“Ask Women” Newsletter: Amplifying Diverse Perspectives for Inclusive Reporting and Equality
The underrepresentation of diverse perspectives in the media has long been a persistent issue, hindering journalists' ability to reflect the complexities of society and foster greater understanding among different audiences. The 2020 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) highlighted the dominance of men in newsrooms and as subjects for news coverage, with women constituting only 25 percent of the people featured in stories. Moreover, women were portrayed stereotypically and interviewed through that lens: these practices reinforce anti-woman bias and stereotypes and hardly any women are interviewed as experts.
Media organizations have started taking proactive measures to diversify their pool of experts in order to respond to ongoing pressure for diversity and inclusion. These initiatives are beginning to work: there has been a five percent increase in women's representation as experts interviewed by news outlets since 2015. However, this disparity is still large. To further contribute to (and exert more pressure upon) these ongoing efforts, the European Network of Women Experts (ENWE) recently launched the Ask Women newsletter.
Ask Women is a monthly newsletter designed to connect journalists and event organizers with women experts. This newsletter contains networking and contact information for each of the experts involved, and is 100 percent free for subscribers. Each issue of the newsletter focuses on a theme related to current affairs, such as climate change, in order to highlight accomplished professionals specializing in that area who are available for interviews, panel discussions, events, and other collaborative opportunities. For example, the inaugural issue featured a diverse group of scientists, economists, mathematicians, and academics from various sectors in order to have a discussion about June 17th’s United Nations’ World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. These experts were carefully selected from different European databases within the ENWE network (such as 100esperte, focused in Italy; AcademiaNet, which covers all of Europe and some tangential areas, such as the Middle East and North Africa; Agenda d'Expertes, focused in Spain; and Les Expertes, focused on French and French speaking women) covered topics such as environmental changes, plant responses, forced human mobility, natural risk factors, and conflicts over resource use.
“By tapping into the rich and diverse expertise showcased in these databases, the Ask Women newsletter serves as a platform to amplify the invaluable contributions women make to their respective fields,” wrote Cristiana Bedei, an Italian freelance journalist, for the International Journalists Network (IJN).
By expanding the amount of sources and resources available to journalists, the newsletter can enhance the quality and depth of their reporting. This approach ensures a more accurate and nuanced representation of the world: by challenging stereotypes and existing power dynamics, the Ask Women offers an opportunity to redefine the narrative women are burdened with and tell more inclusive stories. By featuring women experts as authoritative figures in their fields, the newsletter helps to counteract the notion that women are less capable or significant, and fights notions that women’s roles in society are largely to sit on the sidelines.
As the media strives to create a more inclusive and equitable landscape, initiatives like Ask Women play a vital role in breaking down barriers and reshaping narratives. By amplifying diverse expertise, this newsletter actively contributes to the goal of achieving equality in media representation. Ultimately, it serves as a powerful tool for journalists and event organizers to tell more accurate, nuanced, and inclusive stories, fostering a greater understanding among diverse audiences. However, it is only one initiative, and more initiatives must be developed and rise to the top in order to close the gap further.
