This article closely examines the status of women journalists in Libyan traditional media and how this status transformed from before to after the revolution of February 2011. This analysis argues that women’s role in Libyan media changed from one of engagement in defending women’s causes to a feature of commercial marketing strategies. Despite the abundant opportunities for female journalists in new media outlets, especially TV stations, their active role is not a reflection of a general change in the status of women in what is in some respects an increasingly conservative society. Rather it is an expression of the need for these new and inexperienced media outlets to attract audiences by embracing the model of the powerful pan-Arab satellite media. The regression of women’s conditions in the aftermath of the revolution confirms the thesis that the expansion of the presence of women in newsrooms does not reflect a general trend towards the empowerment of women in the new Libya.