The $9.3B Diversity Sham: How Media Giants Use ESG to Mask Bias
Global news orgs are taking billions in ESG investment while their own editorial rooms remain 74% male. We audit the gap between PR and reality.
Media conglomerates are using DEI marketing to secure billions in institutional capital while the actual news remains 74% male-dominated.
The 2025 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) reveals that women represent just 26% of news subjects globally, a figure that has failed to move significantly since 2010. This stagnation occurs alongside a massive influx of capital linked to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In 2024, corporate DEI spending reached an estimated $9.3 billion globally, yet the actual product delivered to the public—the news—remains a 3-to-1 environment favoring male perspectives.
Institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard use Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics to determine capital allocation for media conglomerates. Organizations such as Thomson Reuters Corp and Guardian Media Group have integrated these metrics into their annual disclosures to attract this capital. However, these ESG scores primarily track internal HR headcounts and board composition rather than the gender balance of the reporting itself. This allows media firms to capture 'ethical' investment while maintaining traditional, male-centric editorial pipelines.
Leadership roles remain a closed loop. The Reuters Institute 2025 report shows that only 22% of top editors across 240 major global brands are women, despite women comprising 40% of the journalistic workforce. This disparity at the top dictates who is considered an 'authoritative' source. Women are featured as 'ordinary people' in 38% of stories but appear as 'experts' in just 19% of political and economic coverage. By prioritizing official titles—CEOs, military leaders, and government officials—newsrooms reinforce existing power structures that are historically male-dominated.
The industry narrative often frames this as a 'pipeline issue' requiring more unconscious bias training. However, the decade-long lack of progress suggests that these initiatives serve more as corporate optics than drivers of systemic change. For news consumers, this imbalance results in a distorted view of economic and social reality. When 74% of news subjects are men, public policy and resource allocation are inevitably shaped by a narrow demographic, leaving the specific economic and security concerns of half the population treated as secondary or niche interests.
Summary
Global news organizations are securing institutional investment through diversity-focused ESG disclosures while their actual editorial output remains dominated by men. Despite $9.3 billion in global DEI spending, female representation in the news has stagnated at 26% for over a decade.
⚡ Key Facts
- Women represent only 26% of news subjects globally according to the 2025 GMMP data.
- Global DEI spending reached $9.3 billion in 2024 without improving editorial representation.
- Only 22% of top editors in 240 major global brands are women, despite a 40% female workforce.
- Media companies use ESG disclosures to attract investment from firms like BlackRock, focusing on internal HR metrics over content output.
- Women are excluded from high-authority roles in news, appearing as experts in only 19% of economic and political stories.
Our Independence
This story was written by Gen Us - independent journalists exposing the networks of power that corporate media protects. No hedge fund owns us. No billionaire edits our headlines. We answer only to you, our readers.