For Businesses

It is not the sole responsibility of journalists and newsrooms to increase the voice of women in the news. While news producers play a central role, the business world outside of media must also do their part. Private businesses, government organizations and NGOs, which often equip only a small cohort of individuals to engage with the media, need to consider the gender balance of their representatives. Jo Sheldon, Executive Director at Edelman, explains what companies need to do to ensure diverse representation, and how journalists can better approach businesses to connect with women sources.

Newsrooms can’t do it alone

By Jo Sheldon
Executive Director, Edelman

Media organizations around the world are starting to adapt their behavior to enable better gender representation in their output, finding effective strategies to increase the frequency and number of women they interview as expert sources. Yet newsrooms cannot be expected to solve the representation gap all on their own.  One needs to consider the supply side - the industries where those interviewees are coming from. Companies play a big role in deciding the voices that appear in news stories, and they have a responsibility to help ensure women are represented.  Yet there are certain challenges organizations face internally when fielding media spokespeople. 

As a global PR business, communicating an organization’s activities and what they stand for is what Edelman does. An important part of that work is helping to identify and train the right spokespeople for a range of communications engagements, including media interviews.

Like media outlets themselves, many companies know that gender equality is important to their core business and that their public communications should reflect that diversity, for a whole range of reasons. We see a number of obstacles to making this happen – and are helping our clients find solutions.

FIRST: Companies are not monitoring or keeping track of the diversity of the spokespeople they put forward.

Without data, the real nature of the problem is never identified, goals are never set, and there is little urgency to change the status quo. We are currently working closely with several of our clients alongside the BBC 50:50 Project to see how its highly effective monitoring processes can be adapted by businesses.

SECONDLY: Internal politics can be an issue.

In some organizations, an individual or group of individuals will see media interviews as their role. This makes diversifying the mix of spokespersons, especially if it is to more junior members of staff, a tricky issue to navigate. Companies need to keep this in mind and plan ahead to ensure a diverse group of people are able to speak to the media. We are working with our clients to build this awareness.

THIRDLY: Speaking on behalf of a company is a responsibility and, in some cases, can have a massive impact.

Media training is important for companies to have confidence in their spokespersons and for spokespeople to feel at ease in an environment that many find nerve-wracking at best. If a female employee has not been media-trained she is unlikely to either volunteer or be offered up as a spokesperson. Edelman is actively working with our clients to encourage media training for diverse cohorts of employees.

Given these challenges, we also see strategies media organizations and journalists can take when reaching out to companies and PR departments, to have better results in soliciting more female voices. 

Consider expert sources other than the CEO:

Media organizations can often be very hierarchical in their requests for spokespeople. I’ve often been told that “it has to be the CEO” even when there are clearly others well qualified within the organization. Given that there are more men called Steve and David leading UK FTSE 100 listed companies than women and ethnic minorities combined and only 32 of Fortune 500 CEOs are female, you are, at the outset, eliminating a lot of female voices. Edelman’s own Trust Barometer data shows that peers (a person like myself) and experts (particularly technical or academic experts) are the most trusted sources of information, anyway, far outstripping the CEO.

Make your intentions known:

If you are a media organization that is actively engaged in seeking a better gender mix make sure you say so. Communications teams are generally gatekeepers of all media appearances. Once they understand that fielding a female spokesperson can materially alter their chances of coverage, it will yield results.

identify the qualified female source:

At the same time, try to identify the qualified female source before reaching out to PR departments. Journalists, conscious of wanting to incorporate more women’s voices, may ask explicitly if there are women that can speak to certain expertise. Identifying a particular person ahead of time, rather than merely asking for a ‘woman’ is likely to yield better results.

Host an open house:

Some media organizations are starting to open their doors to organizations with ‘familiarization’ days. I know from speaking to our clients that these are very welcome particularly when it comes to broadcast interviews. A live television interview is the single most terrifying media engagement for almost everyone I’ve trained for media interviews so understanding the layout, the format and how these interviews work ahead of time goes a long way to building confidence among potential sources.

Source: BBC Business Unit's Open Day, International Women's Day, March 8th, 2019. The BBC's 50:50 Project helps organize Open Days for potential women contributors to experience the BBC and studio environment and build their confidence, should they be invited to participate on-air. photo credit: BBC