Research carried out by lecturers at City University who studied the output of mainstream TV and radio stations show that there are three times as many male as female reporters. It also revealed that when an 'expert' voice is used it's far more likely to be male than female. Flora Neve looks into why we still seem to be so far behind when it comes to gender and the media.
Two years after a campaign was launched to increase the number of women heard on TV and radio, a report has revealed that the number of men working as reporters in the UK still vastly exceeds the number of women. City University have carried out a study which looked at all the main news programmes including Radio 4’s Todayprogramme, as well as four of the main TV news bulletins. It’s found there are 3 times more men working as reporters than women, and that reporting teams are dominated by men aged between 30 and 50. We spoke to Lis Howells, Director of Broadcasting at City University, who carried out the research. "It’s very strange there is such a big gap. Particularly since about 70 percent of entry journalists are women and many want to go on air. I think there is a deep-seated resistance to change which means women don’t get the opportunities." The Today programme has fewer female interviewees and presenters than any of the other programmes monitored. 'Expertise' and confidence: As well as analysing who was doing the reporting on the main news services, the report also looked at what ‘expert’ voices were being used by TV and radio stations, and found that they too were overwhelmingly male. The report found that of the women experts who were used, many felt unsure about identifying themselves as an expert in their field – suggesting that confidence can be an issue. In the interviews carried out many said they were anxious about being thought to be ‘pushy’ – a pejorative word almost exclusively used against women in the work place. Suzanne Franks is a Professor in the Department of Journalism at City. As well as lack of confidence women often feel to speak up, she says lack of imagination on the part of broadcasters is another issue. "The fact that we still have such an overwhelming proportion of male experts shows people are unimaginative – they don’t use their contact books the way they should, they just go back to the tried, familiar faces. And women are more hesitant to come forward, they often say no, and unless a bit more effort is made to doing something about that, nothing is going to change." Journalism schools in the UK often have a higher number of female than male students, but these ratios aren’t translating to the work place. Previous research has found that political reporting in particular - from Whitehall or the Houses of Parliament - is more often than not by men, as is investigative journalism, whereas women are still more likely to cover soft stories like lifestyle and arts features. Eastern Europe does better: This contrasts with Eastern European countries like Estonia and Bulgaria, where research has found women journalists are better represented. This has been attributed to the Soviet-era practice of educating women and moving them into the work force in great numbers. Having a lack of females reporting on the news, some say, directly impacts how women engage with current affairs. Last year, research by Goldsmiths University and the Economic and Social Research Council revealed that in so-called advanced democracies like the UK, women know less about politics than men. One of the academics who worked on the report was quick to point out that many political news stories don’t feature women and this can make them feel disconnected. Risk of alienation: Helen Goodman MP is the shadow media secretary. She says that if this issue of female representation is not tackled, then it risks alienating women audiences and creating apathy amongst voters. "We’ve got a situation in England when younger people are less likely to vote than old age pensioners. If we want to have a proper functioning democracy, everyone has to feel connected with the debate. One way to feel connected is to see people like yourself represented in the discussions." Social media has often been heralded as an alternative space where diverse voices can raise opinions without being subject to the hierarchy that clearly still operates in traditional media channels. However, according to Franks, new technology hasn’t made much of a difference to things. "Everybody said it was going to be different. But the evidence is things are not changing as much as you think . you get a lot of women talking and writing about the so-called ‘pink ghetto’ areas but you don’t get many women talking outside those topics- not in the proportions you should be getting." City University is planning to carry out more research into issues of gender and the media. (VoR). Source: Voice of Russia - UK Edition
