Date/Time
Date(s) - 15/10/2012
3:00 pm4:30 pm
Location
Room T2.26
Category(ies) No Categories
Female Journalists’ Perception of Newsroom Bias
Dr Louise North
Senior Lecturer in Journalism and author of The Gendered Newsroom (2009)
This paper reports on the largest ever survey of female journalists in the Australian news media. The goal was to investigate issues confronting women, including the extent of perceived gender discrimination in promotion, job segregation, and working conditions. It is the first quantitative research of its type in 16 years, building upon a smaller survey by the Australian media industry union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). That 1996 report found there was significant gender discrimination in Australian newsrooms and that sexual harassment, in particular, was a systemic problem. This 2012 online survey of 577 female journalists working across all media platforms in metropolitan, regional, rural and suburban news media organisations demonstrates that little has changed. The paper compares and contrasts key data from the 2012 and 1996 surveys to ascertain the challenges still evident for female journalis ts.
Dr Louise North presently conducts her research and teaching in the School of Applied Media and Social Sciences at Monash University. Her first book, The Gendered Newsroom (Hampton Press, 2009), won international recognition for its significant contribution to a range of social science disciplines. Louise has also worked as a professional print journalist for 19 years on a range of publications.
No RSVP necessary. All welcome.
