Gender in the Journalism Industry

-

As an aspiring journalist, identifying the gender issues within the Australian media instantly became a subject of interest for my upcoming presentation. I specifically focused on how women are both perceived and represented within the journalism industry to ensure my audience did not feel too overwhelmed by the information. Although there are numerous groups in society that deny gender inequality exists, there are reports that prove the significant inequalities women face as professionals. This year, the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia released a report analysing the nation’s top 15 news sites on four consecutive Thursdays in October 2018. The report included a broad spectrum of news and entertainment sites including 9 News, The Guardian, Buzzfeed and Yahoo. During my research, it shocked me to discover the major differences between genders in all areas of the journalism industry.



The Herald Sun was found to have the lowest percentage of female journalists, with a dim 14%; whereas Buzzfeed had the highest with 70%. Initially this could be seen as encouraging, but considering Buzzfeed’s content prioritises entertainment rather than factual news. The amount of female journalists in Buzzfeed and their style prove that society’s perception towards women has impacted our opportunities as professionals. The Women’s Leadership Institute research actually correlated with this finding. As they discovered 76% of the articles released about celebrities and royals were in fact written by female journalists. The traditional ideologies facing women and their femineity, is almost forcing us to write about topics we are supposed to write about as opposed to what we may want.



After some time as an intern, I have discovered a passion for sports journalism. However, after some research for this presentation, it was found that only 12% of female journalists covered sport stories in 2018. Despite coming into this career choice knowing the minimum job opportunities, I failed to recognise the massive impact my gender would have. This presentation initially frightened me, but now makes me more determined to be successful in the future.

Comments

  1. Jessica KrauseOctober 22, 2019 at 5:31 AM

    Hi Tia,
    Thanks so much for your interesting post! I really appreciated your use of statistics, and your comparison of news stations entwined with this issue of gender and journalism. I can't believe that only 14% of journalists at the Herald Sun are female. Even just scrolling through the named journalists on the Herald Sun website, it's clear straight away there are more men than women, which is definitely confronting! I also was amazed (but less surprised) by your comment regarding the amount of female journalists covering sport. I always complain to my dad about the lack of female commentators in sport, but 12% is troublesome. However, I'm so glad that these statistics have inspired you to achieve, rather than discouraged you. All power to you Tia!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GENDER: CONTINUING TO ACT AS A BARRIER FOR CAREER DRIVEN WOMEN

-
Image
EXPLORING THE GENDER BIAS IN NEWCASTLE’S MEDIA THROUGH THE EYES OF FOUR DIFFERENT WOMEN WITH FOUR PECULIAR STORIES. By TIA THOMAS A majority of women from all corners of the world are coming together in spite of their differences in shape, colour, religion or culture to overcome the challenges they face as females. A traditional system of social values continue to oppress and strip many women of their voices. Although complete gender equality does not seem to be achievable in this generation, there are plenty of strong women making progress as professionals and activists. These women that we may know and wish to be do not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.   Women both in-front and behind the scenes of productions for popular television shows and films are constantly facing the gender bias that has continued to oppress women through the decades. As viewers, we often hear the stories of women in-front of the camera, but the stories of female crew members work...
Read more

The era of print journalism coming to an end?

-
Society has developed a significant dependence on digital outlet as sources for information, rather than newspapers. Portable technology has allowed news to be constantly accessible, anywhere and anytime. To remain relevant to their audiences, social media including Instagram, Facebook and YouTube is growing more important to the journalism industry and media organisations. Without a strong online presence, major news sites can rapidly become irrelevant. However the switch from traditional to modern has irreversibly changed how the journalism industry produces content, writing style and also employment opportunities. As Georgia Cherry shared during her presentation, research found that in the previous decade the number of print journalists employed has rapidly declined. With almost 70 thousand in 2006, this number dropped to 40 thousand in 2015. Unlike digital-only producers which was meek in 2005, but increased to 10 thousand in 2015. Although initially online news may be seen as...
Read more