'We're all in this together': Tips from Vice for women starting out in journalism

Journalism still has “a long way to go” before it adequately represents the audience it is serving, Zing Tsjeng, UK editor of Broadly, Vice's women channel, explained during a workshop yesterday (7 March).

Indeed, a survey last year found the British journalism industry to be 55 per cent male, with women less likely to be promoted to senior positions than men.

The workshop, organised by Vice in partnership with The Media Trust, was led by senior women and men from different parts of the media business. It was designed to help women interested in entering journalism by giving them an insight into the different roles available, and teaching them about the various departments within a news organisation and how to get onto the career ladder.

Tsjeng noted that, in her experience, women can help themselves by building a support network around them of helpful professionals on whom they can rely for advice and guidance when needed.

"I’ve been really fortunate to have gone to journalism school and been able to meet a lot of women in the industry through that, and we’ve progressed through journalism together,” she said.

"If any of us has a problem with, say for instance, asking for a raise, wages, or an issue with our boss, we can go to that group of women and ask for advice.

"I found that so invaluable and it makes you feel like you’re a lot less alone in the industry to have people that you can trust.

We have amazing women in journalism right now that are completely taking over the fieldAriel Wengroff, Vice

"So often, journalism starts off as an incredibly competitive industry, that it’s a nice way to show we are all in this together.”

WOMAN with Gloria Steinem, a global series produced by an all-female team about how normalised violence against women is creating gender instability in the world, also premiered yesterday, launching today on Viceland on TV.

Ariel Wengroff, executive producer of WOMAN, and global chief of staff at Vice, explained that an important piece of advice for women entering the media industry was knowing that you "always have to ask and sometimes insert yourself in the room".

"At the fundamental beginnings of [WOMAN], if I hadn’t asked to be in the original meeting with Gloria, I don’t know if I would have made that show. But I have a strong background working with women’s issues and it was important to me."

Wengroff added that it is important to her to make sure that every woman in the room is being heard and her team is always supporting each other.

“We have amazing women in journalism right now that are completely taking over the field,” she said.

“There are still old stereotypes that men are the ones predominately behind the camera, and we have a lot of work to do, but it is a really exciting time for women in media, and it just takes more young women raising their hand and coming into the field."

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