Women in Media | Headlines & Headlines

Editor elizabeth hunt “lapped up” magazines and newspapers from an early age. She abandoned an early career path as a pharmacist (“yawn!”) And began to rise steadily up the ranks of the notoriously competitive newspaper and magazine world. Now assistant features editor on the daily telegraph, she continues to make her mark in a testosterone-driven world.

Women Magazine (WM): How did you first get into journalism?
Elizabeth Hunt (EH): I almost didn’t! I was obsessed with newspapers and magazines from quite a young age. My Dad was in the Merchant Navy and used to bring home all sorts of magazines - Time, Newsweek, periodicals and journals from Australia and South Africa - and I just lapped them all up. I was passionately interested in current affairs, too. By the time I was 13, the highlight of my week was Sunday morning and the papers - especially Clive James and John Junor. I also loved gossip columns (Dempster, Hickey), Jean Rook - First Lady of Fleet Street, and general gossip about Fleet Street even though I usually didn’t know who the characters were.

It all seemed so exciting and glamorous - and I just loved words and what you could do with them. I guess I was a bit odd in this respect! I really wanted to be a journalist but it was before degrees in journalism were introduced and so rather looked down on by my very academic school so I decided to do a degree in pharmacy (yawn!) at London University but by the time of my pre-registration year, I knew that I wanted a writing career.

Newspapers are testosterone driven and a high profile career is
difficult to run in tandem with family life which is why most women opt out at some point on the
ladder.”

I spent eight years with the Daily Mail (which is really where I learned anything and everything about journalism) and most recently joined The Daily Telegraph as Assistant Editor (Features) in March 2006. I manage the Features Desk and a team of writers plus several contributors, freelances and columnists.

What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Committed. Disciplined. Curious.

Newspaper journalism used to be a Man’s World – this is no longer the case. Agree or don’t agree?
Don’t agree. There are very, very few women at the top in national newspapers. Just take a look at the recent photo of Fleet Street’s finest in Vanity Fair...just one woman, Tina Weaver. Of course, there were some notable names missing, not least Rebekah Wade. Veronica Wadley, the Evening Standard’s Editor is one of those women who has forged a path ahead. They are the exception. Newspapers are testosterone-driven and a high profile career is difficult to run in tandem with family life which is why most women opt out at some point on the ladder.

Where are the big opportunities for women in media going to be over the next five years?
There will only be really good opportunities for women in the media - and I am talking about national newspapers which are what I know - if newspapers become family friendly and flexible in working patterns. I think this is unlikely. News is about the unexpected and about deadlines - to do it well and beat the opposition that has to take priority over everything else sometimes. That is the way it is. I am mildly irritated by those women who expect things to change to suit their lives. Magazines and supplements, on-line features and dedicated web channels (such as health, fashion, environment) provide good opportunities for women to influence the agenda.

Lastly, your three top tips for women making it in the media.
Be talented, work hard, make your own luck and seize every opportunity. *

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

The Economist or Heat? Heat (it is super trashy fun).
Prada or Primark? Neither. I do Armani and TK Maxx.
Domestic Goddess or Slut-and-Proud? Domestic Goddess.
Weight Watchers or What-the-hell!? Weight-Watchers - it works! If one could only remember the pleasure of being thin, one would be a lot less inclined to scoff a whole coffee and walnut cake from M&S as I have been known to do in moments of crisis.
Wheatgrass or double Wodka Wyborowa? I don’t like vodka but not the wheatgrass...a double G&T instead.
Your Worklife Balance – Under control or in melt-down? Melt-down (nuff said).

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