Gender and the Media

UK National Union of Journalists to investigate on pregrancy at workplace

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:19:06 +0000

Last year the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) carried out an investigation
into how pregnant women are treated at work. They found that around 30,000
women suffered from pregnancy discrimination. Now we want to know your experiences
at work when you became pregnant, the good stories as well as the bad. Each
question has a space for further details.

The more women that answer this questionnaire, the better - we need to know how
we can help you. Your response will be treated in the strictest confidence and
you do not have to give your name if you don't want to.

We will use the information gained to improve the support we give pregnant NUJ
members at work.

GMMP presented in Italy: questions for journalists!

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:13:47 +0000

Round table still going on! So far, the "authorities" from the university and the province (of course, women) praised the GMMP and offer their participation for the next steps, underlying how women issues are still THE issue at various levels: policies, university (here, at the University of Padova, only the 3% of ordinary professors are female; 6% of associate and 20% of researchers...), society...
Loredana Cornero from the Italian public television RAI brought in the experience of a journalist inside the biggest Italian tv; Sanja Sarnavka from B.a.B.e. (Be Active Be Emancipated) from Croatia told us about their experiences and their initiatives (they have been involved in the GMMP since the first edition in 1995; by the way.. a lot to learn from B.a.B.e... visit www.babe.hr); Monia Azzalini, presenting the Italian report; Stefania Milan (me!) on the three weeks of action and the London roundtable of the 16th of February; Ilaria Gheno from the University of Padova on the building of advocacy networks; and Grazia Cotti Porro who presented the call to the social and political forces in occasion of the European year of equal opportunities (2007!)

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:56:54 +0000

The Who makes the news campaign is progressing.. and the word spreading around. The global report and the Italian results will be lauched in Italy today with a round table at the University of Padova. The event will be coordinated by Claudia Padovani, the GMMP coordinator for Italy, with the participation of the organisations involved in the monitoring of Italian tv, newspapers and radio news programmes (Osservatorio di Pavia and Arcorpari, RAI). Local authorities will also participate.
We will let you later know how it goes!

Information from WACC re: reports from 15th Feb

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:28:54 +0000

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.

Comments on Media Roundtable

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:41:34 +0000

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.

Number of women news presenters growing, but still a few female reporters

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:24:01 +0000

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%.

Women are the 21% of news subjects

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:01:30 +0000

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

GMMP global report released!

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:47:53 +0000

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

Gender and media in Kenya

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:14:59 +0000

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?"

MEDIA: By the Women, on the Women

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:11:19 +0000

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

Esther from Uganda

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 14:50:36 +0000

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.

Male journalists

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 12:49:32 +0000

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.

New contributor - Ann from India

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 12:17:46 +0000

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.

IFJ: Getting the balance right

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:58:43 +0000

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

Resource Directory for African Women Journalists

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 14:49:57 +0000

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.