The impact of journalism routines, practices and values on women experts’ media work

Experts are an increasingly common feature of contemporary journalism but this influential category of news source is dominated by men. Evidence suggests this is not attributable to the limited pool of women experts but journalists’ entrenched ideas about the most suitable news sources, societal stereotypes about the gendered nature of expertise, and women experts’ own reticence. This article draws on in-depth interviews with 52 women experts from New Zealand universities to explore how they perceive journalism routines, practices and values impact their media work. Time factors, conflict framing, the hierarchy of news values, and journalists’ reliance on a small group of sources are key themes shaping women’s experiences. Women experts have a good understanding of how the news media work but struggle to interest journalists in angles related to gender, feminism and women’s work. Efforts to improve the representation of women sources in news must go beyond training and support to also consider the gender logics of contemporary news production and content.