How Women in Media Differ Globally

By Beth Shirley

To make the Forbes List of the world’s most powerful media women, those in the running must have money, fame, power and significant followers. For instance, Kate Couric, anchor of US news channel’s CBS Evening News and fourth on the 2010 Forbes List, landed her own gig on the channel, earning about $40-million a year. She had been at the station for five years. Other women in media fulfilling the criteria on 2010’s list include Ellen Degeneres, Sarah Palin, CristianeAmanpour, Ariana Huffington, Anna Wintour and Tina Brown. No surprise that Oprah Winfrey topped the list with global audience penetration and a pay package of around $1.35-billion. On Forbes’ terms, Oprah is the world's most successful female media executive.

While there are significantly more men as media moguls (research conducted for the International Women’s Media Foundation found that women were underrepresented in all media positions), Forbes suggests that a surprising number of women are leading the media into the digital age. The online newswire Business Insider says: “Media is not just a crotchety old man's world. Women are making a huge impact, too. As the media industry evolves, they (women) are leading powerful companies, launching new ventures and redefining the future of journalism. And their success stories serve as models for those hoping to make a mark in this multi-faceted, risky business.” Ariana Huffington is one such digital pioneer: “The savvy self-promoter boldly ventured into digital territory in 2005 with The Huffington Post; more than four years later, the site has become not only a household name but a must-read aggregator of breaking news and commentary - likely worth more than $100 million.”

It would be pointless to compare South Africa’s most powerful women in media with those who made the Forbes List. South Africa’s media industry doesn’t even come close to meeting the financial backing of giant media conglomerates as well as the enormous media consuming market in the US.

Nevertheless, SA’s women in media are a force to be reckoned with and are making remarkable changes in a country where the media industry faces pressing challenges. A lot of these women go unrewarded yet fight tirelessly for the media space. The need to award and acknowledge powerful women in media, even 17 years into democracy and the substantial drive for ‘women empowerment’ in all industry sectors, is still urgent. As founder of the Women in Media Awards, Sandra Gordon of Wag the Dog publishers states: “We will only stop these awards when the need for them ceases - which if you look at the latest statistics showing poor representation of women in media management roles – is not anytime soon.”

The Women in Media Awards 2011, sponsored by 1st for Women Insurance, takes place on July 28, and awards an overall trophy as well as a rising star and lifetime achiever accolade. Finalists have already been selected by their peers and the editorial board of The Media magazine and will vie for the top women in media award in a debate prior to the ceremony. DeviSankareeGovender of Carte Blanche; PhyliciaOppelt, editor of The Times; Michelle van Breda, editor of Sarie; Michelle Meyjes, CEO of MEC Global and Jodi Bieber, award-winning freelance photographer, were chosen as finalists.

Says Gordon: “I continue to be surprised by the number of women who are holding down significant positions within the media, but who are not afforded the same recognition as their male counterparts. It is clear that this award still has a major part to play and I am pleased to see the commitment of past winners to this initiative.”

Research conducted in 2011 by SA-based NGO Gender Links shows that over a third (34%) of senior management positions in the media industry in South Africa are taken up by women, which is markedly better than other countries in the SADC region. Overall, the report suggests, black women are still underrepresented in media organisations at management level. Furthermore, stories about women and the use of female sources was also found to be less than satisfactory.

Another study concluded by Gender Links, The Glass Ceiling, found that the workplace environment had a substantial bearing on achieving gender parity in media houses. It found women hit the glass ceiling in the media at senior management level and that men were likely to get better working deals in media houses, dominating editorial, production and technical departments.

If, as Gender Links states, gender parity is likely to be increased and even achieved through the efforts of the media, how are SA’s so-called most powerful women in media playing their part in elevating women’s status in and through the media?

Jodi Bieber, one of the finalists, is a case in point in terms of getting the stories of women across and giving a voice to the previously voiceless. Reported by news channels across the world, Bieber took top honours at the World Press Photo competition earlier this year for her powerful portrait of Bibi Aisha, a young Afghan woman whose ears and nose had been cut off by her abusive husband after she had left him. It appeared on the cover ofTime magazine, and gave the brutal atrocities we hear of a human face.

Bieber told a local news site: "Women in situations like that are almost always portrayed as vulnerable. In this one Aisha is looking quite defiant." Here, Bieber lays the path for a new way of thinking and portraying women.

Another finalist, Devi SankareeGovender, is an enormously dynamic and talented media woman, feistily pursuing miscreants and fraudsters to come clean on television. Her passion is investigative journalism, which is crucial to the health of SA’s democracy. Her passion for media was so that Govender completed an MBA degree, with the intention to have a fuller understanding of issues to elevate journalism to the standard it should be.

Behind the typical South African newsroom is a very important entity – the media agency. Many media industry forecasters see this entity as the place of growth. Filled with talented media planners and creative thinkers, the media agency has typically been somewhat of an ‘old boy’s club’. On the Forbes List of the most powerful women in media, there was not a mention in the top 10 of a media agency woman.

Yet the business of media is fraught – in SA, there are issues of pricing strategy, audience stability and schedule delivery. Michelle Meyjes is behind the helm of one of SA’s largest agencies – MEC Global and has consistently raised the industry’s challenges to political and economic bodies.

So apart from being a businesswoman (total billings last year were R3-billion), Meyjes is an advocate for the industry, tirelessly fighting for the issues that need urgent attention.

The other finalists PhyliciaOppelt and Michelle van Breda are formidable media women, both increasing circulation figures during their tenures. In fact, van Breda’s SARIE has occupied the foremost place in the women magazine market – a mean feat considering the ill-fate of similar titles in South Africa.

Oppelt is a newspaper person, but an insightful leader and businesswoman too, having initiated a number of management changes on all publications, appointing several women to positions of leadership.

“South Africa’s most powerful media women may not have the developed news consuming markets found in the US, for instance, but they have been at the forefront of welcoming and initiating change in the media industry. They have seen the limitless potential and the importance of a prevailing female touch to the sector,” says Sandra Gordon.