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Programme

News Impact Summit: Diversity, equity and inclusion
Sept 2021
23
23 September 2021

News Impact Summit: Diversity, equity and inclusion

closed
LARS HUEBNER FOTOGRAF 2839 1
When
23 September 2021
23 September 2021
Where
Online
Practical Details

Diversity, equity and inclusion

With growing global awareness about racial inequity and LGBTQIA+ rights, journalists and the European media industry are under pressure to improve the representation of marginalised communities in news stories and newsrooms alike. Embracing diversity, equity and inclusion is not just the right thing to do. It is also an opportunity that benefits newsrooms directly by unlocking new audiences, by making storytelling more diverse and news production more innovative.

What practical steps can journalists and newsrooms take to deal with unconscious bias? What strategies exist to address prejudice when covering topics such as immigration and racism, or when portraying minorities and social groups? Can diversity and inclusion make the media more resilient?

At this News Impact Summit on diversity, equity and inclusion, we will present a brand-new guide with practical steps and examples on how media companies can approach diversity. We will discuss solutions to mitigate the impact of European colonialism on the media industry. We’ll speak with LGBTQIA+ journalists about media coverage of their communities and how new hiring strategies and editorial decisions can increase their representation. We'll also look at best practices to overcome the hidden prejudices that can affect the representation of migrants and refugees in newsrooms.

The programme also includes a confidence-building workshop facilitated by Google to train participants to overcome cultural and gender modesty norms and celebrate their achievements in and out of the workplace.

About News Impact Summits

News Impact offers free media innovation events. The programme is organised by the European Journalism Centre and powered by the Google News Initiative. We bring together international media experts and local news communities to focus on new technology, tools, and methods that can improve the way journalists cover their stories and work in the newsroom.

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Programme

Welcome remarks
09:30 - 09:40

Speaker

By Lars Boering, Vera Penêda
Newsrooms and the colonial past: Addressing institutional racism in European journalism
09:40 - 10:25

Newsrooms have blindspots. While there is growing pressure for European journalists to explore unconscious bias in their work, there is a colonial mentality that continues to endure, preventing the stories of millions of people from being written and heard. This panel will be an open and candid conversation about the impact of that colonial mentality in countries like Spain, the UK and France. Editors and journalists will present strategies to address this challenge and find out how transforming coverage of topics like immigration, racism and politics can help to dismantle prejudice.

Panel moderated by Mariana Santos, founder & CEO of Chicas Poderosas

Speaker

By Lucía Solís Reymer (She/Her), Mariana Santos (She/Her)
How legacy newsrooms are tackling diversity & inclusion in their content & workplace
10:25 - 11:10

Yasir Mirza, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, will cover some of the DEI dilemmas he has faced while working at The Guardian, BBC Studios and Channel 4, and how he plans plans to approach them to bolster diversity and inclusion at the FT. Yasir will also share some of the lessons learned from previous experiences like the JanetBot and FT’s experimentation with newsletters and podcasts to increase the number of subscribers.

From creating a new data methodology to using new tools and developing partnerships, the BBC has been hard at work to reach new audiences and better reflect society as the organisation approaches 100 years of existence in 2022.

Lara Joannides, BBC Creative Diversity Lead, will share some of the lessons learned from 50:50 The Equality Project since the initiative expanded its scope beyond improving the representation of women to become inclusive of disabled people and those from ethnic minorities too.

Speaker

By Yasir Mirza, Lara Joannides
Wave the rainbow flag, but for real: LGBTIQA+ in the media industry
11:10 - 11:55

Thanks to a more socially engaged society, the LGBTQIA+ community continues to establish a presence in Europe's media industry. But progress has stagnated in certain countries. We'll speak to specialists in European news media and break down the roadblocks to progress in different parts of the continent, as well as solutions to overcome them.

Panel moderated by Rachel Savage, Thomson Reuters Foundation's LGBT+ correspondent

Speaker

By Rachel Savage (She/Her), Marco Albertini (He/Him/His)
Highlighting new voices: Elevator pitches from the community
11:55 - 12:10

Making the world a more inclusive place, by Ria Andriani
"Representing people with disabilities is a rich area of journalism. As someone living with disability, I think it’s important that we get to tell our story – from how we respond to public health policy, to speaking out about safety and access to arts and recreation.” Ria Andriani, a freelance writer and musician based in Sydney, Australia, wishes to provide a snapshot of how diverse people with disabilities are and some ideas on how to make the world a more accessible and inclusive place for everyone.

"The Language I Brought With Me", by Lola Hierro

"The Language I Brought With Me" is a podcast dedicated to interviewing people from the African community in Spain. “They [the interviewees] showed us how their mother tongue sounds and what they do in order to not forget it and save it for future generations”, explained Lola Hierro, the reporter at El País responsible for the podcast. This podcast showcases a different angle for covering immigration in Spain that helps break the stereotypes of illegal arrivals, poverty and hateful speeches usually associated with immigration.

How to include everyone (except the bigots), by Aris Dimokidis
"The voice of the LGBTQIA+ community is growing louder in Greece. However, problems of diversity and inclusion in Greek journalism remain,” says Aris Dimokidis, the manager of Mikropragmata, a column at Lifo, one of the biggest news websites in Greece. Aris will share how he addresses problems and pursues effective solutions for diversity and inclusion at Mikropragmata, which has become a huge success and went on to acquire its own micro-website and corresponding channels in social media.

Speaker

By Ria Andriani, Lola Hierro (She/Her)
Walk the talk: Guiding steps towards diversity in newsrooms
12:10 - 12:40

The overall proportion of diversity in German news media is shockingly low even though around 40 percent of young people in Germany have a migration background. The Neue Deutsche Medienmacher:innen, a journalism organisation expert on diversity, equity and inclusion, will present their brand-new manual for diversity and how it can help newsrooms solve their lack of representation.

Speaker

By Thembi Wolf (She/Her)
#IamRemarkable workshop
12:40 - 14:10

#IamRemarkable is a Google initiative empowering women and other underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond. During the 90 minute workshop, you will learn the importance of self-promotion in your personal and professional life and be equipped with tools to develop this skill. Participants will be invited to challenge the social perception around self-promotion.

Speaker

By Beata Kramer

Speakers

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