Back to overview

Constanze Grießler, Editor and Social Media Manager at ORF/3sat #40 How does diversity enter the digital? Every editor is familiar with the situation: the interviewer who accepts at the last minute with the words: "I'll see you in my office in two hours". At the end of the interview he then asks the question: "Oh yes: What is your contribution actually about? The interviewee, who was also asked and who is definitely THE top expert in the field being reported on, replies with "I'm not really into the topic right now, could you maybe ask my colleague XY?"

Well, so it's not always so easy as an editor to meet the quota. It requires more research time, and often persuasion. But: it is immensely important work that pays off to not always have the same actors in front of the camera representing their expertise and viewpoints.

The change of media and the ever-changing playout channels are challenges, but also opportunities that public service media have to face nowadays. It is becoming increasingly clear that we have to portray the diversity all around us; a colourful, diverse society.
People with a migration history are still strongly underrepresented, not only in front of the camera, but also in the broadcasters. On the other hand, they are speaking out in ever greater numbers in the social media, publishing and posting there with a high reach, they get involved and interfere. Due to the democratisation of the media landscape, the question of how interview partners and experts are selected and how panels are put together is also being raised more and more frequently.

The topic of diversity has also arrived in the editorial offices. Male, white, no migration background, academic household: print or television editors have had very similar backgrounds for decades.

Here, too, a rethinking is taking place: more and more media houses want a more diverse composition of their editorial teams. People with a migration background, but also from working-class families, should be involved in the selection of topics, the research and the shaping of the media discourse. They should not only have their say on air, but also select the topics and shape the programme in order to bring their perspectives into the reporting. Under the hashtag #Arbeiterkind, users recently posted their experiences and addressed the often difficult path into journalism in their tweets. Workers' children, who are often also migrants' children, often lack not only the social but also the economic capital to gain a foothold in the "journalism" sector.

As a child from Floridsdorf, I can tell you that the more heterogeneous the composition of the editorial teams, the more exciting and socio-politically relevant the discussions in the meetings. The result is a better and broader programme that "picks up" the audience.