Courtesy of Eve Lacroix
8
Students and staff at Gary Younge’s talk, titled “How racism shaped my critical eye”
Gary Younge: Newsrooms lack representation By Dorjee Wangmo
T
he Guardian’s former editor-at-large, Gary Younge, has said newsrooms have “structural, representational issues including class, race, gender and religion” which need “strategic intervention”. Mr Younge was addressing journalism staff and students in a talk at City on 27 February in honour of Rosemary Hollis, the late professor of Middle East Policy Studies.
According to Mr Younge: “A necessary strategic intervention has to be made to go from where we are to where we want to be. “BBC TV newsrooms are so much more diverse than BBC Radio because you can’t see them,” he said. He discussed the importance of re-evaluating the culture in newsrooms, saying it is only possible through meaningful change in the hiring process. Mr Younge added that
even if representational issues in the media landscape were fixed, journalists would still need “courage” to write things that might prompt a backlash. “If you write something, a group of people will come for you and very few people will back you up. The likelihood of you writing becomes less probable,” he said. “But nobody has to tell you what to write, you will know once you get in trouble. If I write
‘Let’s have an open and honest conversation about white people’ that could get me in trouble.” On the flip side, he said that if all we have is courage then “you’ll be the soldier who goes over the top in the field and gets shot”. “I wouldn’t be standing here, having spent 26 years in journalism, if I had run my mouth a lot. I made calculations about what I thought mattered.”
Dani Clarke was the winner of the prestigious Student Journalist of the Year prize at the PPA’s Next Generation Awards last October. Each year, the award celebrates a student journalist who has “showcased exceptional work during their studies, and display[s] promise to be the talent of tomorrow.” Ms Clarke, who is currently a sub-editor at Hearst, said: “I did not expect to win or even really believe I’d won. I was totally surprised but also completely delighted.” She added: “It was a nice finishing touch on the year and made it seem even more
special. It has inspired me to become a multi-award winning journalist!” Amongst the other Next Generation winners were fellow Magazine alumnae Kelly-Anne Taylor (Editor, Radio Times Podcast), Jess Hacker (Senior Reporter, Pulse and Healthcare Leader), and Isabella McRae (Reporter, The Big Issue). The ceremony was held at the Mondrian Hotel in Shoreditch. Featured guest speakers included Nina Wright, CEO of Harmsworth Media, and Greg Williams, editor-in-chief at WIRED. Caitlin Barr
Courtesy of PPA
‘I was totally surprised and delighted’: Magazine graduate wins PPA award
Dani Clarke with ‘Student Journalist of the Year’ award