28, 2006
Information from WACC re: reports from 15th Feb
Reports, interviews and photo gallery for the Who Makes the News launch (15th Feb) is online at
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/who_makes_the_news/global_launch_media_ro
und_table
There is more information via links at the bottom of the page, including an analysis of the round table.
Posted by Alicia at 02:28 | Comments (0)
15, 2006
Comments on Media Roundtable
For those of us who attended the GMMP Media Launch and Media Roundtable this morning, does anyone have any comments on the exchanges which transpired?
Let me kick start this:
I was quite surprised by Lindsey Hilsum's position and while I can appreciate that there is a lot of 'tosh', 'drivel' and poor journalism on the UK media scene, I think she perhaps missed the fundamental point that some of the witnesses (Article 19, Amnesty) made - that is, there is no such thing as _objective reporting_ and the way that a piece of news is covered/presented can be made fairer through a more gender-balanced perspective.
Posted by Alicia at 02:41 | Comments (0)
Number of women news presenters growing, but still a few female reporters
From the GMMP 2005: when it comes to women in the newsrooms, women are the 53% of news presenters, and men the 47%. Women are a majority on television and radio, and the GMMP reveales that their presence is linked to their age: women are the majority on screens when they are 34 to 50 years old, then decreasing dramatically. When it comes to a more active role in news making such as reporting, women reporters are only the 37%, and men are the 63%.
Posted by Stefania at 11:24 | Comments (0)
Women are the 21% of news subjects
Women represent the 21% of news subjects, men the 79%... well, we can call it an improvement since 1995. At that time, when the first GMMP took place, women were the 17% of news subject, while in 2000, the year of the second GMMP, women were the 18%. While women are the 52% of the world population...
The 10 Highlights sheets shows the principal data from the GMMP 2005: women in the news, their function in the story, the topics of the stories where women are pictured, the percentage of stories where women were portrayed as victims.
For a quick look at the GMMP results, see the TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS here.
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/who_makes_the_news/top_10_highlights
Posted by Stefania at 11:01 | Comments (4)
GMMP global report released!
The Global Media Monitoring Project global report has just been released with a press conference in London at the Foreign Press Association. This blog on Gender and the Media has been largely inspired by the GMMP... so here you go with some more detailed information!
The report can be downloaded here:
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/who_makes_the_news/report_2005
The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) is the most extensive global research of gender in news media ever undertaken. When the first GMMP was conducted in 1995, few of those involved could have imagined that it would develop in the way that it went on to do. Ten years later, with the third such project now complete, the enormous significance of this international initiative is clear.
The importance of media monitoring as a tool for change was officially recognised by the United Nations for the first time in Section J of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, where NGOs and professional media associations are urged to 'encourage the establishment of media watch groups that can monitor the media and consult with the media to ensure that women's needs and concerns are properly reflected'.
The third GMMP has been as challenging and exciting as those that went before it. Seventy-six countries took part in GMMP 2005 with hundreds of monitors coding almost 13,000 news stories on television, radio and in print. Participants came from a wide range of organizations and included gender and media activists, grassroots communication groups, academics and students of communication, media professionals, journalists' associations, alternative media networks and church groups.
GMMP 2005 saw much greater participation from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states than ever before, alongside those countries from North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific which have been involved in GMMP since its inception.
Posted by Stefania at 10:47 | Comments (0)
14, 2006
Gender and media in Kenya
Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya.
Hope you are all well. Am Anthony Wafula, a broadcast journalist. Am happy to be on this blog and could other male journalists please stand up and be counted?
Just observations from my end about the newsroom set-ups here. It is fairly safe to argue that female journalists outnumber the males(i could be wrong). However more managers are male and at times blind to certain obvious issues . For instance, i find it disturbing that most female journalists are more likely to lose their jobs should they get in the family way. Securing a maternity leave is as good as parting with your job in this case.Anybody with a better reason why this should be the case?
