In the ten years I've spent working in communications for a variety of campaigns and research organisations I wish I had saved a tenner each time a female expert told me she did not feel she was not the right person to field for a media request. I couldn't quite afford to retire on the proceedings but I'd be a lot closer to it.
Most people with complex expertise are, by definition, serious and responsible people who do like evidence, data, facts. They tend to nurture a healthy scepticism towards the media for its tendency to simplify every difficult issue, sensationalise and cut corners. But most male experts I worked with, especially senior ones, while uncomfortable with the media's own workings and motives were not, by and large, in doubt about their own expertise.
The first challenge I faced when asked to field a female expert for an interview was her initial doubts about 'knowing enough about x' or being the exact right person for the job. Needless to say, she would invariably be the company's designated expert on x, often not just the best but the only voice we could field and, if she ever made it to the studio, she would realise she was the most knowledgeable person on x not just in the room but quite likely in the entire building.
Broadcast media is finally waking up to the need for more gender balance in its news stories and discussion programmes. But the institutions they approach need, for their part, to create a pipeline of willing and capable female interviewees.
By capable I don't mean knowledgeable - they already are. I mean women with the confidence to go on air and represent their own work, their institution or their company sure in the knowledge that turning that bid down often means another, less knowledgeable (possibly male) person taking that spot.
I offer a blend of coaching and media training because female experts need to be made to feel that they can cope with broadcast media, they have things worth saying that need to be heard and they belong in the room. Once they feel they can, they will be much more receptive of the technical training to improve their interview skills.
'Just go and do it' is a hopeless approach - you may as well yell at someone: 'Don't be shy!'
Yorumlar