How to Increase your Media Coverage of Women’s Sports

How to Increase your Media Coverage of Women’s Sports

Overview

You are convinced that your sports coverage needs to be more gender-balanced but you are unsure where and how to start. This e-Master Class will give you a step by step process on how to become a change agent in your sports department, use concrete tools to set measurable targets and create a sustainable process with your colleagues.

Who it's for:

  • Sport producers, journalists & reporters
  • Teams of journalists & reporters who are pushing for change
  • Communication officers from sports federations
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion officers 

Guest Speakers:

Topics Covered:

  • Learn how to diversify sources and stories
  • How to set and reach measurable targets
  • Prepare an action plan to improve the gender balance of your sports coverage

Schedule

Day 1: Target and Measure

Introduction & tour de table
PART 1 – Gender balanced coverage: a must for audiences 

  • Break outs:  What are the arguments in favor of gender balanced coverage? What are the blockers? 
  • Opportunities & challenges
  • Inspirational stories (15 min)

PART 2 – Set targets, measure, act! 

  • SVT’s journey
  • Where & how to start 
  • The method

PART 3 – Tools to measure how balanced your coverage really is?

  • Prognosis, the gender equality tracker with Prognosis creator, Max Berggren, Sweden 
  • Break out exercise: What could you could start measuring 

Final thoughts & assignment for Friday 

Day 2: Practical actions, processes and tips to make permanent changes in the sports department-    Key learnings from day 1 
PART 1 – Case study: ABC 50/50 with guest speaker Amanda Shalala

  • Two action streams: developing & commissioning content; recruiting talents
  • What has worked, what hasn’t? and next steps

PART 2 – Create a sustainable process within the Sports team 

  • Gender-balanced coverage is everyone’s responsibility
  • 5 Key commitments
  • Break-out: Discuss what actions you will try to commit to? And how you could start this change in your team? 

PART 3 – Actions to ensure a more gender-balanced sports coverage in Sporza VRT, Koen Vanachter (TBC)

  • VRT Sports Action list
  • Task force & other actions
  • Results & outcomes

Share your action plan

Skills Learnt:

Audience Needs: Diversify your sports coverage so it appeals to all audiences.
Business: Increase your reach and media coverage, valorize your brand.
Digital Newsgathering: Learn how to diversify sources and stories.
Diversity: Improve the gender balance of sports coverage.
Editorial Skills: Set up targets and a measuring system in the Sports department to monitor a more gender balanced coverage.
Social Media: Use social media to source, promote and feature gender-balanced sports stories.
Strategy: Increase brand awareness & reputation.

Practice:

Between sessions and in their own time, trainees will be asked to work on their own or in small groups on a few tasks (e.g. prepare an action plan, do a few exercises on gender portrayal etc.). The total time needed will be 1 to one 1.5 hours. While we encourage trainees to take up the chance to practice what they’ve learned, we understand it may not always be possible because of other commitments outside the e-MC. If this is the case, please discuss this with the trainer, Linn Hellstrand.