The lack of gender perspective in the sourcing of experts appearing on television

Abstract

This paper explores the search and selection processes of expert sources in Spanish television news programs from a gender perspective. Therefore, two highly relevant issues present both on the academic agenda are addressed: gender parity and the role of expert sources in an increasingly complex informational and political context. Understanding professional routines and how they impact the selection of expert sources is a first step in tackling a subject that has not been sufficiently studied. The research is reported from a survey (n = 125) and in-depth interviews with producers of news programs (n = 6). The results show that these processes are not carried out from a gender perspective and that the parity between sources is not considered as an indicator of the quality of the information.