#WIM25 FUTURE FOCUSED SUMMIT HEAR PLANS FOR QUB PARTNERSHIP #WIM26-28
WIM 25 in the Great Hall at QUB. Pics by Leagh Donnelly - Belfast Met College student photographer.
BY CLODAGH TRAYNOR
The Women in Media annual autumn conference returned to Queen’s University Belfast'’s Great Hall this week.
Now in its second year, the #WIM25 “Future Focused” themed Ireland and Britain media summit brought together media professionals and students and delegates from across a range of sectors concerned with amplifying women’s voices..
The stand-out talking points included women’s safety, making an impact, challenges in the media industry, supporting marginalised women, valuing your time, getting paid, allyship, masculinity, and ending violence against women and girls.
Belfast Telegraph journalist and Women in Media Belfast (WIMB) CIC director Niamh Campbell-Costello hosted the event which opened with remarks from her fellow WIMB director and columnist Patricia MacBride.
Patricia reflected on the opportunities and challenges in the industry, and remembered all the media workers who lost their lives in Gaza and around the world since we last met.
The conference then heard reflections from QUB academic Dr Gizem Melek, a senior lecturer in the School of Arts, English and Languages, who shared stories of women in media facing challenges at work due to their gender.
She discussed the responsibility of veterans across industries to lead the way for young professionals, helping create a landscape that is “safer and fairer than the one many of us walked into.”
“They deserve spaces where they can shine without having to fight battles we have already fought,” Dr Melek said.
“Today’s conversations are part of how we do that.”
The nominated good cause for the event was the Give Inc Women’s Fund (GIWF).
GIWF is a giving circle, administered by the Community Foundation of Northern Ireland (CFNI), where women pool donations to provide small grants to women across the north to improve their lives, families, and communities.
Journalist and WIMB director Amanda Ferguson, who also serves as chair of the circle, led a conversation with members Dorcas Crawford and Callie Persic.
They spoke about women supporting women, philanthropy, and how these efforts create impact, while also highlighting why giving circles offer more than financial support.
Dorcas said: “It’s not just about the money for the women it supports. It’s also about the women knowing and feeling that people care about them.”
A both islands women’s panel was chaired by award-winning podcast host, presenter, and journalist Halla Mohieddeen, and included reps from Women in Journalism Scotland, Women on Air, Women in Media Belfast, and the NUJ.
Alison O’Connor, and Catriona Stewart, journalists and broadcasters working across multiple areas of media, tackled topics such as reporting from small jurisdictions, cross-border and both islands media schemes and collaboration, amplifying women’s voices, media safety locally and internationally, freelancing, getting paid, online safety, knowing when to say ‘no’, and imposter syndrome or lack thereof.
Halla prompted the panel to offer advice for freelancers, including the importance of “never underselling yourself”, and valuing yourself as an individual and a business, which WIMB will be developing as a workshop in the future.
Allison said: “You have to stop and think about what an hour of your time is worth. Once you figure out what you want and mentally agree that with yourself, it becomes easier to project that and go about your business.
“You must view work for what it is and think, ‘this is a professional relationship, I am going to charge professionally,’ and go from there.”
#WIM25 took place on the eve of International Men’s Day so for the first time a men’s panel, hosted by Belfast Telegraph journalist Kurtis Reid, examined topics such as ending violence against women and girls, online dangers, challenging misogyny, the danger of deep fakes, solidarity, double standards, and what it means to be an active ally.
Sports journalist Lee Costello, leading tech lawyer and activist Jude Copeland, and U105 station manager and Radio Academy (soon to be Audio Academy) NI chair Peter McVerry were also involved.
Discussing the violence against women and girls’ epidemics in the north, Jude said that there is a responsibility for men to talk about it.
“We are sitting in one of the most dangerous places to be a woman in Europe, and I find that hard to deal with.
“I grew up in a happy home. The first time I ever considered domestic violence was in my first legal job. And since then, I have been horrified by the number of different ways in which women are abused by family members, by intimate partners, and it is just unrelenting.”
Impartial Reporter news editor Victoria Johnston led an in conversation segment with drama and performing arts teacher and trade unionist Sally Rees who was instrumental in making upskirting a criminal sexual offence.
In 2016, Sally and a colleague were victims of upskirting by a pupil.
With support from the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) Sally spoke of faving a engthy protracted legal battle for justice, which attracted local and national media attention.
Sally told Victoria and delegates how the initial media coverage was “sensationalist” and a “flurry of victim blaming.”
Sally later chose to waive her right to anonymity to speak to Victoria for the Fermanagh-based paper.
Speaking at the event, Sally said that decision “removed the shame” she felt because of systematic failures and previous unethical press reporting.
“One of the reasons I wanted to tell my story is because silence is complicity and I didn’t want to be silent anymore. I have nothing to be ashamed about. It wasn’t my fault that he did what he did. He made an active choice to do that to me.
“But I also wanted to be able to say, ‘I changed the law. I did that.’ I made a difference with my colleagues to ensure that women and girls are protected from this kind of behaviour and to educate other people, and to change the conversation away from intention to impact. It should not be on women solely to protect themselves.”
She added: “Quite often, when we talk about sexual offending, we don’t look enough at the impact on the victim or survivor.
“I see we are shifting that from 2016 until now, and it is now more centred on victims and survivors rather than cheap sensationalism. That has happened due to the likes of Victoria’s appropriate reporting of my story.”
On the day, Belfast Met College’s Journalism & Documentary and Sports Media students also showcased an audio-visual presentation of their media experiences and opportunities so far.
This included contributions from students Aoibhinn Heatley, Yasmin Janahi, and Leonor Pereira.
Delegates also heard the exciting news that WIMB has just agreed a further three year partnership with QUB to hold events from 2026-2028 so you’ll hear more about that soon.
Lee & Niamh Costello. Pic by Leagh Donnelly
Jawbox Gin. Pic by Leagh Donnelly
#WIM25, , supported by a student events team, also included lunch and networking, and Jawbox Gin apple and ginger cocktails. The event was sponsored by Queen’s University Belfast, the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast, U105, the National Union of Journalists, and Aiken PR.
