DIVERSITY IN THE MEDIA – A MATTER OF QUALITY AND DEMOCRACY

DENMARK, ICELAND, SWEDEN, NORWAY

Gender balance in media world is the objective of the project entitled New Nordic model for greater gender equality in the Nordic media sector, which was granted funding by the Nordic Gender Equality Fund in 2020. Over three years, best practices will be collected and suggestions for new management and working methods will be developed. The project involves trade union organisations, educational institutions offering degrees in journalism, and the media in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

“During the project, we have collected and shared good ideas on how to tackle the challenges facing editors throughout the Nordic region,” says Marion Hannerup, who is leading the project with Gitte Rabøl.

They both have long experience in executive roles in the media and communications industry and both now work as independent advisers.

The project aims to make male dominance visible and challenge it, both in media content and in media organisations in the Nordic countries. The fact that women are not given the same space as men is a democracy problem, say Marion Hannerup and Gitte Rabøl.

“It’s about who gets to speak and how, and it’s about who is ultimately accountable. There must be a better gender balance between male and female expert sources as well as in the corridors of management power,” says Gitte Rabøl.

In her view, the media industry is steeped in old traditions in which talent is primarily attributed to men and where men, consciously or unconsciously, have had each other’s backs. In combination with the unclear career paths that are a feature of the media industry, women have found it more difficult to reach the highest positions.

Gitte Rabøl and Marion Hannerup see that the media industries in the Nordic countries have progressed to different degrees in their efforts to make male dominance more visible and to challenge it.

“It’s actually only now that television programs with panels where all the participants are men have started to provoke a reaction in Denmark. In other Nordic countries, they’ve had this debate for a long time,” says Gitte Rabøl.

She hopes that the working method that they will develop within the project will be of concrete benefit to various actors in the media industry, and that the project will succeed in inspiring by pointing out positive initiatives.

“The University of Iceland, for example, holds a diversity week every year. Perhaps something similar could be done in other journalism courses in the Nordic countries,” says Marion Hannerup.

She is convinced that media players in the different Nordic countries have a lot to learn from each other, and she believes that Nordic cooperation can speed up the pace of change in efforts to achieve gender equality.

“There is an affinity in the Nordic countries and a curiosity about how people are working in the other Nordic countries. And we are also happy to compare ourselves with each other, and nobody wants to be worst. We compete for best in class and that’s a force that moves us forward,” she says.

As Marion Hannerup sees it, the pursuit of gender balance is about justice but also about the quality of media. 

“We are convinced that diversity improves the quality of journalism as well as democratic debate. We cannot afford not to prioritise this,” she says.