SECTOR 4 The University of Wits 2014 report, State of the Newsroom South Africa: Disruptions Accelerated, showed that there had in fact been a decrease in the number of women editors from 2013. The report noted that of all the editors in South Africa in 2014, 12 out of 43 were women, and only six of these were black women. This report also noted that the number of female and male junior reporters in media houses tended to be on par, indicating a more general parity in newsroom gender balance, however, a panellist noted that the ‘content was still largely male-dominated’. The report indicated that little had changed over the years, and that women were also guilty of perpetuating existing male constructs in the newsroom. In addition, it was known that men earned more than women with the same qualifications and skills. ‘One media house in particular, which needed to transform, employed a black woman as a deputy editor despite her wealth of experience which would have made her an ideal editor. The male editor was meant to mentor her.’ ‘One of the single biggest reasons why women don’t change their path from deputy to editor is childcare. There are not many roles which allow for the flexibility and better hours necessary for taking care of children, which is mostly a burden that falls on women. Having a child is absolutely career-limiting. It is a very unequal burden on women in the workplace.’ It was mentioned that in recent years, there had been greater numbers of female than male students at media schools, with a lot more men going into higherearning career paths. Media houses were generally considered to have sexual harassment policies to discourage such behaviour. A panellist also noted that media houses’ sexual harassment policies were also relevant and should form part of future indicators. In terms of religion, one editor said this could be discounted as he never asked prospective employees during interviews what their religion was. The 2016 eNCA ‘doek’ [traditional African headscarf] incident was mentioned, however, in which a reporter for the private news channel claimed her story was canned because she had been filmed wearing a headscarf. Accusations were directed at management and leaked via email to staff. While editor-inchief for eNCA Anton Harber denied this was the reason for pulling the story, a considerable amount of comment on social media highlighted the need to diversify newsrooms and acknowledge cultural dress without staff feeling victimised. As there were no panellists from the broadcast media, it was not known what the status was in these companies with regards to equal opportunities. ‘For me, equal opportunities are not properly being addressed in newsrooms.’ 60 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2018