C. Las necesidades básicas insatisfechas
2. Acceso a servicios básicos: agua, saneamiento y electricidad
This survey segregated responses from those who were not working in journalism because they were on their Overseas Experience. The OE usually entails travelling and frequent change of residence, thereby necessitating working in temporary jobs. There were 14 in this category, and the majority said they planned to work in journalism when they returned to New Zealand. Most said that the intended length of the overseas experience was two years.
143 that the industry was a good fit with their personal skills (4.57 of a possible 5 on Likert scale). But other significant reasons (>4 on Likert scale) were that they wanted to be in the midst of current affairs, enjoyed writing and interviewing, and that they thought it would be a good social environment and would also would provide a career path.
Despite their saying they planned to return to New Zealand and work in journalism, particularly daily newspapers, some participants did criticise the industry. Four of the 14 respondents on their overseas experience commented on the low pay, especially in their personal situation of still having student loans to pay off. Four commented negatively on the working conditions at New Zealand newspapers, what one termed ―a critical office environment‖. In addition to their plans to return to journalism, more than half of this group (57%) also said it was a strong possibility that they would eventually work in public relations.
5.13 Summary
The research results in this chapter addressed Research Question Two: How do early-career journalists describe their decision to remain in or leave the newspaper industry, and what gender differences are there in the decision-making process? This section summarises the findings, which will be discussed further in Chapter 7.
The respondents were 171 journalists who earned their qualifications between 2000 and 2007 from Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand.
The sample included both men and women, which provided the opportunity to cross-tabulate attitudes and examine the
144 dichotomy of female newspaper journalists and other journalists with similar qualifications.
The raw figures concluded that women left newspaper careers at a faster rather than men. Of the 57 female and 41 male journalism graduates who had started a career in daily newspapers, only 23% of the females, compared to 48% of the males, still worked in dailies at the time of the survey.
The quantitative result also showed that women, more so than men, left daily newspapers to pursue careers in other parts of journalism such as community newspapers and broadcasting. Both female and male respondents left at the same rate to work in public relations. In addition, both genders said they left newspapers, and left journalism mainly for better pay, but also for better working hours. Reasons for leaving that were more often given by women involved lack of mentoring, feeling they were not encouraged to remain, not seeing a promotion in the future, and thinking the supervisors were poor.
The expanded answers to the survey allowed qualitative analysis to further develop an understanding of the attitudes of journalists towards their industry environment. Working in daily newspapers is tough, with long hours, unrelenting deadlines, and constant pressure to find better and more exciting stories. This high pressure environment is a newspaper‘s strength and also its weakness, as reported by the female journalists in this survey. They expressed an attraction for the excitement of the industry, which is a unique environment of time pressures and race for front page scoops. The women who studied journalism at Massey University were more than satisfied with the exciting pace of the newsroom. Many had originally gone into journalism training because they liked being in the midst of current
145 affairs, and they wanted to use their writing and interviewing skills. The newspaper newsroom did not disappoint them in this sense.
Women, like men, said they enjoyed daily newspapers because of the fast pace and being in the middle of significant news issues. They also valued being able to apply their unique skills of writing and interviewing. This is the reason they entered journalism, the part of the newspaper job they liked, but also what they valued in public relations when they shifted to that industry. Some women sounded as though it was a love affair with their career. Many women used the words ―love‖ or ―adore. They wanted to use their skills and also to add something to society, and they could do this. This enthusiasm about journalism‘s contribution to society was expressed by respondents who had left newspaper journalism as well as those still working in it. But the survey results suggest that reality stepped in after a few years working in newspapers. Women and men left daily newspapers to pursue better paying options, with men mainly going to public relations while women mainly went to other parts of journalism before also going to public relations.
Exactly why some women remain in the newsroom and some leave is difficult to answer, but in this survey women who stayed in newspapers felt they received good mentoring, while those who left felt they lacked it. This came strongly from eight women now working in public relations who criticised the lack of support and unfriendliness of news media management.
In conclusion, this exploration of Research Question Two shows that the bulk of women who initially went into newspaper careers stayed for less than two years (68%), hence there were
146 fewer women in the industry with more than 24 months of experience. This sheds some light on the results of the byline analysis and explains why women tended to write fewer of the specialist articles, which normally require more than two years experience in the industry.
A second conclusion is that the negative newsroom culture contributed to the reasons women leave the career, which means those who remain in the newsroom need to manoeuvre through this culture. So we have a clearer picture of why women leave daily newspaper journalism. The next question, therefore, is how some women became successful in the industry and were able to achieve the top position of editor.
The survey results also give a hint of what motivated some women to remain in the newsroom long enough to progress up the career ladder to editorship. Those who remained in newspapers indicated they obtained mentoring, or at least felt they had support in their professional development, which is contrary to those who left and said they lacked support and backing.
This feeling of being mentored and supported will be further explored in Chapter 6, which looks in-depth at those few women who have attained editorship of a daily newspaper during this millennium. The next exploration uses in-depth interviews to probe key informants on the perceived barriers and enticers to become an editor. They are key informants because nine of them were female editors themselves, two of them were male media executives charged with hiring and developing editors, and three of them were senior female journalists who had been in the daily newspaper newsroom long-term but did not become editors.
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Chapter Six: RESULTS of IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
6.1 Introduction
This chapter reports the results of the third research approach, 14 in-depth interviews of three sub groups: nine women who were newspaper editors between the years of from 2000 through 2009; two male media company executives responsible for hiring editors at the two major media companies in New Zealand, Fairfax Media and APN; and three non-editor senior level female journalists who decided against being daily editors. The chapter analyses the interviews in light of Research Question Three: What are perceived as the barriers or enticements for women attaining editorships?
The nine female editors were asked for demographic information with the aim of demonstrating commonalities and variations in their career path to editorships. They were asked how they initially entered journalism and what sort of positions they held before becoming editor, and what was their family situation. They were then asked a series of open- ended questions on their viewpoint of characteristics needed to be an editor, and special barriers or enticers for females to become editors. They also filled out a checklist (Appendix 6) to indicate what factors they felt helped them in their career, and what they would have done differently.
148 The in-depth interviews followed the participants‘ histories in the way they wanted to express them. This exposed other unplanned issues, which were then explored. During each interview the participants were also asked their viewpoint on Melin-Higgins‘ gender coping theory, further described below.
The two male media company executives gave their views on the strengths, weaknesses, motivators and barriers facing female editors and also facing potential female editors as they progress to editorship. They presented their personal views and what they perceived as industry viewpoints on: the relative value of having more women as editors of daily newspapers; how the industry encourages women to become editors; characteristics required for an editor; the problem of balancing family life and editorship; and the gender difference in duration of the position.
The three non-editor senior female journalists provided yet another perspective on the barriers and challenges for women pursing an editor‘s career. These women have made a conscious decision not to pursue the top position of daily newspaper editor, even though they have all attained a level of seniority as a journalist and all have been encouraged to become editors. As potential editor candidates, they gave their firsthand accounts of what dissuades women from aspiring to an editor career, as distinct from other career paths within the newspaper industry.
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