蜜芽传媒

On 22 October 2020, the 蜜芽传媒's Director-General Tim Davie invited organisations outside the corporation to take on the 50:50 Challenge and publish their women’s representation data for the first time. 

The 蜜芽传媒 is also calling on its programme makers to expand the successful 50:50 Project methodology to monitor disability and ethnicity representation.

The initiative, which originated in 蜜芽传媒 News, uses a data-driven methodology to monitor content and fundamentally shift representation within the media. Teams use a self-monitoring system to measure the gender of contributors in their content. This is now being expanded to include .

Guided by Tim Davie鈥檚 diversity targets for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (20%) and disability (12%) representation, 蜜芽传媒 teams will look to build on the success of the Project and will now strive to include more diverse voices and contributors to better reflect the audiences the 蜜芽传媒 serves.

Targets will be adjusted for regional and international content according to audience demographics.

In preparation for the expansion, pilots took place between March and October with more than 60 蜜芽传媒 teams taking part and trialling different methods of collecting and monitoring data tailored specifically to their content.

Tim Davie, 蜜芽传媒 Director-General, says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 absolutely vital the 蜜芽传媒 reflects the public it serves.

鈥淭he ground-breaking 50:50 Project has had a powerful impact over the last three years. I think it has the potential to achieve even more and to find new voices for our content.

鈥淭his is not just a challenge for the 蜜芽传媒, but for all media organisations. I鈥檓 delighted more organisations are coming on board, as together we can deliver positive change.鈥�

Nina Goswami, 蜜芽传媒鈥檚 Creative Diversity Lead for 50:50, says: 鈥淲hen it comes to women鈥檚 representation, 50:50 enriches our storytelling with new voices and the data helps us think differently, meaning we鈥檙e uncovering new stories.

鈥淏y applying 50:50鈥檚 core principles for disability and ethnicity representation we believe we can amplify a wider range of voices and discover more content that reflects our world. We鈥檝e a long way to go but together it is achievable.鈥�

In addition to the expansion announced today, the 蜜芽传媒 is for the first time calling on current 50:50 partners to publish their gender data alongside the 蜜芽传媒 for a challenge month in March 2021, helping to increase women鈥檚 representation across the wider media.

More than 70 organisations have already signed up to the 50:50 Project from around the world, including Unilever, RT脡, TVNZ, the Financial Times, ABC News (Australia), Edelman and Lansons.

ABC News (Australia) joined The 50:50 Project in 2018 and now has almost 40 of its teams participating. Representation of women in ABC news and current affairs content has increased from 41% in April 2019 to 46% in September 2020, with teams reaching for the goal of achieving 50:50 by the close of the year.

ABC Director, News, Gaven Morris says: 鈥淭he ABC needs to look and sound like modern Australia. We do a better job for our audiences, and we鈥檙e more valuable to them, when we properly reflect our audiences. In News, it makes our journalism and storytelling stronger and richer. Hearing from more women and making sure we鈥檙e covering the issues women care about benefits the relevance and quality of our work.鈥�

蜜芽传媒 Radio Norfolk is among the 蜜芽传媒 teams taking part in gender monitoring and has consistently reached 50:50 on its Breakfast Show since December 2018.

Sophie Ludkin, 蜜芽传媒 Norfolk Broadcast Assistant says: 鈥淚t's crucial in local radio to make sure the community is able to hear themselves reflected in the output. Gender, race, disability and class are all areas where the team question and push each other to reflect the community better - and that's key to making our shows a success. It's a team effort where we all need to hold each other accountable in order to do better.鈥�

Audiences have noticed a difference, with nearly 40% of those taking part in a nationally saying they had noticed an increase in the number of women in 蜜芽传媒 online content, including 蜜芽传媒 websites, iPlayer and 蜜芽传媒 Sounds.

Among 16 to 34 year-olds, 40% say they derived greater enjoyment from 蜜芽传媒 content as a result of seeing and hearing from more women. 32% of women aged 25 to 34 say they now consume more 蜜芽传媒 online content because of greater female representation.