Case Studies
Reflecting reality around the world
The Reflect Reality team engaged with newsrooms over the course of 2019 to test various approaches to increasing women sources in Toronto, Canada with the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail; in Erbil, Iraq through Internews’ collaboration with local media and Our Voices project; and with the global, digitally-based Earth Journalism Network. You can also read about how the Media Council of Mongolia adapted and implemented Reflect Reality as part of their News for Equality initiative.
Choosing News Team Partners
When choosing our pilots, we leveraged the networks of the United for News coalition and Internews’ global footprint. To ensure we would generate learning relevant to a global audience, we considered the following criteria:
• Outlets that were committed to quality and in-depth engagement;
• A range of publishers, representing both traditional and virtual newsrooms;
• Representation from different regions of the world, including different socio-economic conditions;
• Newsrooms that exhibited existing interest or progress towards gender equality, were close enough to allow for in-person visits, and that could commit requisite time and resources.
Source: The Globe and Mail Newsroom
Pilot Project Activities
Each news team was asked to choose a handful of activities to pilot over the course of five months. Reflect Reality presented a roadmap of options, recommending that activities fall within one of four thematic areas:
1) Making the case: Making gender parity in the newsroom a priority for staff and managers.
2) Benchmarking and tracking: Establishing a methodology for tracking the gender-split of sources.
3) Newsroom practices: Performing a process analysis, and setting goals for accountability measures.
4) Cultivating sources: Working to identify and maintain a pool of new sources for the news team to draw on.
Source: The Earth Journalism Network's Reporter Amrita Gupta with women from the Mahila Umang Producers Company in Ranikhet, Almora Uttarakhand, in August 2018 / Credit: Shriram Raviraj
Each pilot project was designed to lend insights for how news teams can launch and maintain gender equality initiatives with the greatest potential for success. While it was difficult to measure progress against actual numbers (see more below), we learned an immense amount about effective approaches, levels of adoption and momentum among staff, and the self-reported ability of reporters to source more diverse voices.
