Monday 19th April: How female news leaders are changing work culture for women

April 19, 2021

Good morning, welcome to your week! Today's roundup is brought you by Peter.

Digiday has spoken to several women in senior newsroom positions and while they see progress, there are still clear obstacles in the way of female career progression, especially when it comes to having children.

CEO of ITN Deborah Turness wonders if her career would have taken a different direction if she had started her family earlier in life. “I don’t know if I had had my kids earlier if I would be doing the role I have now. There is a high percentage chance I wouldn’t have.”

Editor of the Daily Mirror and chair of the Women in Journalism network, Alison Phillips explains how she had pretended to go to meetings to be able to see her child in school events. Now, she tells people to "Go to the Nativity play!"

While both these newsroom leaders, and others interviewed, are working hard to change male-dominated work cultures, there's still a way to go. The Reuters Institute found internationally that, although women made up 40% of newsrooms, only 23% of top editors were female.

Across the Atlantic, Axios is reporting promising signs of progress in US media, typically seen as slow to accept change and embrace diversity. Over the past few weeks, Reuters, Vox Media, HuffPost and Entertainment Weekly have announced female editors-in-chief, replacing mostly white men.

Austrian paper Die Presse grew subscriptions 110% last year and enjoyed a 68% increase in premium story opens. This case study from WAN-IFRA explains how management has worked to align business and journalism and unite all staff around the single goal of monetising quality journalism.

Despite President Trump’s tirades against the New York Times, or maybe because of them, the most chaotic presidential tenure in living memory coincided with a golden period for the Times. But Mark Thompson explains how it wasn't all a happy accident - the NYT was 'more ready than anyone else' for Trump's arrival.

This week's epside:

This week, we hear from The Wall Street Journal’s Editor of Live Journalism and Special Content Kim Last. She talks about the role of live journalism at the publication, how they adapted when the pandemic hit, and what they are doing to bring events and networking to life virtually.

Talking of the Awards, the big day is approaching! It's free to register for a ticket, so why not sign up and have a peek? Wednesday April 21st, 4.30pm BST. See you there...