By Halimah Olamide
In a bid to celebrate the anniversary of the Report Women! Programme, The Wole Soyinka Center for investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), is set to launch its female experts source guide website.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Executive Director, WSCIJ, Motunrayo Alaka, on Tuesday.
The event is slated to hold on Thursday, 3 October 2024, at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos, by 10am.
The Report Women! Experts source guide was created to address the underrepresentation of women as expert sources in Nigerian media.
According to findings from WSCIJ’s 2024 report, “Who leads the newsrooms and news?”, men have seven times the representation of women as expert sources or guests, with 87.9%, while women comprise 12.1%.
Currently, the source guide features over 500 female experts across various fields, including Agriculture, Business and Economy, Education, Health and Science, Law, Media, Politics and Governance, and Security.
The platform aims to ensure that journalists can access relevant female voices across various sectors, making it easier for journalists and media organisations to include female perspectives in their reporting. WSCIJ plans to broaden the platform to include additional fields and will allow female experts to submit their profiles for inclusion, subject to internal approval.
The public presentation of the Report Women! Experts source guide will feature the unveiling of the website, a demonstration of its use, and a panel discussion on its potential impact on promoting gender diversity in the media. It is part of WSCIJ’s broader Report Women! News and Newsroom Engagement Project, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) is dedicated to advancing transparency and accountability through investigative journalism. The Report Women! initiative was designed in 2014 to increase the quality and quantum of reports about girls and women in Nigeria. Now in its tenth year, Report Women! has produced 86 fellows, trained 537 reporters across Nigeria and Ghana, impacted 2,930 direct beneficiaries through story and leadership projects of fellows, and produced 136 stories focused on women and girls issues. The fellows have implemented 138 leadership projects centred on women and girls’ empowerment. Also, the centre has produced 6 documentaries and published 4 research reports.