Feminist journalism is important to public discourse. It’s important to political debate. And it completely important to free and honest democracy. Discover extra at Feminist Journalism is Important to Democracy—Ms. journal’s newest installment of Girls & Democracy, offered in partnership with the Worldwide Girls’s Media Basis.
The Ms. Q&A: Elisa Lees Muñoz and Cindi Leive
Elisa Lees Muñoz is the chief director of the Worldwide Girls’s Media Basis, a task she has held since 2013. Lees Muñoz leads the group to attain its mission to help ladies journalists and develop their careers by offering coaching, instruments and help. She is charged with rising the IWMF by increasing its packages into new geographies; introducing new initiatives; partnering with peer organizations; securing various organizational funding; and, driving communications and outreach to core constituents. Lees Muñoz oversees a group of greater than 15 people devoted to supporting gender-diverse journalists.
Cindi Leive is a journalist, media chief and co-founder of The Meteor, a collective of journalists, artists, media leaders and filmmakers dedicated to constructing a platform for contemporary feminist work. A cultural critic who seems incessantly on TV and dwell occasions, she is the previous editor-in-chief of each Glamour and Self magazines; the power behind barrier-breaking initiatives like Glamour Girls of the 12 months (the nation’s preeminent occasion showcasing ladies) and The Lady Undertaking (supporting ladies’ training); and the creator or producer of quite a few books together with the 2018 New York Instances bestseller Collectively We Rise, concerning the making of the Girls’s March. Leive has interviewed heads of state, Hollywood and trend’s largest personalities, and iconic leaders from all walks of life. Her many awards and honors embody recognition from the White Home, the United Nations, and varied media organizations. She is at present a senior fellow on the College of Southern California’s Annenberg Heart.
Each Lees Muñoz and Leive have constructed their decades-long careers creating and uplifting reporting by and for ladies. Within the dialog beneath, the 2 journalists talk about the dangers ladies within the information face, the significance of women-centered and feminist reporting, and the way we will finest defend press freedom.
Cindi Leive: You and I’ve collaborated for a few years on the Braveness in Journalism Awards. Out of your perspective, how have the challenges ladies journalists face modified throughout these years?
Elisa Lees Muñoz: First, I believe we have now to think about how each the media and the event of press freedom safeguards have modified.
When the IWMF first started the Braveness in Journalism Awards, journalists’ considerations had been primarily excessive circumstances of press freedom threats, government-led assaults, and armed conflicts. So in these early days our focus was on governmental interference, legal guidelines impeding press freedom, and journalist imprisonments.
Then, the dangers moved past authorities management to contain non-governmental entities—corrupt people and highly effective cartels emerged as further threats, significantly for investigative journalists.
And now, a brand new class of threats comes from the general public: contributors in rallies, demonstrators, and bystanders. Journalists are now not seen as observers of occasions however as people who find themselves taking a stand, although they’re simply doing their job. Having a president name the media the “enemy of the folks” definitely didn’t assist with that.
We additionally discover that assaults are now not solely directed on the occupation however are identity-based. Governments, people and political pursuits proceed to contribute to the escalating dangers. I’d even be remiss to not point out that freelancers face heightened vulnerability within the absence of newsroom help.
Contemplating all these components, the concept particular areas of reporting was once safer than others doesn’t maintain up anymore. Each beat comes with its personal hazard, political implications and polarization. Protections as soon as out there, reminiscent of in search of exile, now not supply a safe refuge from assaults that concentrate on not solely the journalists themselves but additionally their households. So the hazards ladies and nonbinary journalists face should not solely compounding however incremental.
Journalists are now not seen as observers of occasions however as people who find themselves taking a stand, although they’re simply doing their job. Having a president name the media the ‘enemy of the folks’ definitely didn’t assist with that.
Elisa Lees Muñoz
Leive: As on-line abuse turns into a near-constant issue for ladies on the web, how does this situation threaten feminist voices within the information?
Lees Muñoz: Journalists deal with a mixed problem of bodily threats alongside pervasive on-line violence. As you already know, marginalized communities—together with ladies, journalists of coloration, and LGBTQI+ journalists—expertise these assaults at a better fee.
The horrific reality is greater than 70 % of ladies journalists have skilled on-line violence. Usually this will get described as a mob assault—that’s simply not true. This abuse isn’t spontaneous; it’s led by particular pursuits and sometimes augmented by governments making an attempt to capitalize on our society’s rising polarization and world misogyny.
