大象传媒

The 大象传媒 announces results of 50:50 Project

The proportion of female contributors appearing in 大象传媒 programmes has radically increased thanks to a grassroots initiative challenging teams to aim for 50:50 representation.

Published: 15 May 2019
I want the 大象传媒 to lead the way on equality and fairness, and this project demonstrates what can be achieved.
— Tony Hall
  • 74% of teams monitoring their output for 12 months or more reached 50% of female contributors on air in April 2019
  • Over 500 teams across the 大象传媒 are now signed up to the project
  • Over 20 external media partners have signed up to replicate the idea themselves

The 大象传媒 50:50 Project has challenged teams across the organisation to achieve 50% female contributors in English language news, current affairs and topical programmes. Results published today show the transformation that has taken place over the past year, ensuring a more diverse range of views and opinions.

When the challenge was set last year by the 大象传媒’s Director General, Tony Hall, 74 English language outlets and 10 World Service language teams were already signed up to the initiative. At the time, 27% of them recorded having at least 50% female contributors - but that had increased three-fold to 74% by this April.

Over the course of the year, hundreds more programmes from across the 大象传媒 - from news to entertainment to music, including flagship 大象传媒 One programmes such as Songs Of Praise and All Together Now - have joined the project.

Across all the shows now taking part, only 26 per cent hit 50:50 in their first month of recording data, but this had more than doubled to 57% by April - even though some have only been involved in the project for a handful of months.

Some of the programmes who hit the 50:50 target this April included The Andrew Marr Programme, 大象传媒 Breakfast, The One Show, Politics Live, Radio 4’s Saturday Live and Outside Source - whose presenter Ros Atkins started the 50:50 Project.

There has also been real progress from teams such as 大象传媒 Sport News. Sportsday, shown on 大象传媒 News Channel, started with 20% female voices and in April reached 43% - doubling their female representation, with ambitions to reach 50:50 soon.

The project has been so successful that the 大象传媒 has shared the methodology with other media organisations and is working with more than 20 external partners who are now signed up to replicate the project. These include The Financial Times, ABC News, STV and Fortune.

Audiences have also noticed a difference, with more than a third of those taking part in a nationally representative survey saying they had noticed an increase in the number of women in 大象传媒 programmes compared to a year ago. A fifth of women said improving female representation had increased their enjoyment. Across the media, the respondents felt there has been an overall increase in female representation and younger audiences are most likely to welcome this.

大象传媒 Director-General, Tony Hall, says: “It’s amazing to see such a remarkable change in just a year - you can see and hear it right across our programming. I want the 大象传媒 to lead the way on equality and fairness, and this project demonstrates what can be achieved. Better representation is something the whole media industry needs to address so I’m really pleased others are now following us and adopting this project for their own organisation.”

大象传媒 Director of News, Fran Unsworth, says: “We want to ensure the 大象传媒 reflects its audiences better - and that’s at the heart of the 50:50 Project. It’s extremely encouraging to see the progression made by so many teams to ensure we have more female voices represented across our news and current affairs output and it can only add to the quality of the programming we offer our audiences.”

大象传媒 Live Political Programmes' Assistant Editor, Miranda Holt, says: “Politics can be a male dominated environment but our team’s success in the 50:50 Project has given us the satisfaction of seeing new voices - politicians, journalists and commentators - on all our live political programmes. We have shared these contacts via the 50:50 hub across 大象传媒 News and they have subsequently appeared on other outlets. We’ve had all female panels on the Politics Live programme a couple of times and had great responses from viewers on social media. Overall, we’ve had a positive response from political parties who accept that this is how 大象传媒 News operates and have been more imaginative in which spokespeople they put up for interview.”

大象传媒 News at Six and Ten Editor, Paul Royall, says: “Since taking part in the 50:50 Project we’ve had an almost 10% increase of female voices across the News At Ten and our April figures for both the Six and Ten were at 49% representation. We’re really keen to progress and the team have been making concerted efforts to ensure we continue to hear from a range of different voices on our output.”

The 大象传媒’s 50:50 Project contributes towards the 大象传媒’s commitment to reach 50% women on-screen, on-air and in lead roles across all genres from drama to news by 2020.

Contributors refer to all 大象传媒 reporters, commentators, spokespeople, analysts, academics, case studies featured across 大象传媒 content

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大象传媒 programmes that have been monitoring data from 12-months or more achieving 50% women representation in April 2019:

  • 5 Live Investigates
  • A Point of View
  • Asia Business Report
  • Breakfast
  • Click
  • CrowdScience
  • Curious Cases Of Rutherford And Fry
  • From Our Home Correspondent
  • From Our Own Correspondent (Radio 4)
  • From Our Own Correspondent (World Service)
  • GMT
  • GNS
  • Global
  • Health Check
  • Impact
  • In Business
  • Inside Health/All In The Mind
  • Inside Science
  • Loose Ends
  • The Marr Programme
  • Money Box
  • Money Box Live
  • More or Less (Radio 4)
  • News Channel Business
  • News Online (UK)
  • News Online (World)
  • Index Pictures
  • Newsday (World Service)
  • Newsday (World News)
  • Newsround
  • OS (World Service)
  • Outside Source
  • Politics Live
  • Reporting Scotland
  • Saturday Live
  • Science in Action
  • Start the Week
  • The Big Debate (Asian Network)
  • The Briefing Room
  • The Inquiry
  • The Life Scientific
  • The Media Show
  • The One Show
  • The Real Story (World Service)
  • The Why Factor
  • This Week
  • Westminster Hour
  • World Business

大象传媒 programmes that have been monitoring data for 12-months or more achieving 45-49% women representation in April 2019:

  • 大象传媒 Spotlight
  • More Or Less (World Service)
  • News At Six
  • News At Ten
  • PM (Radio 4)
  • Today (Radio 4)
  • World At One (Radio 4)
  • World Tonight (Radio 4)
  • World This Weekend (Radio 4)

50:50 Project Partners:

  • 7digital
  • ABC News
  • BFBS
  • Edelman PR
  • Falmouth University
  • Financial Times
  • Fortune
  • Lansons
  • Lithuanian National Radio and Television
  • National Film and Television School
  • RFA
  • Somethin’ Else
  • STV
  • VOA
  • VRT
  • Whistledown
  • WNYC
  • YFM
  • YLE

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