What Can We Do To Tackle Sexual Harassment in the Media?
In 2018 we’ve already had Weinstein and the #metoo campaign, the ‘shitty media men’ leak and the resurfacing of a 20 year stalking case suffered by newsreader Emily Maitlis in part due to her presence in the public eye. The conversation on sexual harassment in the workplace has snowballed.
Our panel discuss sexual harassment within media organisations and how best to tackle the problem. How do we make this a conversation that includes both men and women? Is there a generational difference to ideas of consent between women over the age of 30 and below? And is this a problem that is predominant in the media world, given the fragile freelance contracts of many journalists, or have they simply been provided with a larger platform to air their grievances than women in other industries?
Chair
Hannah Storm is Director of the International News Safety Institute (INSI) and an expert on gender and media safety. The author of ‘No Woman’s Land – On the Frontlines With Female Reporters’, the first book dedicated to the safety of women journalists, Storm also co-wrote INSI’s report with the International Women’s Media Foundation on ‘Violence and Harassment Against Women in the News Media’. Having worked previously for Reuters, ITN, the BBC and Oxfam, her current work at INSI focusses on physical, psychological, and digital safety, and provides a network for some of the world’s leading news organisations to share information to ensure all journalists stay out of harm’s way. Storm also works as a freelance media consultant for organisations such as the UN specialising in gender-sensitive reporting and the coverage of gender-based violence
Speakers
Rachel Corp formerly editor of 5 News, has moved to deputy editor of ITV News. Corp was part of the team that launched 5 News in 1997. Corp joined ITN as a trainee and her early career included the roles of north of England and senior field producer, covering major stories in the UK and abroad, from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, to the Hutton Inquiry and the Soham murders. She spent time at the BBC as its senior Moscow producer before returning to ITV News as a news editor.
Louise Ridley is a freelance journalist currently running news special projects at HuffPost UK. She was previously news editor for longform and special projects for BuzzFeed UK, where work she edited was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the British Journalism Awards in 2017. She has run series covering topics from disability rights and trans rights to housing and student life, and written on gender, inequality and the media. She is a co-founder of The Second Source, a group of women journalists tackling sexual harassment, and an associate lecturer in journalism at Birkbeck, University of London.
Jasmine Andersson is an investigations reporter at PinkNews, and previously worked on women’s rights and social justice issues at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the likes of Stylist, The i and Metro as a freelancer. She is the co-founder of Second Source.
Mark Di Stefano is a media and politics reporter for Buzzfeed News in London. He is the former Political Editor at Buzzfeed Australia. Mark joined Buzzfeed from ABC News as breaking news reporter.