The implications of those digital assaults are big. They incessantly transcend the net world and manifest in real-life areas, with 20 % of bodily assaults originating from the web. Regardless, these assaults take a heavy toll on psychological wellbeing. Our analysis signifies {that a} third of ladies journalists have considered leaving their newsrooms due to on-line abuse. From there, we get self-censorship, which impacts the protection we get and the themes journalists really feel protected to report on.
Irrespective of the way you take a look at it, feminist media needs to be thriving.
Cindi Leive
Leive: The Meteor is impressed by Audre Lorde’s quote “going out like a f*cking meteor.” Taking a cue from that, what’s the intense, daring headline of this second in time for ladies journalists?
Lees Muñoz: I like this query! What stands out to me on this second is the widespread threads between our 2023 Braveness in Journalism Awards recipients. Their message is obvious: Regardless of the immense challenges they face—from the Iranian authorities to Mexican cartels to world conflicts in locations like Ukraine—they stand agency. They refuse to yield or be silenced. They won’t again down. Irrespective of the challenges they face, their dedication to reporting stays unwavering.
One in all our winners, María Teresa Montaño Delgado, captured this sentiment completely: “I proceed as a result of that is my vocation.” They’ve a flame that refuses to be extinguished as a result of they consider that journalism issues – that their voices matter. They received’t let another person inform their story.
I wish to flip it to you, now. We’re such followers of The Meteor on the IWMF, however we all know that instances are robust for feminist media. Lately Bitch and The Lily closed—and simply final week, Jezebel introduced its closure. How are you rising and adapting on this media panorama?
Leive: Truthfully, I’m so bummed to see these retailers shut! I do know that nothing lasts ceaselessly and that media comes and goes—that’s true throughout classes—however regardless of the way you take a look at it, feminist media needs to be thriving. You might have hundreds of thousands of individuals (not simply ladies!) who’ve been mobilized by the dying of Roe v. Wade; ladies are voting in report numbers; all the pieces from Barbie screenings to ladies’s volleyball tournaments are promoting out. And but our media panorama, which might maintain 852 completely different retailers all analyzing the identical inside-the-Beltway remarks of the day, can’t maintain even a count-on-one-hand variety of media corporations speaking to this huge, highly effective viewers alive? That’s an enormous loss for everybody!
However again to your query, sorry. The Meteor is adapting by not counting on digital media or promoting and as a substitute constructing dwell occasions and podcasts, amongst different issues. We additionally attempt to uplift and accomplice with different manufacturers in our house, like @feminist (and we love Ms.!)—in different phrases, making an attempt to withstand the media-industry gospel that has at all times pitted us in opposition to one another. That’ll be actually necessary as we go into this pivotal election 12 months, and I’m right here for it. Our United States of Abortion video collection has already had a cloth impact on nationwide politics (the primary topic, Amanda Zurawski, grew to become the lead plaintiff within the groundbreaking lawsuit in opposition to the state of Texas), and we’re ramping up in 2024, because the stakes get even greater.
Lees Muñoz: In some ways, each our careers have been constructed round uplifting ladies’s voices, significantly within the information media. Are you able to share how feminist values have formed your profession?
Leive: I used to be raised by a feminist mother—she was a biochemist, and the 2 magazines she subscribed to had been Scientific American and Ms., solely considered one of which I was interested by. After which after I first began working in media, I labored with loads of actually good and inquisitive ladies, together with the previous editor of Glamour, Ruth Whitney. (A reporter as soon as requested her if she was a feminist, and he or she stated, “What’s the choice?”) So I’m undecided that I’ve ever checked out media one other means.
To me personally, one key feminist worth is curiosity. Which means listening, studying and evolving. I believe listening to different folks with empathy (whether or not they’re topics of a narrative or individuals who need your group to do higher) is a trademark of Working Like a Feminist. I don’t at all times nail it, however I attempt.
One other core feminist worth is simply the idea you could’t perceive the world in the event you’re not it from the standpoint of ladies and nonbinary folks—i.e. greater than half of the inhabitants. It’s one of many causes I really feel so passionately concerning the IWMF, which advocates for, funds and protects ladies journalists. You can’t observe journalism whereas ignoring half the folks within the room.
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