Which is better, the right experts, or the right gender? #
Fiona Fox, writing at the BBC’s ‘College of Journalism’ on the insistence of a balanced debate being a balance of the sexes.
If all things are equal, and there are top experts of both sex available, then I am happy to discriminate in favour of putting a woman on air. Where I am uneasy is when all things are not equal and the best expert available is a man. Positively discriminating in favour of a woman with less expertise is patronising to women, bad news for the media coverage of science, and ultimately bad news for the quality of public debate on science.
