Leading the Watch
Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly explains why they’ve introduced a new Fellowship — and why you should apply.
Our Watch and the Walkley Foundation are partnering to offer fellowships for journalists. This is a great opportunity to build and refine your knowledge of best-practice reporting on violence against women, and deepen your understanding of the complexities of the issue. Fourteen successful fellows will attend a series of three retreats around the country.
If you’re interested in applying for the fellowship, but unsure if you’re right for it, read on for insights and tips from Patty Kinnersly, the CEO of Our Watch.
How did the idea for this program come about?
Engaging with the media is a core part of Our Watch’s work. Our Watch has built up strong relationships with journalists through the National Media Advisory Group and the annual Our Watch Awards, which recognise and celebrate best-practice reporting on violence against women. We are also consulting with the media over new guidelines for reporting on violence against women.
The Fellowship Program is our next step in working with some of Australia’s most influential and outstanding journalists.
We wanted to create a space where journalists can deep-dive into this topic and experience peer-to-peer-led conversations on advancing best-practice reporting. We believe that most poor-practice reporting on this issue is not done intentionally, rather it occurs because of legal queries, old habits and common misconceptions about what drives violence against women. The Fellowship retreats offer journalists the opportunity to share ideas with peers on how these hurdles can be overcome, hear from veteran journalists on this issue and talk to violence against women experts.
What are you looking for in fellows?
The Fellowships are open to any journalists with at least 5 years’ experience of working in the media. We want to see applications from a diverse group of journalists working across a wide range of platforms, roles and locations.
We are just as interested to hear from a reporter at a regional newspaper as we are to hear from a presenter or producer of a commercial television broadcast. Violence against women is a major news story that affects our whole community and every journalist can be a part of the solution.
The Fellowships application panel, administered by the Walkley Foundation, will be particularly interested to hear about how applicants understand themselves as influencers — both in their newsrooms and in the public eye. We want to hear from applicants how their reporting can make a difference to the issue of violence against women and to society’s understanding of this topic.
We also have a number of places reserved, including for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander journalist, a journalist who works for a culturally or linguistically diverse publication or broadcast, and journalists working in rural or regional Australia.
What will the fellows take away from the fellowship experience?
We want these 14 journalists coming away from the Fellowship program feeling confident to report on the most complex aspects of violence against women, in a way that is responsible and sensitive. We want them to feel capable of using their own sphere of influence to transform harmful news-writing conventions. We also aim for the fellows to return from each retreat feeling energised, stimulated and connected to journalists across the nation.
The program will be a mix of guest speakers, activity-based learning and participant-led discussion and reflection. The opportunity to connect with other journalists on this issue over three retreats is itself going to be highly rewarding and enriching.
Fellows will also be given the opportunity to provide input into national resources being developed by Our Watch to build best-practice reporting.
In terms of sharing their learning with colleagues, what Fellows do upon returning to their newsrooms is entirely up to them; some might run a lunchtime learning session for peers, while others may support Our Watch to deliver training in their newsrooms. More importantly though, these journalists will be a day-to-day resource for their colleagues on how to approach reporting on violence against women.
What do you hope to achieve with the fellowship program?
Our ultimate goal is to see a substantial increase in reporting that accurately and responsibly conveys the complexity of violence against women, and that supports the Australian public to better understand this issue.
Research tells us that the Australian media still commonly falls into the trap of reporting that is victim-blaming, perpetrator-excusing and in other ways condones violence against women. Perpetrators are frequently portrayed as either ‘good blokes’ or ‘monsters,’ yet neither of these representations is accurate and both are unhelpful.
There are many myths and misconceptions about what drives violence against women, such as that drugs, alcohol, stress or mental health issues are the cause. Journalists have an important role to play in shaping society’s understanding of this issue and accurate, informed and sensitive reporting can make a big difference.
What would you say to someone who’s thinking about entering but not sure if they should?
I encourage all journalists to apply. This is an important career development opportunity. Also, it is free to enter and to take part, open to anyone working in Australia and requires only a few days away from work.
There are so few opportunities for journalists to take time out of the grind of the newsroom for professional development, reflection and connection with peers. The opportunity to connect with other journalists over several months through a series of retreats on something as important as violence against women has the capacity to be a transformational and inspiring experience.
