Panel at the ICA Conference in London

We are very fortunate. In June, some of the contributors to the Palgrave International Handbook on Women and Journalism ( see earlier blogpost) will be able analyze the current situation for female journalists. Thanks to our editor, Carolyn M Byerly, we will be part of the academic discussion in London where The 63rd Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA) will be held. Only 36 % of the papers and panels were accepted so it is quite a thrill. For me it is also my first ICA conference.

The theme of our panel is Women Journalists in Turbulent Times: The gendered impact of historical shifts in newsrooms. The panelist are: Carolyn M Byerly, Howard University, Jad Melki, American University of Beirut, Diana Iulia Nastasia, Southern Illinois University, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh, Butler University and my self, Maria Edstrom, University of Gothenburg.

If you are attending the ICA conference, please come and take part of the seminar:
Scheduled Time: Thu, Jun 20 - 9:30am - 10:45am  
Building/Room: Hilton Metropole, Hilton Meeting Rooms 16 & 17, London

From the abstract:
Women journalists are caught in a confluence of local world events that is not of their making but which shapes their work lives nonetheless. This panel identifies some of these events – what we characterize as “historical shifts”—and explores how these shifts are affecting women’s occupational status and ability to do their work as reporters. Indeed, the overarching goal is to find the otherwise invisible gendered dimensions of forces that affect and/or reshape women journalists’ relationship to the profession and their work. These forces are produced in the macro-sphere by political shifts like popular uprisings that topple governments, economic shifts that are producing unemployment or stagnation (including in newsrooms), technological shifts that are changing the nature of news making, and cultural shifts like the rise of religious fundamentalism, particularly in the Arab states. 

Some of these impacts have been documented in recent research, in which some panelists have participated. Relevant examples include the Global Report on the Status of Women in News Media, which surveyed women’s location in more than 500 news companies around the world, and the Global Media Monitoring Report, which examined (among other things) the extent to which women reporters cover serious news like politics, war, and the economy. 

The full abstract can be found here.