Globally, only 24% of people heard, seen or read about in newspaper, television, and radio news are women and only 19% of experts sourced in news stories are women (according to the Global Media Monitoring Project, 2015 report). These alarming rates have changed very little in two decades. Today, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, United for News, a global multi-stakeholder coalition of media, private industry, and NGOs, is announcing pilot programmes in Canada, Iraq and Ukraine to address this unacceptable deficit.
Women are unseen for their expertise and relevance in the conversations that inform and shape our daily lives. At the same time media is undergoing a crisis in trust worldwide. From the boom in disinformation operations to the imminent spread of misinformation online, readers don’t know where to turn for balanced, objective news. This has dire consequences for the media industry’s ability to inform the public, hold governments to account and support healthy communities and economies. Changing this deficit will help build trust in the news media, by making news more reflective of the communities it serves.
United for News is working on the demand side to provide newsrooms with the resources necessary to increase the number and frequency of female subject matter experts that are sourced in stories. On the supply side, the coalition is working to raise awareness around the issue and provide support for women experts to step forward.
PILOT PROGRAMMES LAUNCHED IN CANADA, UKRAINE, AND IRAQ.
In 2019, United for News will pilot programmes and test approaches in Canada, Ukraine, and Iraq. In Canada, a committee of top newsrooms will launch a collaborative process, building on best practices and testing solutions that will significantly amplify women’s authoritative voice. In Ukraine and Iraq, Internews will test approaches based on a series of tools pioneered by United for News members. The approaches will be adapted to the needs of the local newsrooms, working in a way that respects cultural challenges and constraints while maintaining a clear goal of raising women’s voices.
“When women’s authoritative voices make up only 19% of the global conversation, we all lose. We lose diverse opinions, new ideas, sources of insight and creativity and, most of all, powerful role models for the next generation to build on,” said Jennifer Cobb, Director of United for News. “Our members are working together to address this massive gap, pooling their experiences and insights from a wide range of perspectives. We believe this is a powerful step forward that can have lasting impact and encourage newsrooms everywhere to join us in this endeavor.”
United for News is led by the international non-profit, Internews, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. Coalition members advising this work include WAN-IFRA, Bloomberg, Edelman, the BBC’s 50:50 Project and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).
www.wa-ifra.org