Despite what you read – or where you read it – there’s no denying that #JournalismMatters. Essential for any society, and crucial for democracy. This is why Lucinda Jordaan is excited about the role women are playing in news today, and tomorrow…
Once upon a time a proud little bookworm would delight her semi-literate grandmother every morning after school by reading the newspaper aloud to her.
The newspaper: too unwieldy for my small frame to handle properly, but crammed with way more diverse information than I could process. As fascinating as an encyclopaedia, but with information about people, places and things that were more familiar. Things, people and places we heard about on the radio and then, the TV.
I was hooked on the news. Even later, as a teenager, when what it fed me was often so clearly contrary to what I was seeing and experiencing. Because, as a Gen Xer, I grew up during apartheid – and the news was… well, limited.
So when a high school teacher first suggested I consider a career in journalism, I couldn’t see it. There were no journalists of colour in South Africa in the late 1980s, after all – and certainly not women journalists of colour. If there were, we certainly didn’t see them.
Look at us!
Look at us now! How far we’ve come over the past three decades, especially in South Africa. We’ve seen incredible change in women’s representation and ownership of local media – across all mediums and sectors.
Worldwide, we’re no longer just reading the news: this year, for the first time in its nearly 80-year history, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN-IFRA) has a woman president: Ladina Heimgartner, CEO of Ringier Media in Switzerland – who heads an executive board that comprises more women (4) than men (3).
Yet how much further we still have to go. The most recent research on women in media from the Reuters Institute (Women and Leadership in the News Media 2020: Evidence from Ten Markets) is by now, outdated – because the world is in flux, and the news is questionable.
Gloom, not doom
On the surface, the actual business of news itself is rather dismal. The industry is being decimated by shrinking revenues, stiff, overarching competition from digitech platforms, political interference and an ever-increasing mistrust in news.
The Fourth Estate is littered with the wreckage of defunct titles, the shadows of mass retrenchments and hollow cries of Fake News.
News media is not what it used to be.
Digitech changes wrought over the past two decades have indelibly altered how news is produced, processed, disseminated – and even received.
And with all this, is how journalists, too, are perceived – and the very real threats they face, online and in real life. Maligned, mistrusted, misunderstood.
Is it any wonder they’re exiting the profession in droves?
The news maelstrom
I’ve been in and out of this maelstrom that is news media several times over the past two decades.
Pivoting for posterity – or simply, mere survival. Retrenched, or contractually terminated. I’ve moved on, across sectors and beats, continuously upskilling and switching roles just to stay relevant.
Yet somehow, always returning to the news.
With good reason.
In the current state of affairs, it’s not hard to imagine a world without news media. The echo chamber on various digital platforms, political rhetoric and dissenting discourse offers a clear perspective on what happens when mis- and disinformation collide with public information.
This all contributes to what journalist, activist and author Cory Doctorow termed the ‘Enshitoscene’ of the internet.
Enshitification – and inspiration
This enshitoscene has, for years, left me in despair – and, since Covid, radically curtailed my use of social media, especially Facebook. Yet Facebook is where I first encountered Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, the woman journalist who, with fellow women journalists (Glenda Gloria and Beth Frondoso), built a news outlet from a Facebook page in 2011.
Rappler soon made waves as an independent platform built on strong, credible, verifiable journalism. It soon became one of the top online news sites in the Philippines – and Ressa became a political target.
The persecution was relentless – in fact, it’s ongoing – and at times I lost track, convinced that she would end up in prison, or worse.
She’s still standing.
Over the years, I’ve seen her in various interviews and panel discussions and, this year, got to do so in person, at the World News Congress in Copenhagen. And then, I got to meet – and interview her! And reaffirm my faith in journalism, and women in media.
Ressa is not just still standing. She’s striding into the future – and taking willing news junkies along with her, too.
The courage of convictions
To me, the spirited Nobel Laureate epitomises the courage of convictions – and the possibilities for women in news now, and in the future.
She not only stood strong and firm against political persecution and lawfare – and an onslaught of public attacks from the Duterte regime’s political supporters – she continuously paved the way for strong, credible, truth-seeking journalism to prosper in her country, despite these.
Now, she’s pioneering a way forward for the journalism she espouses and lives by – and clearing the way for an inclusive, independent, accredited media platform to counter the enshitification we have no choice but to contend with.
There’s hope for the future of journalism, after all.
New angles
News media is still a tough landscape to navigate – especially for women journalists. The glass ceiling may be shattered, but the shards have not been cleared.
Numerous, ongoing studies show that online harassment of women journalists is ever-increasing, and safety is now paramount, online and off.
Of the 94 journalists killed in the line of duty last year, nine were women. Women journalists are not spared assassination either, as per the global headlines on the deaths of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, and Al Jazeera+ reporter Shireen Abu Aklef.
In South Africa, Karyn Maughan faces relentless online attacks from supporters of former President Zuma, who also waged lawfare against her.
Newsrooms may have adapted to tech advances and generational demands for greater equity and compassion – but journalists open themselves to malignant and toxic reception from a mistrusting public. The pay’s not that great, either.
So why should any sane woman even consider a career in journalism today?
Because it matters.
Over the past three decades, I have been fortunate to encounter, befriend and work with inspiring women journalists and media leaders – most notably, the editor of this very magazine, Glenda Nevill.
We are seen and heard
I was a bit star-struck when I first met the former Sunday Times’ Wicked Women on Wheels columnist. And I was rather over-awed watching her turn a ragged local version of The Big Issue into a real magazine that rivalled its London namesake, which made for compelling reading.
I’ve watched her, too, pivot and push herself, and others – and yes, she would be appalled if I waxed too lyrical about her impact on my career, but her consistent approach to the development of the industry, and mentoring and development of young entrants, further propels me.
It is thanks to inspiring women journalists like Glenda Nevill, and pioneers like Maria Ressa, that I keep returning to the newsroom, or pushing myself to the forefront of media development.
They’re solid example of what we can do, and be.
Today, we are, and can be, seen and heard. And we can deliver solid solutions to a changing media landscape riddled with challenges and complexities.
It matters.
Truth matters. Facts matter. Journalism matters.
Lucinda Jordaan is an independent media consultant and freelance wordsmith with extensive industry experience in all sectors across all platforms, from print and digital to broadcast. She now freelances as writer, editor, consultant and coach; she is also a Content Editor for WAN-IFRA World Editors Forum.
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