New angles: creating a richer, more inclusive news story

Every day, important stories – too many to count – go undetected. Perhaps because we didn’t think of looking for them. Perhaps because we weren’t looking in the right places. Perhaps because we weren’t looking for them with the right lens. In the case of this session, a gender lens.

A lens is designed to sharpen vision; a gender lens allows us to sharpen our instincts for noticing a good story.

Why gender? Because it is a framing that is often overlooked or sidelined. It might be deemed “cute” or unimportant. It might be considered limited to covering “women’s issues.” But gender is about power structures, hierarchies, and the systemic silencing and sidelining of certain groups. A gender lens is transversal and can be applied to any given topic.

In this session, we will show you how. You will hear directly from five recognized journalists who have proven over the years that analyzing the world with a gender-conscious approach helps uncover new angles and can turn once-untold stories into high-impact reporting.

Through a variety of hands-on activities, you will try out the gender lens and see what it can bring to your craft at different stages of the journalistic process. By the end of the session, you can expect to have shared a qualitative experience as a group and connected with incredible gender journalists. You will also walk away with a host of resources and tips to help you in your lifelong quest for interesting angles and important stories.