When gender, colonialism, and technology matter in a journalism startup

Abstract

This article is based on an ethnographic study of a women-led journalism startup, identified as a digital and data innovator in North America. Studies of journalism startups have generally focused on growth in the startup space and claims to technological innovation, finding a persistence of traditional norms and practices. Feminist media scholars have not tended to engage in this area of study, focusing more on newsroom sociology and media representations, despite a long history of feminist Science and Technology Studies critique of other technical professions such as engineering and computer science. This study adds to our understanding of journalism startups by situating this ethnography within feminist, postcolonial, and Science and Technology Studies approaches. Our findings suggest the persistence of professional, industry, and economic constraints mapped on to gender, gendered understandings of innovation, and technology in journalism – as well as possibilities to transform them. We argue that gender and colonialism matter in this startup in expected and unexpected ways, from understanding the enduring nature of unexamined power relations within journalism to contributing to re-articulations of important questions of epistemology, method, and moral stance in digital journalism.