At the annual Journalism & Women Symposium, panelists L to R, Jean Marie Brown, Felicia Henderson and Mary Irby-Jones.

“There is a tension around the topic of the subjectivity of objectivity,” said Felicia Henderson, Director of Cultural Competency at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

“There is a #tension around the topic of the subjectivity of #objectivity. — Felicia Henderson, Director of Cultural Competency at @MaynardInst”

Speaking at the recent Journalism & Women Symposium annual CAMP (Conference and Mentoring Project) in New Orleans, with the theme Resilience and Reinvention, Henderson joined a panel along with Jean Marie Brown, associate professor, Dept. of Journalism, Texas Christian University, and Mary Irby-Jones, USA Today Midwest Regional Editor and executive editor at the Louisville Courier Journal.

“A journalist’s job is to interrogate biases,” said Linda Jue, JAWS vice president, editor-at-large for the investigative site 100Reporters, a DEI program consultant for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, and contributing investigative editor for palabra, who moderated the panel. This sentiment is especially true in a highly contentious election season with “dead end debates and questions of objectivity,” Jue said.

How journalists approach coverage and discussions is applicable to leadership across industries as it concerns offering time and space to a range of points of view and frames.

The lack of representation of women in media leadership is confronting. According to Reuters, “Only 24% of the 174 top editors across the 240 brands covered are women, despite the fact that, on average, 40% of journalists in the 12 markets are women. In 2023, this figure was 22% across the same markets.”

This is a global concern, Reuters reports. “The percentage of women in top editorial positions varies significantly from market to market, from 0% in Japan to 43% in the U.S..”

Comparing data in 10 global markets over the last five years, Reuters finds: “The percentage of women among the top editors has changed from 23% in 2020 to 25% in 2024. A linear projection suggests that, at this pace of change, there could be gender parity in top editorial positions by the year 2074.”

Gender and racial representation in positions of leadership at media sites affects assignments, topics, style of coverage, and ultimately readership. Who writes the story is as crucial as who is in the position to choose the story to write.

“Journalists should be covering policy, not politics, and going deeper to understand what issues people are facing,” Brown said.

“#Journalists should be covering #policy, not #politics, and going deeper to understand what issues people are facing. — Jean Marie Brown of @TCU #womeninjournalism
”

Listen to Gloria Feldt on women in the media

It is also important to consider the role of social media platforms for journalists and the role these options play in media coverage. According to Henderson, “Urging reporters to become personalities” is not the goal.

Brown agreed and said, “Journalists have become the story. We were meant to be the storytellers.”

Irby-Jones said, “Journalists need to be aware of their bias and the bias of their sources. But our life experience is part of who we are.” She added, “It is better to understand our biases and control them.”

“Journalists need to be aware of their #bias and the bias of their sources. But our #lifeexperience is part of who we are. It is better to understand our biases and control them. — @mirbyj”

The fault lines and self-categorization of bias is reflected in coverage, said Irby-Jones. These fault lines are race, class, generations, geography, gender, sexual orientation, and more. Self-categorization includes political affiliation, religion, military services, ability, occupation, and education.

Understanding where you are with fault lines and self-categorization is also urgently important as a leader in management and teams seeking to create a welcoming and inclusive work culture.

Another Reuters report on media leadership and race found, “Overall, 23% of the 75 top editors across the 100 brands covered are people of color, despite the fact that, on average, 44% of the general population across all five countries are people of color. If we set aside South Africa and look at the four other countries covered, 9% of the top editors are people of color, compared with, on average, 31% of the general population.”

Generational divides are also key in journalism coverage and inclusion in media spaces.

“Sixty-five is not 85,” said Liz Seegert, a health journalist covering aging and retirement. “Older people are not a homogenous group.” She added, “A person is more than their stereotype.”

Many stereotypes and predispositions exist in this country about feminism, even as a modern feminism emerges, said Christian F. Nunes, president of the National Organization of Women.

Angela Greiling Keane, president of JAWS and news director for Bloomberg Government, interviewed Nunes and added, “Aggressions against women in quiet spaces” has been a constant. “Every young woman journalist knows this happens. How do women journalists address that?”

“#Aggressions against women in #quietspaces” has been a constant. “Every young woman journalist knows this happens. How do #womenjournalists address that?” — @agreilingkeane #microagressions #macroagressions
”

As the push to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in 2024 continues, Nunes said, “Elected officials take pride in denying women’s rights. There is a lot of work to do, but we know our value.”

Speaking on the generations of feminists fighting for equal rights, Nunes said, “Eighteen-year-olds have fewer rights today than their grandmothers. They believed they would come into the world with the same rights as their mothers.”

Explaining the role of NOW in today’s culture, Nunes said, “We are non-partisan and issue-based.” Creating accountability and fighting for gender and racial equity is a mission for NOW.

These are also the issues that Take The Lead has focused on for 10 years since its co-founding by Gloria Feldt.

“Leadership parity is an economic imperative,” Feldt writes. “The data is clear: companies with more diversity including women in leadership are more profitable and are key drivers in all areas of business, family, and community.”

“#Leadership #parity is an economic imperative. Companies with more #diversity including #womeninleadership are more profitable and are key drivers in all areas of business, family, and community. — @GloriaFeldt1”

To reach parity, Take The Lead’s new 9 Leadership Power Tools Course offers strategies for individuals “to leverage your relationship with power like never before; it’s about mindset and defining your own terms,” Feldt said. With virtual and live sessions with Feldt, the course offers community support and crucial leadership tools for those in any industry.

Learn more about the new 9 Leadership Power Tools course available virtually.

Like most industries, Nunes said, there is a paucity of women leaders at major media outlets. “We need to push for inclusion and equity. And that is all about accountability.“ She added that it is a question of “how you are holding up women journalists and how they are telling stories.”

”According to a 2022 report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), 73 percent of women journalists surveyed reported experiencing online attacks connected to their work. Threats of violence also sometimes extend to journalists’ family members and colleagues,” Freedom House reports.

“Sometimes we minimize cyber sexual violence that’s occurring—harassment and stalking. But it has the same impact as sexual violence in real life; it’s traumatic,” Nunes said. “More people are harassed virtually than physically, but non-consent is non-consent.”

As a leader of a national organization that has a legacy of strong feminist leadership, Nunes said, many companies, organizations, and workplaces “are not making a safe space for women to lead. There is harassment, disrespect, speaking over, and not being acknowledged. We need to make policies so workplaces are safe.”

“Many #companies are not making a safe space for women to lead. There is #harassment, #disrespect, speaking over, and not being acknowledged. We need to make #policies so workplaces are #safe. — @ChrisFNunes”

Melissa Ludtkte, veteran journalist and author of the new book, Locker Room Talk: A Woman's Struggle to Get Inside, shared her story of decades as a sports journalist, who was denied access to locker rooms to interview male players.

“Women experience a lot of sexual harassment themselves. They not only have to experience it, but they have to cover it and that’s very traumatic,” Ludtke said.

In a recent column for The Guardian, sportscaster Rebecca Adams writes of the sexism and harassment she experiences as a sports journalist. “It’s not that women lack the skill or ambition, but there is seemingly always an extra hoop to jump through to show those hiring that you are capable. Men are simply not criticized in the same way.”

Leadership Takeaway of the Week:

“Journalists have become the story. We were meant to be the storytellers.”

Jean Marie Brown, Director of Research: The Pivot Fund

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com