THen we get to biases when it comes to promotions. Could i be the only one witnessing this "things?"
Posted by Tony at 04:14 | Comments (2)
08, 2006
MEDIA: By the Women, on the Women
LONDON, Jan 25 (IPS) - A new survey report next month will show some of what is already known, that there is a disproportionately high profile of males both by way of the subject of news, and by way of newsroom staff. But this time action will follow the survey.
The survey will indicate also the extent of the imbalance, across regions and countries, and within different kinds of media.
To read the full article go to: http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=31901
Posted by Stefania at 06:11 | Comments (0)
07, 2006
Esther from Uganda
Hi, I am Esther Nakkazi a journalist in Uganda working for a regional newspaper The EastAfrican. My main areas of coverage are health, business, ICT and developmental issues generally. I am the former IFJ eastern Africa gender cordinator and the OneWorld volunteer editor for the Uganda country guide. It is great to be part of this forum.
Posted by EstherN at 02:50 | Comments (2)
Male journalists
Might any of you have male colleagues that we can include in our discussions? It would perhaps be more balanced to have their perspectives reflected as well.
Posted by Alicia at 12:49 | Comments (0)
New contributor - Ann from India
Ann Ninan is Development Editor, Inter Press Service news agency. She lives in Delhi, India, and has been a journalist since 1983. Part of a forum Network of Women in Media, India. At Inter Press Service, there are policies to mainstream gender in reporting, and on sexual harassment.
Posted by Ann at 12:17 | Comments (1)
06, 2006
IFJ: Getting the balance right
The International Federation of Journalists has an interesting leaflet summarizing what is at stake when it comes to women in the media... equal pay for equal work, but also equal access to training, health care and so on, but also stereotypes of representation of women in the news. There are some useful guidelines to "avoid to support sexism in the media", and also IFJ's Gender Policy (Korea 2001) and the IFJ resolution on Gender Rigths (Athens 2004).
http://www.ifj.org/pdfs/gender_leaflet_EN_lo.pdf
Posted by Stefania at 04:58 | Comments (1)
05, 2006
Resource Directory for African Women Journalists
Excerpt from the African Women's Media Center website:
The African Women's Media Center (AWMC) is pleased to issue this first edition of its Resource Directory for African Women Journalists. As the only comprehensive guide of its kind, this directory lists a host of resources critical to women seeking to strengthen their skills as journalists and to enhance their professional standing within the media.
Because women are often excluded from informal networks within newsrooms, and from access to information about training and resources, it is important that they have a set of tools developed specifically to meet their needs. The AWMC Resource Directory for African Women Journalists has been designed as a vehicle to link women to the institutions and opportunities that can offer them support, training, knowledge and connections. We hope women will use this directory as a tool in developing their careers and reaching out to their colleagues - both women and men - on the continent.
Posted by Alicia at 02:49 | Comments (2)
04, 2006
Journalist Moms
If it had not been for the birth of my son, I would still be working as a Singapore journalist, seeking adrenaline highs every day from sniffing out scandals and beating heart-thumping deadlines.
But it wasn't hard for me to make the choice to quit a career I loved, an emotional heart-driven choice I literally made overnight.
At the time I left, there were few journalist moms at my workplace. Definitely less than five. Majority of the experienced women journalists - some of whom had been at the company for ten years or more - were childless, divorced or single. (The irony of the situation was not lost when we were covering a series of stories on How To Get Singapore Women To Marry and Conceive. Here in the newsroom, stories were being churned out urging women to get pregnant by women who made the choice not to)
But I didn't quit due to a lack of role models, nor did I quit due to any outright discrimination on my employer's part.
Although discrimination against mothers exists in Singapore - I know for a fact as I have interviewed women who were unfairly fired just before they gave birth so the company can save on paying them while they are on maternity leave - my employers were eager to welcome me back.
