An in-depth literature review showed that women, despite their increasingly prominent roles worldwide, continue to be persistently underrepresented and stereotyped in news media. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the representation of women changed over time in two Dutch-speaking Belgian newspapers <em>De Standaard </em>and <em>Het Laatste Nieuws</em>. An automated quantitative content analysis revealed that there is no increase of the number of women in the newspapers between 2005 and 2015. On the contrary, women are significantly less represented over time in the popular newspaper<em> Het Laatste Nieuws</em>. A qualitative analysis on two cases about women stepping into a leadership position—in 2012 (Catherine De Bolle<em> </em>as head of the Federal police) and in 2014 (Dominique Leroy<em> </em>as CEO of a Belgian telecom company)—showed that the press emphasised their femininity, their being a role model for other women, their being part of a family and having certain looks. Moreover, these women are clearly portrayed as ‘the best candidate’ pointing at the selection procedures and their capabilities to perform professionally. Probably, this strong emphasis is a way of justifying that these women are not selected because of positive discrimination. Further analysis of cases of both men and women stepping into top positions across countries and media platforms is recommended.

This study seeks to determine the extent to which the Flemish press gives voice to gender and ethnic diversity. A total of 16 in-depth interviews with print journalists outlined five key arguments about diversity in the newsroom. Two of these view the portrayal of diversity as conceptually irrelevant or inconsistent with a notion of universal equality. The third argument defines diverse representation as an active search process that is part and parcel of a journalist’s mission. Two additional arguments blame the lack of diversity in news reporting on practical obstacles – professional practices that make it difficult to aim for a diverse source selection, or the less prominent role of women and ethnic minorities in society which leads to a less diverse set of news sources. This study seeks to find explanations in the news production process as to why gender and ethnic diversity in the news continues to be consistently scarce.

Demographic diversity in the Flemish press Demographic diversity in the Flemish press This study analyses the diversity of the Flemish news by looking at demographic diversity, i.e. the extent to which gender, age and ethnicity in society are proportionally represented in the news. In a constructed week (April-May 2012) (N = 4,800) 12,743 persons were mentioned, each of them were assigned to age groups, man or woman, ethnic minority or ethnic majority. The results indicate that youngsters, the elderly, women and ethnic minorities are underrepresented as news sources in the Flemish news. Especially in the case of elite sources, the news was strongly dominated by adult ‘white’ men. Women were systematically associated more often with ‘feminine’ topics such as welfare and culture, whereas news topics such as sports, politics or economics were strongly dominated by male actors. Ethnic minorities were predominantly (84,2%) connected to sport, crime and justice, and human rights including immigration.

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