Paramount Network’s drama American Woman and social media news platform NowThis launched a female-driven edit-a-thon on Wikipedia, an effort in response to the revelation that 16% of editors on the open-source encyclopedia identify as women.
The campaign featured the drama’s co-executive producer Kyle Richards, star actor Jennifer Bartels, and cast, and were joined by a panel of industry experts that included Women in Tech founder Sarena Bahad, Nasa engineer Nagin Cox, playwright and actor Anne Berkowitz, and NowThis managing editor Versha Sharma.
The group was trained by a selection of female editors from Wikipedia on how to navigate the site and provided assistance for the creation of 18 new articles, 40 edited pages, and around 10k words added to existing pieces.
In advance of the show’s premiere on the Paramount Network on June 7, the Group Nine-owned news outlet has planned to launch a custom short film documenting the experience and its impact.
Anhelo Reyes, senior vice president of consumer marketing for Paramount Network and TV Land, said: “We’re so proud to have brought WikiWomen to life with NowThis. It’s an event perfectly aligned with the message American Woman hopes to send—that women’s voices, when given the platform have the power to enact meaningful change. The edit-a-thon has provided the opportunity to drive change and amplify voices that have long been minimized in critical spaces such as tech and media."
Tina Exarhos, chief content officer at NowThis added: “NowThis is known for covering issues that matter most to young people – and gender equality is at the top of the list for our audience. This is a one of a kind event that is a true reflection of the interests of our viewers, core to our mission of empowering women and the central theme in American Woman. We’re thrilled to join our partners at Paramount Network to create this campaign and spotlight this important issue.”
Horizon Media, the media partner of the newly-rebranded Paramount Network also collaborated on this project. Lizzie Diller, senior vice president, associate managing director added: “Women today continue to face a struggle to be heard and represented, and, case in point, only 16% of Wikipedia articles are written by women.
Added Alex Gargano, brand group director at Horizon: “The WikiWomen Edit-A-Thon brings together inspiring women – who are experts in their fields – to help close this gap in real time, while generating the awareness this issue deserves and promoting programming with strong female role models.”
Paramount Network launched earlier this year after a fiery, explosive farewell to Spike that took place on Instagram and Facebook Live.
