According to the interviews, there is an explicit attempt to be inclusive of voices, but the challenges are complex. “It is company policy that we approach all people or institutions on stories that involve them. We are encouraged to quote widely if we can. Not all parties are willing to go on the record”, explained a senior columnist.
Representations of women have improved in recent times, though not across the board. In particular, women’s sports has expanded coverage and occupies a more prominent position than in the past (Toffoletti & Palmer, 2019), though it still receives far less attention than men’s sports. Conversely, women in positions of power continue to be viewed with an alternative lens, with a pervasive focus on their fashion choices in lieu of their decisions and work (Jansens, 2019), and women from minority communities often go unseen or misrepresented (Ryan, 2016). With women showing an increasing willingness to pay for their news (Fisher et al., 2020), increasing their representation in the news could prove valuable for struggling media organisations.