The problem was, while there was nothing driving me away, as a new mom, I could not work at the same level I was expected to. That meant putting in 12-hour days, putting in time after work to cultivate contacts, always fretting about my stories in my mind even when I went to sleep, basically selling myself to the job.
Because I had a child, I wanted concessions which I did not think the company would be ready to grant. Flexible working hours, being able to leave before my stories were fully cleared, understanding bosses who would understand the needs of a mother. In that sense, I wanted preferential treatment. Reverse discrimination, if you call it. Treat me and all moms nicely.
I quit because I thought that would be asking for too much. And the culture (workplace and Singapore society) was not ready to grant those priviledges to journalist moms, all working moms for that matter.
In one small (but to me very telling) instance, some journalists wrote a petition to the management outlining a wishlist of items, including a designated room for nursing mothers to pump out their breastmilk. Every item on the wishlist was either explained away so nothing was done, or outrightly turned down (moms were told to use the meeting rooms to pump out breastmilk, only problem is people have been known to burst in while the mom is pumping away).
I have been freelancing for over a year now and I do not expect things to change. If I go back, it will not to be to make my demands known, but it will be when my children are of age and I am ready to face the demands of my company once more.
Posted by Shermaine at 06:22 | Comments (3)
03, 2006
FT interview with the rising star of the French Socialist party
FT interview with the rising star of the French Socialist party
Hi, I am quite interested in this piece of article, which reflects the "conventional approach" to interview female politicians. I don't know how bright Segolene Royal is (as my understanding about French politics is...), but my impression of this article is that it focus on why she doesn't get married though she has already have four children. Moreover, her dressing style...I am wondering is this kind of media representation of female politicians are the same around the world?
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/40acf40a-9390-11da-a978-0000779e2340.html
Posted by Gillian at 02:28 | Comments (5)
'Who Makes the News?'
Update from WACC:
From 16th February - 8th March 2006, the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) is organising 'Who Makes the News? Three Weeks of Global Action on Gender and the Media'.
Endorsed by both the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Who Makes the News? campaign aims to promote gender equality in the media by challenging the news media to take substantial and immediate action to ensure that they represent women and men in a fair and balanced way.
The Who Makes the News? campaign begins on 16th February 2006. This is exactly one year since hundreds of gender and media groups in 76 countries joined in an effort of incredible solidarity to monitor the representation of women and men in their news media as part of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2005. The GMMP 2005 results unfortunately show that the marginalisation of women in the news media is still very much a reality.
The Who Makes the News? Campaign will end on 8th March 2006 - International Women's Day. Together with UNESCO, WACC and its partners worldwide challenge all media producing daily news to give editorial responsibility to women editors and journalists to direct the news on 8th March 2006 as a first step towards promoting gender equality in the media.
During Who Makes the News? Three Weeks of Global Action on Gender and the Media, hundreds of gender and media activists around the world will organise activities using the global, regional and national results of GMMP 2005 to establish a dialogue with news media on their representation of women and men and to explore ways to ensure that women are no longer marginalised in the news media.
The Who Makes the News? campaign is a unique and exciting opportunity for all those who are committed to the promotion of gender equality and communication rights to join together to challenge the media to fulfil their democratic responsibility to represent women and men in a fair and balanced way.
If you would like further information about the Who Makes the News? Campaign or to receive a Take Action Pack in English, Spanish or French please contact: Sheila George, WACC, +44 (0)207-587-3000 sg@wacc.org.uk
Posted by Alicia at 12:31 | Comments (0)
Newspaper Article - Bias Against Men in the Workplace
Is this a trend in the newsroom as well?
22nd January 2006
Bias Against Men in the Workplace
Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
The Observer
Men are the new victims of sex discrimination at work, according to a ground-breaking new study suggesting that professions once regarded as male bastions are now biased towards women.
Male applicants were up to four times as likely as women to suffer differential treatment when seeking jobs in accountancy and computer programming, according to researchers who submitted hundreds of pairs of fake CVs to employers - offering identical qualifications and experience, but alternating male and female names.
