City Research Online

Abstract

In the wake of historical under-representation and marginalization, the voices and experiences of women often fail to take centre stage in journalism. Ethical frameworks for journalism have advocated that it should be judged by its success in promoting change, such as making a difference for the under-represented. In response, this work takes a feminist action research approach by producing a live journalism event, ‘News on the Street’, to promote womxn (women and non-binary people) in journalism. The event showcased original, unpublished stories written and presented by a team of all-womxn journalists performing on soapboxes in an urban public space. Through inductive thematic analysis, surveys and interviews revealed how onlookers were ‘a-livened’ to the stories they were hearing and admired the ‘bravery’ of the womxn journalists. The data also revealed some hostility to the presence of a non-binary, trans journalist. The journalists reported feeling empowerment, solidarity, emerging professional identity and finding courage to overcome fear and anxiety. The event was regarded largely by the audience as ‘campaigning’ demonstrating that such a format can be effective as a radical, ethical approach to journalism.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Womxn, journalism, live,, news, street, bravery
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity School of Communication & Creativity > Department of Journalism
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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