Loud against the backlash | Austrian Congress of Women Journalists, October 7th, 2024

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Loud against the backlash | Austrian Congress of Women Journalists, October 7th, 2024

Gone seem to be the days when positive reporting and successful women’s stories dominated the submissions for our awards. Women’s issues are characterized by hatred and violence. We would rather highlight the most outstanding works and teams that are doing their best to make the imbalance visible. Nevertheless, we celebrate women journalists for their work and honor their work.

The nominees are…

Every year we honor those masters of reporting in three categories who have established themselves in journalism and the media industry and who set good examples for young talent. This year, Euke Frank, Brigitte Handlos and Ulla Kramar-Schmid are in the race for the Media LIONESS in Gold. 77 industry representatives will now decide who will take the golden trophy donated by the Chamber of Commerce to the MediaLÖWINNEN gala. For the nineteenth time, the Golden Media LÖWIN award will be presented on the eve of the Austrian Congress of Women Journalists. It is intended for women in the media who act as role models. These role models are ambitious, check the facts and use their work to encourage other women to assert themselves in the still male-dominated media world.

Women-specific topics

At the Silver MediaLÖWIN, the content of the journalistic work counts. From the numerous submissions there were “Feindbild Frau”, the TV documentary by Ursula Duplantier with a TV documentary for “arte”, “The Kellermayr Case” by Alexandra Venier, Oliver Das Gupta & Team, on Puls4 and the Ö1 Radiokolleg “Women with Courage: Nicola Werdenigg” by Ulrike Schmitzer made it to the final.

While Ursula Duplantier is very much about the anti-feminist backlash, about which those affected are questioned and the brazen statements of right-wing populist men are skillfully compared, the Puls4 team is dedicated to the Lisa-Maria Kellermayr case, including the real consequences of hatred and incitement their poisoning effects. In this tragic case, blatant threats of violence, extremism of opinion, conspiracy tendencies and body shaming culminated in a catastrophe – the suicide of the doctor from Upper Austria.

In the Ö1 Radiokolleg, journalist Ulrike Schmitzer uses the example of former ski racer Nicola Werdenigg to show what a woman had and must endure when she resolutely opposes male exercise of power and sexual abuse. What the jurors particularly appreciate about the feature is that it is not just limited to the past: “Ulrike Schmitzer stuck to the topic. She not only documented what was, but also questioned what remains of the exposure and what that means for the present.”

There is once again a worrying trend in the submissions for the MediaLÖWIN in silver, which is sponsored by Sanofi. “Unfortunately,” says our experienced jury chairwoman Elisabeth Pechmann, “publications that have to do with violence, femicide, abuse and obvious discrimination dominate. In the past, when judging, we were more likely to be happy about stories that talked about targeted equality policies, women’s successes across the board and positive developments in society as a whole.

Strong together

The MedienLÖWE is intended for teams or editorial teams that deal with the lives of women in a sustainable and structured manner or with unusual focuses or initiatives. The trophy is donated by the Austrian Lotteries.

With diestandard.at, headed by Beate Hausbichler, interested readers have had a women’s and gender policy platform with daily news and a motivated team of journalists for almost a quarter of a century. The small editorial team was always guided by commitment and, despite limited resources, produced edgy, controversial and feminist journalism. “With undiminished energy, Beate Hausbichler and her team established the site as an independent form of publication with a distinctive profile,” said the jury.

With “Big Daughters”, Beatrice Frasl has created a podcast that doesn’t beat around the bush, but rather publishes in a strictly feminist way. The jury’s verdict: “Without a publisher connection and far away from large funding sources, but with a lot of entrepreneurial courage and feminist passion, she regularly brings people, their projects and their ideas to the forefront for her podcast episodes.”

With the columns “#Girlmath”/Katharina Mader + “Vicki in the Men’s World”/Viktoria Eibensteiner, supervised by Bettina Mühleder on moment.at, new, refreshing formats have made it onto the shortlist. In it, economist Katharina Mader regularly demonstrates how exciting feminist economics can be. In the videos, she presents the latest research in an understandable way, counters in a well-founded manner and makes discriminatory structures visible. The young journalist Eibensteiner sheds light on the everyday lives of women in her Reels. She shares everyday experiences in a relaxed and humorous way and points out how (anti-)feminist society is. Through self-reflection, she shows subconscious structures and gives tips.

Media evening LIONESSES

On November 5th, we will award the winners of the respective categories at the MediaLÖWINNEN gala in the Haus der Industrie and celebrate all journalists who so bravely and tirelessly speak out, write to and film against backward-looking tendencies.

Where do you think?

The topic of the 26th Congress of Women Journalists on the following day, November 6th, is artificial intelligence, in all its effects on our professional field. While overwhelmed media consumers resort to refusing information and retreating into private “bubbles”, artificial intelligence is taking over more and more journalistic work. A dangerous mix in a complex world. Fake news and deep fakes cause differentiation to suffer massively. The use of AI unsettles people and opens the door for propaganda abuse. What reports can we still rely on? Loss of trust, being overwhelmed by floods of images, sometimes of frightening brutality, and withdrawal are the order of the day. At the congress we discuss security and transparency with renowned speakers and panels, but also about what opportunities there are for the media sector.