The CVs sent by the fictional 'Emma' were less likely than those from her alter ego, 'Phillip', to trigger an invitation for interview when both applied for the same job in engineering, suggesting this career was still seen predominantly as 'man's work'.
But it was 'Phillip' who lost out not only in applications for secretarial jobs - traditionally stereotyped as 'female' - but also for jobs in accountancy and computer programming.
The results present a startling picture of the modern workplace, suggesting employers may now be employing a form of stealth 'affirmative action' and actively trying to recruit more women.
They come just weeks before the government publishes the findings of its Women at Work Commission, which is expected to argue that the pay gap between men and women is partly down to the career choices that women make and their concentration in low-paid jobs.
Dr Peter Riach, co-author of the report with Dr Judith Rich, said: 'We were totally surprised by what we found.'
Posted by Alicia at 12:03 | Comments (0)
Shermaine from Singapore
Hi!
I'm Sher Maine from Singapore. I worked in the Singapore press system for five years before quitting last year to become a freelance writer, so as to spend more time with my child.
Externally, my passion is in writing stories about the community - heart stories rather than hard stories.
Internally, the issue of gender in the media workplace is dear to me, particularly as many women find it impossible to stay on in the line once they start a family.
Posted by Shermaine at 11:50 | Comments (1)
02, 2006
Manual for reporting on gender issues
Stefania has suggested this as a resource - the IPS manual on reporting on gender issues. IPS developed a glossary of gender terms in 1997, Gender, HIV and Rights - A Training Manual for the Media.
Posted by Alicia at 09:12 | Comments (0)
Gillian from Hong Kong
Hi, I am Gillian Yau from Hong Kong! Having been a political journalist and TV producer for nearly six years, I decide to broaden my horizon outside Hong Kong and China. I am now studying master in Gender and the Media in the London School of the Economics. This subject is complicated but fascinating!
As a female journalist, I am really interested in how gender affects the newsroom culture. Moreover, the relationship between consumption of media and the gender empowerment is also a topic that I am going to look into. My master dissertation will focus on these issues. It would definitely be very useful if you can share your views with me.
I believe gender and media is a subject that every jounalists should care about! I was also a Reuters fellow at the Unverstiy of Oxford from Jan, 2005 to July, 2005.
Posted by Gillian at 09:03 | Comments (1)
01, 2006
Stefania from Italy
I am a young journalist for the international news agency Inter Press Service and a researcher at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy. My research is on social movements and communication issues. I am also a scholar-in-residence at the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research and collaborated with the World Association for Christian Communication on the GMMP from 2004-2005.
Posted by Alicia at 10:13 | Comments (0)
Ruth from Kenya
Hi Everyone,
Am so excited to be part of this team. I do news and not just news, breaking news. Am a reporter working with the BBC East Africa Bureau, It’s a passion that I cherish very much since childhood.
The fact that am able to inform my audience internationally about what’s happening around them gives me a thrill.
My current interests are in parliamentary and conflict reporting and of course I got a soft spot for issues related to gender.
You can have a peep of me attached here below and lets talk more soon.
Cheers!
Ruth
Posted by Alicia at 10:08 | Comments (3)
Welcome to our blog on Gender and the Media
A warm hello to all our journalist friends who are tuning into this blog! As quick introduction, the Stanhope Centre for Communications Research is starting this online endeavor to promote and provoke discussion on the theme of Gender and the Media, with particular focus on issues journalists face in the newsroom.
This project is run in conjunction with WACC's 'Who Makes the News?' campaign which aims to promote gender equality in the media. The campaign is endorsed by both the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Gender and the Media is an open access blog so members of the public can comment on what our contributors write. All contributors are journalists from various countries and backgrounds, covering print, radio and television media.
For any questions relating to this blog or the Stanhope Centre, please contact me.
Kind regards,
Alicia Altorfer-Ong
Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research
Posted by Alicia at 09:22 | Comments (4)