The first media monitoring we conducted in partnership with researchers at the University of Strathclyde was the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, followed by the 2024 snap general election, and now the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. The purpose of media monitoring is to literally count the people and the issues being given coverage at key news moments. This matters because this influences us as voters, and reinforces who matters in the context of politics and policy. Pass the Mic does this media monitoring to highlight the extent to which women of colour in Scotland are still sidelined; as those making the news and those asked about it. We are also the only organisation across the UK doing this counting. It matters.
But in this election, it felt like it mattered even more. The political landscape over recent years has become even more hostile towards migrants, asylum seekers, and communities of colour. We have seen political attacks and scapegoating targeting our already marginalised communities. It has become even more obvious that we are talked about, rather than talked to or give the mic to speak for ourselves. And this has harrowing consequences for how politics works and how our communities are treated.
With all of this in mind, there would be an assumption that perhaps, women of colour would be more visible, able to respond to the reality of this type of politicking, and passed the mic to talk about what our politics needs to be. Alas, no such thing has happened.
Our data revealed:
- Only 3 opinion pieces focused on the election were written by women of colour across the 4 weeks of election coverage monitored.
- Women of colour made up just 1.6% of people in the news.
This is the same percentage as in the 2021 election. Progress has stalled, when instead need to rapidly pick up the pace. Women of colour are estimated to be 2.5% of the population, we do not even have population representation, let alone issue based representation – which would should see a much higher proportion of women of colour talking about poverty, inequality, our health and social care services, and more.
So what needs to happen now?
Well, unfortunately, the state of play right now means we have to protect even the little bit of progress we have made. News and media agencies are being lobbied to drop diversity and inclusion initiatives. In an era of culture wars and division, even the largely surface-level attempts to tackle under-representation are being presented as a suppression of white talent; despite our research and countless others illustrating time and again that these voices are platformed disproportionately more than others. So, yes we need to hold the line for the work done to date.
But we also need editors and journalists to show courage and push us further and faster.:
Don’t just rely on who you already know for that quote or interview; there are so many voices and such a diversity of expertise you need in the papers, on the radio, and on the screen. I hear time and again that news agencies need people and they need content – well, we have over 350 experts on our directory – use them!
We need more people to watch the news and buy the news, so it makes simple business sense to engage with a wider set of people in who gets to make the news. Build a partnership with Pass the Mic to meet new voices and publish their expertise.
Build better cultures: too often women of colour who have engaged with the media have told us they are hesitant to do so again. They have experiences attempts to “sanatise” their opinions or positions, they have experienced horrific abuse after their interviews have aired, or they have been defined by their race before their expertise. We can and must do better than this.
In the current climate we are in, we need to take the responsibility of news-making seriously. We need to counter disinformation and division, and we need to bring back nuance. The expertise of the women of colour who are part of Pass the Mic is one way for us all to do this, and, as a consequence, make better news.