#WIMBELFAST #IWD2021 PANEL TWO ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello everyone.

The second panel at the Women in Media Belfast IWD Zoom conference on March 8th is on the theme: 'Women on the front line - reporting in troubled times'.

Featuring three of the most fearless and accomplished journalists on the island, this panel will look at the remarkable women who have carved out distinguished and award winning careers in the most testing of circumstances.

The discussion will focus on what attracted them to this field of journalism, the highs and lows of their careers, challenges they have faced along the way, and the importance of having visible female representation in frontline crime and security reporting.

1) Nicola Tallant is the Investigations Editor of the Sunday World, Ireland.

She is a bestselling author and holds a HDip in criminology. Her podcast Crime World is the number one in the Apple True Crime charts.

She has produced and presented a number of crime documentaries and is a regular contributor to TV and radio shows about organised crime.

"Good journalism is a vital part in the fight against organised crime.

"Those who hide in the shadows don’t want to be seen but what they are doing in the darkness effects all of society.

"We need to make sure a resourced media is allowed work in this difficult underworld with protection from state and support from employers."

2) Mandy McAuley is an investigative reporter for BBC NI’s Spotlight programme.

She started her career in radio making documentaries for RTE 1, Radio 4, and Radio 5 Live.

Her work has been recognised with nominations and awards from BAFTA, the Royal Television Society, and Amnesty International.

In 2007 she was part of a BBC Spotlight & Panorama team that exposed Northern Ireland as a hub for international dog fighting.

She has investigated high profile murders, child sex abuse, and alleged bullying and corruption at the heart of government in her exposes on NAMA & Red Sky.

Last year she won a national Royal Television Society award for the BBC Spotlight Secret History investigation into collusion in Mid Ulster in the early 1990s.

She lives in Belfast with her husband and two daughters.

"As a woman in a traditionally male dominated arena I began my career trying to suppress and reign in my emotional, intuitive side.

"My eureka moment came when I realised that one of womens’ greatest strengths – on the front line in hostile environments and in leadership roles – is our emotional intelligence and our ability to empathise.

"When you combine that with self belief, focus, and sheer determination you have the ability to achieve almost anything at every level of society.”

3) Broadcast journalist Jane Loughrey was brought up in north Belfast and attended Dominican College Fortwilliam before graduating with a degree in Psychology from Queen's University Belfast. 

She then completed a post graduate diploma in broadcast journalism at the then London College of Printing. 

Freelance work followed in radio stations in Oxford, Cambridge and eventually ITN, where she gained work writing and reading the national news on Classic FM.

Jane worked for UTV as a reporter and then correspondent from she returned to Belfast in 1992 until this week. She became a mother to a son, Matthew, in 2007.

Jane has reported extensively on the Troubles, ceasefires, trials, the HIA Inquiry and spent a considerable amount of time with many of the families who have been bereaved because of the violence here.

During her career at UTV she made a range of programmes including several about the Omagh bomb, and also contributed a chapter about her experiences reporting on the atrocity in the book ‘Reporting the Troubles’. 

Jane loves the Walter Cronkite quote: “We all have our likes and dislikes, but when we are doing news, it is our duty to be sure that we do not permit our prejudices to show. That is simply basic journalism."

#WIMBelfast co-founder and security correspondent Allison Morris will be chairing panel two.

Please join us on Zoom on March 8th.

Individual, group and solidarity tickets are live now

For tickets: click here

Thank you.