The study was based on a survey of 13,000 news items in 76 countries in a single day (February 16, 2005). It was conducted by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), a non-government organisation promoting communication for social change. One year later, WACC launched the campaign /Who Makes the News?/ to promote gender balance in journalism.
FYI: Who makes the news? Global findings
* Most people featured as spokespersons and experts are men (86%),
with women giving voices to personal experience (31%) or popular
opinion (34%).
* Mens voices dominate in hard news (politics, economy).
* Women are more likely to present television news stories (57%) as
compared to writing in newspapers (29%).
* Female reporters are more likely to cover the soft news. Only
32% are stories on politics and government as compared to 40% of
stories on social issues.
* Women are least represented as subjects in radio (17%) as compared
to television (22%) and newspapers (21%).
* Men are the majority of news subjects in all story topics. Women
are more likely to feature in celebrity and arts features (28%),
rather than politics (14%) and the economy (20%).
* Women (19%) are more than twice likely to be portrayed as victims
than men (8%).
* More women news subjects are found in stories reported by women
journalists (25%) than those reported by men (20%).
* Only 10 % of the stories have women as the central focus.
* Only 3 % of stories challenge stereotypes, compared to 6% that
reinforce them.
* As many as 96 % of stories do not highlight gender equality or
inequality.
Source: World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) & Global Media Monitoring Project. (2006, February 16). /Who Makes the News? Global Media Monitoring Project 2005./ Retrieved from
<http://www.whomakesthenews.org/>.
This is the third GMMP; earlier surveys were conducted in 1995 and 2000. Despite the 10-year lapse, survey results still show little improvement in the representation of women as news subjects, a pattern seen incountries from Britain to Zimbabwe.
The latest report shows that within their 21% space, women do not always appear for the best reasons. They are more likely to be found in what is referred to as the soft end of the news spectrum, celebrity stories, social and legal issues, said Anna Turley of WACC. They are much less present in the politics and economics stories which of course make up the bulk of the news agenda.
In television news reporting, women outnumbered men at 58%. However, in all countries surveyed, women were the majority in the age group of 35 and below, while men dominated the age group above 35. The report suggests that appearance and age were the criteria for women journalists but not for men.
Who makes the news in Fiji?
In Fiji, 49% of the population are women, but only 20% of the people featured in the news are women. This percentage include those who work in the news, those who present the news and the subjects of the news themselves.
Contrary to global trends, however, Fiji findings show that women appear to be at the forefront of hard news journalism. In Fiji, more women are covering politics and government issues, no women were covering arts andcelebrity news on that (monitoring) day, said Peter Emberson, vice president of Fiji Media Watch.
Emberson noted that while there are growing numbers of women in the newsroom, gender imbalance in the coverage remains.
You can have the numbers in the newsroom, but as you start analysing the portrayal, the issues, is here an equal representation of women and men? Just because you are a female reporter doesnt necessarily mean you will provide that balanced perspective, thats an ongoing challenge for women and in newsrooms, and an issue that the Secretariat of the Pacific Community* *Pacific Womens Bureau is also addressing, said femLINK PACIFIC Coordinator Sharon Bhagwan Rolls.
International symposium on women and news
To further explore research and social change agenda in this area, WACC invites women and men with academic or journalistic or both backgrounds to the International Symposium on Women and News on June 18, 2006 in Dresden, Germany.
The symposium will feature short keynotes, panels and facilitated working groups to produce action agendas for research and social change.
For more information on the International Communication Association 2006 Conference and the Symposium, visit <http://www.icahdq.org/events/conference/2006/conf2006.asp>.
Sources:
femLINK PACIFIC. (2006, February 16). Who Makes the News? Fiji and Pacific GMMP report launch. Email Correspondence.
International Communication Association. (2006, February 20). 56th annual conference of the International Communication Association. Retrieved from <http://www.icahdq.org/events/conference/2006/conf2006.asp>.
Networking Communication Research. (2006, February 20). ICA 2006 pre-conference workshops.
Retrieved from <http://www.icahdq.org/events/conference/2006/PreconferenceInfo.htm>.
Suri, S. (2006, February 16). Half the population, a fifth of the news. Retrieved from <http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=32162>.
World Association for Christian Communication (WACC). (2006, February 6). International Symposium on Women and News: Exploring Research and Social Change Agendas/. /Retrieved from< http://www.wacc.org.uk/wacc/publications/media_action/266_jan_2006>.
World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) & Global Media Monitoring Project. (2006
February 16). Who Makes the News? Global Media Monitoring Project 2005. Retrieved from <http://www.whomakesthenews.org/>.
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