Why are women still poorly represented in news media?

On Wednesday, January 18 at 19:30 GMT:
As subjects of stories and interview sources, women are far less likely to be interviewed as experts and only appear in about a quarter of television, radio, print and online news, according to the Global Media Monitoring Project.

Because of gender bias, women are less likely to be thought of as authoritative experts in certain fields, including science and economics. In an analysis of COVID-19 pandemic coverage by major news sources in the US, UK and Australia, women were quoted only a third of the time and in a quarter of all interviews in the area of public health and epidemiology.

Not including women’s voices reinforces stereotypes and denies women the opportunity to be recognised for their knowledge and expertise. Media advocates say more inclusive news coverage could be achieved with proactive approaches in using female interview sources and in hiring more women to build diverse newsrooms that better reflect society.

In this episode of The Stream, we’ll discuss how women are seen and heard in the news, and what can be done to improve it.

On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Kathryn Shine, @kathryn_shine
Senior lecturer in journalism, Curtin University

Sarah Macharia, @whomakesthenews @waccglobal
Global coordinator, Global Media Monitoring Project

Karen Ross, @krossings
Professor of gender and media, Newcastle University