Margaret Jones (1923–2006) was a trailblazer for women in Australian journalism. A member of the press for more than 30 years, she assumed senior positions at the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) from the 1960s, earning a reputation in the process as an exceptional print journalist. From the beginning, Jones was noted for challenging head-on the sexism she encountered in the media industry. She became foreign correspondent for the SMH in New York, Washington, London and Beijing, helping to carve out roles for women in serious mainstream journalism. This article traces Margaret Jones’ career as reporter and feature writer with the publishing house Fairfax, as a contribution to Australian feminist cultural history and the history of women in newspaper journalism.
Standpoint Theory suggests that those who can bring the most insight to the workings of society are those on its edges and its margins. People living in circumstances of disempowerment are better placed because of their standpoint to perceive what is really occurring across the social and cultural domain; it is their standpoint, which is the most revealing. When a journalist works undercover, they are attempting to better understand, as far as is possible for an outsider, the standpoint of the people whose stories are being told. This article examines the methods of three undercover print journalists through the lens of standpoint theory, arguing that it is an ethical approach to uncover the lived realities of the disadvantaged.
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