Women in Journalism

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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.




Information from:

The Women's Leadership Institute Australia 2019 
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/ee1ce5_88c20ce959044aab84737b1993c326ca.pdf


Comments

  1. Brittny MorrisOctober 25, 2019 at 4:19 AM

    Hi Tia! This is a really good look into the gender issues within Australian media, especially in relation to Women in Journalism. It's scary to think that there are not as many opportunities for women in the Journalism profession specifically when it is generally considered as a male dominated area of reporting. Hopefully these figures will increase as women take the plunge and fight for their rights within the workplace.

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