Six IFJ unions’ representatives and 6 representatives of public service broadcasters holding leading roles got together at the Spanish trade union CC.OO offices in Madrid to participate in a workshop designed to change minds and encourage moves toward gender equality in newsrooms.
The event, led by IFJ partner COPEAM (Permanent Conference of the Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators), is part of the EU- funded project Rewriting The Story which promotes gender equality in reporting politics and public life. One of the core components of this project is to change newsroom mindsets towards more accurately reflecting the world around us. This is addressed through the peer-to- peer session.
Discussions addressed gender balance on TV panels, the development of female experts database to strengthen womens’ visibility in the news, the need for women in media to work in networks, journalists’ training on gender issues, the fight on gender bias in visuals, the creation of gender structures in media, the ongoing online abuse of women journalists, the role of gender editors in balancing news reports, and artificial intelligence as a tool for change.
Each participant set their own goal for change to be completed within the next 7 months and beyond, either in their unions or in their media practices.
“In Portugal, we might think we have achieved gender equality because there are many women in newsrooms, but the main challenge is to make people realise that although women are present, our newsrooms keep producing information that is gender biased. We need to start producing content that treats men and women equally”, said João Rosário , Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) news anchor.
The exchange of experiences between participants enriched the workshops.
“I was impressed by the significant content that was shared during these two days, as well as the commitment of participants and the support they showed to one another. I am certain that the project will achieve something even greater than this workshop: it is a step towards building a solid network of media professionals who want to make a change,” said IFJ Gender expert Pamela Morinière
“I am really satisfied about the results of this first workshop”, said Elena Chiaberge, COPEAM gender expert. All participants set very ambitious goals and showed a strong commitment to placing gender equality at the core of their professional routines by setting out concrete strategies and measures. Gender equality is not only a womens’ issue, it concerns everyone. Quality journalism requires fair gender representation”.
Participants will meet again in person in 2024 as well as online and will work on achieving their goals in between. Four mentors (Sofia Branco, Méline Laffabry, Valbona Sulçe, Emma Thomasson) have been appointed to guide them and monitor their progress.
This activity is part of the IFJ-led project Rewriting The Story, an EU-funded project to address barriers to the fair representation of women and men in politics. A final conference will bring together all participants to showcase project results on 5-7 June in Italy.