According to Women in Journalism: Based on analysis of national newspapers over a month, Monday to Saturday, the research found that male journalists accounted for 78% of front page bylines; women accounted for just 22%.
It was a similarly skewed picture in terms of people actually making the news: 16% of those quoted or mentioned by name in newspaper lead stories were women; 84% were men.
There were also significant differences in the roles that men and women played in the news stories: A detailed analysis of the first person mentioned or quoted in the paper's lead story showed:
• Men were much more likely to be quoted or mentioned in lead stories as experts or in their professional capacity – of the 197 professionals or experts quoted or mentioned in this representative sample, 76% were men and just 24% women;
• In contrast women made up 79% of all victims quoted or mentioned; men accounted for 21% of victims – whether of crime, illness or some other misfortune.
The gender divide in the use of photographs was less pronounced, with women accounting for 36% of front page pictures. During the four-week period during which the research was conducted (mid-April to mid-May 2012 when there were no holidays or major events) the three females whose pictures appeared most frequently on newspaper front pages were Duchess of Cambridge (nee Katherine Middleton), Madeleine McCann and Pippa Middleton. These three are all famous for their relationships or for being a victim of a crime.
There were stark differences between individual newspapers.
• Exactly half Daily Express front page bylines were women’s;
• The next highest proportion of women was in the FT, where they accounted for a third of front page bylines.
• By contrast, on Independent front pages, men accounted for 91% of the 70 bylines published during the period looked at.
The findings will be published in full on Monday 15 October with a special launch debate including leading figures from the newspaper industry at Google's UK HQ.
