A case study of the BBC 50:50 Equality Project: Can the source tracking system work in Canadian journalism programs?

Abstract

A 13-week study into a newsroom source diversity initiative promoted by the BBC looked at whether it was effective in getting student journalists to reach a goal of 50:50 male-to-female sources in their reporting. Findings show widespread support among student journalists to improve source diversity in their reporting, but mixed results into the effectiveness of the BBC approach in tackling the issue of balanced gender representation in interview sources.

Keywords

• source diversity
• gender balance
• journalists
• student newsrooms
• content analysis
• surveys