By George Lysnar
As editor of the Brisbane Times, a lover of politics and a Women in Media committee member, Danielle Cronin is on the frontlines of the gender equality debate.
The 2018 Women in Media conference runs from September 14-15 and after the success of last year’s event, Cronin hopes to further the discussions surrounding gender in journalism, including obstacles to equality, progress made and tips for young, aspiring journalists.
Cronin said issues in focus included the need for editors and journalists to innovate and the opportunities to draw inspiration from across various sources.
“In a rapidly changing media industry, it is a challenge to stay ahead of the curve with new technology, platforms and research emerging all the time. But regardless of these changes, the heart of good journalism is and will remain compelling storytelling,” she says.
Cronin is also interested in hearing panel discussions on issues such as pay equity, flexible work and promotion of women into leadership positions.
Earlier in her career, she had witnessed mediocre men promoted over exceptional women who sadly left journalism as a result. Today, three of the five Fairfax Media metro mastheads are edited by women and women hold many other critical newsroom roles.
If gender inequality is magically fixed tomorrow, Cronin says the next issue to be addressed is clear.
“We need to look at the wider issue of diversity both in newsrooms and in reporting,” she says.
Cronin will speak at the 2018 Women in Media National Conference at Bond University on the Gold Coast.
She says the conference will be a fantastic opportunity for delegates to make connections and be at the forefront of industry discussions.
“I think the late, great New York Times writer David Carr said it best. ‘We are entering a golden age of journalism. I do think there has been horrible frictional costs, but I think when we look back at what has happened, I look at my backpack that is sitting here, and it contains more journalistic firepower than the entire newsroom that I walked into 30 to 40 years ago’.”
“It’s a great time to be a journalist. You can do pretty much anything in this age.”
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