Page 59 - Post Summit_2019_AV

For Ms Okonkwo, addressing diversity in media and journalism isn’t just a matter of social justice, it is also a matter of innovation and commerce. If media groups or companies such as TONL fail to cater to these groups, she argues, this is also a failure to cash in on buying power that is being underserved. For Ms Guerrero, it is important to have journalists who are from the communities that are being reported on. “You will read stories about Latinos but Latinos are not telling the story, or you will read men talking about women’s issues.” For Mr Prideaux, telling stories about things that are foreign to journalists is an essential part of the profession. “You should have enough empathy to be able to write about something that is not of your culture,” he said. Ms Dixit said: “In India we do not have enough women in decision-making positions. We do a lot of the reporting but when it comes to making a decision, we are not there.” She said it was a similar situation for Dalits, lower caste Indians, who in 2018 comprised 16 per cent of India's population, more than 200 million people. “There is a 2013 report which tells us that there are only 21 accredited Dalit journalists in the country. This is absolutely ridiculous.” 55