In this week’s episode, co-founder Jasmine Andersson talks about the aims of The Second Source project, the launch of their new mentoring scheme and how women can support each other in challenging environments.

In the news round-up, the team dive into what YouTube’s $25 million news spend means for publishers, whether Reddit will work for advertisers and what the deal is with Rolling Stone’s revitalised magazine. Chris worries that AR ads will start manipulating the size of his head.

We’re reading:

In our own words: Esther Kezia Thorpe

The way that The Second Source began in the wake of the #MeToo movement and Emily Reynolds’ ‘An Incomplete List of All The Men In The Media Who Have Wronged Me’ is an example of the strength of connections, and what happens when a group of women pull together for an issue they’re really passionate about.

This is a group that has evolved over the past nine months to become a full support network for women in journalism, complete with a mentoring scheme and resources both for individuals and organisations looking to create a more supportive office culture.

What is particularly interesting is not just their inclusion of those you might immediately think of as ‘female journalists’, but also freelancers, those on low and unstable wages and contracts, and trans women. This focus on inclusivity on every level, and a desire to reach outside their own experiences and struggles in the workplace to understand others, is really heartening.

It is not, as many of them have pointed out, a ‘witch hunt against media men’ at all. Rather, it seeks to draw on the experiences of others in the group to raise awareness of the issues women in journalism are facing and how they can work to change the cultures in their own workplaces.

I’m excited to see what else this group comes up with, and with any luck, it’ll become a blueprint for how men and women in other industries can begin the slow process of changing company culture all around the country for the better.



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