality of performance appraisal processes. Thus, while performance appraisal processes have evolved, progress has been less forthcoming. There are many areas related to the performance appraisal process which are ripe for development and research creativity.

Over the past 100 years, the interview has received much attention. It is generally agreed that the interview is modest in terms of reliability or validity. In spite of this, it will continue to be used as a selection tool. Research has shown that structured interviews are more reliable than unstructured interviews. It has also been suggested that group interviews and extensive interviewer training modestly improve interview validity. Little theoretical development has occurred since these ideas were presented in the 1940s. At the risk of denigrating research contributions on the interview process, the past 20 years of interview research have lacked substantial theoretical contributions and the creativity necessary to make the interview perform the function it is designed to perform – identify the best person for the job.

This paper aims to examine the media coverage of a new reproductive benefit (oocyte cryopreservation) made available to employees at Apple and Facebook in 2014, in light of an ongoing public debate around the conflict experienced by women to be both “ideal workers” and “ideal mothers”.

The study examines the coverage of the new benefit as a news item in major American newspapers and websites. It uses problem/solution frame analysis and provides a qualitative analysis of the leads, journalists’ rhetoric and sources found in 23 news articles on the topic. A rudimentary quantitative analysis of positive and negative solution evaluations is also included.

All the articles were found to use a problem/solution frame in their presentation of the new benefit as a news item. When biology is presented as at the root of the motherhood/career conflict, as it was by many journalists and their chosen sources, this logically leads to a biotechnological solution, such as egg-freezing. Other potential contributors to motherhood/career conflict, such as rigid and gendered career timelines and inadequate supports for working parents, are largely left out of the discussion – as are potential broader workplace and socio-cultural changes.

This study was limited to news articles only; the coverage of the issue in opinion pieces and in other media might have different findings. An experimentally designed study might lead to interesting findings on the impact of these framing elements (leads, rhetoric, sources) on readers’ responses to this topic.

This study contributes to research on the media coverage of motherhood and to management scholarship on gender, parenthood and work.