The Sun has the highest proportion of male journalists out of the UK’s main daily national newspapers, research has suggested.
An analysis of entries on the Gorkana database of media professionals by PR agency Cicero found that 72% of Sun journalists listed were male, compared with an average of 60% across the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Guardian, Sun, Mirror, Independent, Times and the Financial Times.
The Sun’s fellow tabloid, the Mirror, was the next most male-dominated newsroom, the research suggested, with men making up seven in 10 of those listed on Gorkana.
The Telegraph and the Mail had the highest proportion of women, accounting for 46% of Telegraph journalists and 44% of those at the Mail, which has a higher proportion of female readers than other papers.
Just over 40% of journalists at the Guardian and the Financial Times were women, while the figures were 35% at the Times and 32% at the Independent, the research found.
The data should be treated with caution as Gorkana’s coverage of newspaper staff is not complete and the organisation was not associated with the study in any way. The analysis also excluded journalists working on Sunday titles, freelancers, and those based outside the UK.
However, the size of the sample – Cicero looked at more than 3,000 entries – suggests the trends in the data are likely to be at least indicative of the gender balance in the UK’s newsrooms.
A Sun spokesperson said: “The Sun is always seeking to increase diversity and gender balance within its staff. We particularly seek to support women returning to work after maternity leave by offering job share and part time options. Of course, more can always – and should – be done to get greater representation of women in the newsroom.”
The spokesperson also said that Gorkana data was a “poor” way to conduct the analysis, because it was not always up to date and did not include large numbers of production staff, many of whom are women at the Sun.
The figures also suggest that on average those in senior journalistic positions (with “editor” or “head of” in their job titles) are more likely to be men. However, at some newspapers there were a higher proportion of women in senior positions than across all journalists. The smaller sample size, however, means the data is likely to be less accurate than the broader figures.
The Sun spokesperson added: “It is also worth noting that the Sun has several women in its most senior positions, including the editor of the Sun on Sunday and the associate editor of the Sun.”
