Using Big Data Analytics to Incentivize Behaviour Change in How Canadian Journalists Represent Women: Impact & Accountability Report (2019) with Simon Fraser University
This report describes the impetus for, and preliminary impact of, the Gender Gap Tracker, an analytics tool that seeks to measure, in real time, the gender of those quoted and featured in Canada’s most influential news media.
The focus of some news stories dictates who must be quoted – the government minister or CEO making the announcement, the person accused of or victimized by a crime. At the same time, journalists often have discretion over the people they ask to provide context or analysis. Yet those people remain overwhelmingly male and white, despite the fact that women’s post-secondary enrolment has surpassed men’s for more than 20 years, and members of visible minority groups are far more likely to have completed a university degree.
The narrow representation of sources is especially troubling considering the role journalism plays in a democracy and the fact that those whose voices are least reflected are often the most affected by the decisions and circumstances being covered in the news.
The Gender Gap Tracker – made possible through significant in-kind research provided by Simon Fraser University, and through contract with Women and Gender Equality Canada – seeks to influence journalism practice to stimulate greater inclusion of women’s voices.