Newsroom culture and female journalists’ attrition in Ugandan media: a case of The Daily Monitor Newspaper

Abstract

This study, titled “Newsroom Culture and Female Journalists’ Attrition in Ugandan Newsrooms: A Case of the Daily Monitor Newspaper,” explores the perceived relationship between newsroom culture and the attrition of female journalists in Uganda. The study focuses on Daily Monitor as a case study, which allowed the researcher to have an in-depth analysis of the subject since it generates a wealth of knowledge in social scientific fields. The study is anchored on the perceived aspects of newsroom culture that affect female journalists’ performance and cause them to leave the newsroom. Despite near gender parity in the media, research has found that more women are leaving the newsroom the world over, including Uganda. The study sought to find answers to the following questions: i) What are the perceived aspects of newsroom culture that affect the performance of female journalists, leading to attrition? ii) What is the perceived nature of female journalists’ attrition in Ugandan newsrooms? and iii) In what ways can newsroom culture be improved to attract and retain more female journalists? Data was collected through qualitative methods, which offered the researcher an opportunity to participate actively in data collection and respond accordingly. The study was guided by the Feminist Media Theory, the Sarah Longwe Empowerment Framework and the Hierarchy of Influences model. The key findings of the study indicate that the culture of working long hours and violence, physical and online, drives female journalists’ decision to leave newsrooms. The study revealed that female journalists are most likely to leave newsrooms due to family pressures associated with work-life balance, thus those with children or married are most likely to leave. The study also noted that there are gaps in the response of news organisations to the challenges faced by female journalists in the newsrooms and that news organisation owners and leaders can and should play a critical role in the retention of female journalists in newsrooms. The study concludes that there is an urgent need for news organisations to address and transform their organisational cultures if they are to retain and empower more female journalists in the newsrooms.