In an interview with the news agency APA Science (10.08.2022), lead-author Andreas Riedl explains that women’s media representation is the result of a complex interplay of journalistic factors which include journalists' professionals roles and measures on the organizational level of newsrooms, but also individual aspects of journalists' identity. The finding of journalists' own gender being the strongest predictor for women's representation demonstrates how deeply gendered ways of thinking and doing are woven into journalism in Austria. In an interview with the daily newspaper Der Standard (14.08.2022), Riedl discusses that newsrooms' guidelines for gender-sensitive representation do not necessarily translate into a higher share of women in the actual media coverage. He emphasizes that research must take a close look at how such guidelines are implemented and enacted. As soon as it is assumed that guidelines alone solve the problem of representation, they are no more than the literal fig leaf.
Further media reactions (German only):
- „Fehlende Frauenstimmen“ (Falter/falter.at, 17.08.2022)
- „Dem Politik-Journalismus fehlen Frauenstimmen“ (horizont.at, 11.08.2022)
- „Großer Frauenmangel in heimischer Politikberichterstattung“ (kleinezeitung.at, 10.08.2022)
- „Großer Frauenmangel in Österreichs Politikberichterstattung“ (diepresse.at, 10.08.2022)
- „Großer Frauenmangel in Österreichs medialer Politikberichterstattung“ (kurier.at, 10.08.2022)
Full study:
Riedl, A., Rohrbach, T., & Krakovsky, C. (2022). “I Can't Just Pull a Woman Out of a Hat”: A Mixed-Methods Study on Journalistic Drivers of Women's Representation in Political News. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990211073454