A recently conducted survey highlights the imbalance in the visibility of women and men in the flagship news programs of public broadcasters. The overall representation of women stands at 30%, while women experts account for only 27% of expert commentators, according to results from a study conducted by the Gender and Media working group of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities, as reported by the Agency for Electronic Media.
This study revisits research from ten years ago on the representation and portrayal of women in public television news programs. The analysis covered topics such as women’s presence in news, the societal fields represented by women appearing in the news, women’s representation in news programs based on age criteria, and the inclusion of women with disabilities in flagship news broadcasts.
The research, conducted between January and April 2024, analyzed news content from seven national television broadcasters in the participating countries. The study included over 14,500 statements from participants.
Regarding women’s presence in news programs, the findings—similar to those from a decade ago—reveal a clear imbalance in the visibility of women and men in flagship news broadcasts. Women make up 30% of overall representation, while women experts constitute only 27% of expert commentators.
In Croatia, the Agency for Electronic Media analyzed the flagship news program Dnevnik 2 aired on HTV1 during the first four months of this year. A total of 28 broadcasts, lasting 1,428 minutes and containing 423 segments, were examined. The primary unit of analysis was the statement, with a total of 1,498 statements recorded. Each statement was evaluated based on its duration, the speaker’s gender, presumed age, social role, and any disabilities.
The analysis shows that the share of women as commentators in Croatia’s flagship public television news program remains almost unchanged compared to ten years ago, at around 30%, consistent with the results from other participating countries.
A comparison of women appearing as experts in specific fields with men in similar roles shows that women represent just over a quarter of expert commentators—a figure nearly identical to that of 2014.
The most notable result of the analysis concerns the share of women experts based on the topics they discuss. For instance, the proportion of women invited as experts on economic topics in 2024 has increased by 12 percentage points compared to ten years ago. An even more significant increase was observed in sports, where women account for 23% of expert commentators in this year’s analysis. In contrast, in 2014, no women were featured as sports experts in the flagship news program.
In Croatia, women approach equal representation in areas involving care, such as education (45%) and health (44%). A similar trend is evident in other participating countries, where women achieve equal or greater visibility in these fields (Portugal 53.8%, Malta 60%, France 62.2%).
In Croatia, the most pronounced gender disparity among expert commentators is in politics and security and defense. Across participating countries, the widest gaps are also in security and defense, along with sports. While the disparity in sports was particularly stark in 2014, it has significantly narrowed, with women now accounting for nearly a quarter of expert commentators—a trend not observed in other participating countries.
Although the figures remain disappointing and highlight a persistent imbalance between the representation of women and men as expert commentators in flagship news programs, there has been notable progress in certain areas compared to 2014.