It’s Good Journalism
When an entire group of people is underrepresented in the daily narratives that describe our world, we come away with an incomplete or inaccurate depiction of our reality. Uncovering rich and powerful stories that inform people's lives requires reporters to speak with a variety of sources who share different experiences. When reporters fail to speak to women experts and leaders, they risk leaving out perspectives relevant to a huge portion of society and miss out on new and interesting stories that otherwise may not surface.
Senior Executive Editor, Laura Zelenko, leads Bloomberg's New Voices initiative, a global program to increase the extent that Bloomberg newsrooms around the world source women experts in finance and business. She explains how this specific focus has allowed Bloomberg reporters to break stories they otherwise may not have:
“An editor shared with me a story that we produced after interviewing one of the few female construction managers in the renewable energy business. That interview ended up inspiring a story with the headline “Women are missing out on the biggest job boom in America.”
I also know from our London office that we had finally, after a year, landed an exclusive interview with one of the few female CEOs in Italy. That interview led to six headlines. The determination of the reporters to land this interview led to quality content, both on the Bloomberg terminal and on TV. As we bring in more women experts as commentators on TV, the discussions are getting better, are more varied, and it makes better TV on all fronts.”
Source: Informed Opinions
“The entire output is improved, programs are improved, the angles we tackle are improved. When you have a part of society that was underserved and underrepresented – when suddenly you have an influx of angles, opinions, analysis from half of society, it absolutely lifts the quality of everything we do.”
“Let’s create a culture where leaving women’s voices out of the news media is unacceptable and diverse sourcing practices become the hallmark of good journalism.”
