Take part of the Who Makes the News Global Launch Event

Comment from Myriam on 22/02/2006 5:42 pm:

Thank you Lindi for this and am telling you it was a relief that both you and Jon Snow were proved wrong!!!! Atleast for me...:-). Tony, yes, you are right, although I hope we can still change our mind after five years old! MMP who did the number crunching for the GMMP 2005 which led to the report do some monitoring around children and media although it might be focused on southern africa. Then again that region has a lot to teach us on advocacy around media issues as they have been very effective in entering in effective dialogue with the media in the region. MMP's URL is http://www.mediamonitoring.org.za/ . check it out!

Comment from Lindiwe Sola on 22/02/2006 12:06 pm:

When Jon Snow and other members of the panel echoed the sentiment that the launch event was a meeting of the converted I thought there would be no debate and so the whole thing would be boring.Was I wrong!The debate showed there was a lack of harmony between theory and practice; in theory many may be for gender equality, but how many have their mindsets equally reconditioned? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and this caused a real heated debate which I found a window into various practioners mindsets- a consensus still has to be reached on gender equality in the media, even among the so called 'converted'.

Comment from Tony on 19/02/2006 10:28 am:

I was wondering if there are plans to monitor childrens programmes? We form our identity by the time we are five, so childrens programmes would seem to have the most influence in our lives in this TV age.

Comment from Loveness Jambaya on 16/02/2006 4:13 pm:

The launch of the GMMP 2005 report was remarkable. Having been one of the hundreds of monitors across the globe and Zimbabwe co-ordinator it was fulfilling to see the fruits of all the work that has been put into it pay dividends. So to all monitors and co-ordinators – Well done! The debate during commission was an eye opener - even gender and media activists understand issues differently. It came out very clearly that women are not a homogenous group – sounds quite obvious I know but it has implications. It means the road to achieving gender equality in the media is a thorny one but nonetheless lets keep up the struggle.
Loveness Jambaya, Zimbabwe.
MMPZ/GEMSA

Comment from Myriam on 16/02/2006 3:23 pm:

Thank you Stefania for doing such a good job at translating the key points of this meeting. And thank you Tony for your very encouraging note. Here at WACC we felt the event went very well and that the level of debate that took place was both accessible yet engaging and leading to really thoughtful moments. I think the panelists themselves were surprised! When the Chair introduced the event, he highlighted his concern regarding the possibility of a debate when the panelists, the witnesses and the audience was problaby liberal and all in support of gender equality. I was very moved when he closed the meeting and genuinely showed surprise at the level of intensity and passion and key issues that had been raised during the two hours. Jon Snow is very respected here in media circles and with the public generally, so it was a real boost for us that he thought Gender and News Media was not in fact a solved issue on which liberal thinking individuals and organisations had agreed on a long time ago but was very much a live issue and that dialogue was necessary. Stephen Pritchard (another panelist and board member of the Organsiation of News Ombudsmen) also said somethng very interesting when he mentioned that on the surface no one is against gender equality but what the Who Makes the News report does is to unpack the reality behind gender biases and that raised a debate which in turn proved that the issue was not "solved" for progressive media. These are the only comments I have put in here, but there was a lot more, from panelists, witnesses and audience that were really thought provoking and will make us here think about how we want to move forward in the future. All panelists, chair, witnesses and the audience thought that the report was excellent and a tool for them to take and to use back in their newsroom, organisations, etc... The praise around the report was amazing and this is a real testament to the hundreds of monitors around the world who gave their time to do the monitoring exactly one year ago. Without you all, and an amazing team crunching the report and then writing the report, yesterday's succesfful event would never have happened. There cannot be good advocacy without strong and reliable data and research and all the monitors surely provided that. I feel very proud to be part not only of the event that took place yesterday, but also to be part of these three weeks of action starting today with so far more than 30 countries involved and many more of you involved onlien. We also got good media coverage yesterday (mostly from international media based in London reporting back to their countries, many of which are included in the report) and we are getting good feedback from all of you on the ground of the coverage that is taking place nationally. One of the key aim of yesterday's event and the 3 weeks was very much to provide a platform globally for activists to push their case nationally. It seems that it is starting to work and that the media is interested. Fingers crossed and let's make sure this dialogue can exist throughout and beyond the 3 weeks by working together online and off line. I really get a buzz every time I hear of one more event taking place, of one more media covering the issue, video conferences, or of one more comment posted on this site, from Myanmar to Los Angeles. We need you on line, keep coming and make this real! Myriam (WACC)

Comment from Tony on 15/02/2006 3:21 pm:

I found the event very interesting. I thought that there was not a male biased representation in the UK media. I was wrong!
I think that everybody both women and men should aim for their goals. You will then get noticed. My 2 pence
I will be following the RSS feeds with interest. Thanks for the great commentary Stefanie, I was at the event and am amazed you were able to get so many notes, people were talking so fast :)

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 1:27 pm:

Well, time has run out and we close it here. From the blogger's point of view, I have to say the commission has been pretty exciting. Unfortunately, it was impossible to represent the diversity of views and issue brought up by the audience.. but hope you enjoyed it and could at least get the flavour of what was going on here in London (and by the way, it is even sunny here).
Feel free to comment on the other blogs as well. The GMMP report has been launched today but this is just the very beginning of the long way to gender equality in the media! Good luck with all the initiatives around the world and keep tuned! Stefania

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 1:05 pm:

Closing the conference, Mr. Snow suggested to keep the GMMP report closely in the future. Unfortunately, he said, there is nobody here from the Sun (for non-British readers: the Sun is a tabloid publishing every day on the 3rd page a half-naked woman...)
He called for regulation (not censorship) but a code of conduct for the press, because so far there are no obligations for the media to comply to. The self-regulatiory structure in the printed press is a scandal, he said,and it is not a way to make media a better place for citizens.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 1:00 pm:

Margaret Gallagher talks the microphone to say that media editors and journalists have their responsabilities, and this is systematic. Audiences are socialised in a certain way, but this is also Murdoch's argument. But audiences are created! There are very good examples: one comes from Sweden, where a magazine (?) has been working to get to 50%/50% balance on gender interviews. So far, they got 44% of women interviewed. Their female readership went up. They had to look at sligthly different stories, looking at different topics.

The Uk does not come out very much better than any other countries.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:57 pm:

Hi Dennis, would you like to ask something to our witnesses or pannellists?

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:56 pm:

What do you want the media to look like, asks Mr. Jobbins. Media are not fair and not even good. Jobbins suggests to take action against what we do not like of media.

Comment from Dennis Smith on 15/02/2006 12:55 pm:

kudos on a great launch! it is approaching 7 a.m. in guatemala and we are looking forward to a variety of activities to promote gmmp here in the next few weeks: a magazine article summarizing the results in a local professional journal for journalists (sala de redacción); a radio show on the local university radio station; a breakfast roundtable on march 8, especially for church leaders. we're still working on other plans and will have them finalized next week.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:52 pm:

Mr. Pritchard, who is the Readers' Editor at the Observer, answer to a question about how the newspaper deals with complainings from the readers. The message from the readers does get through, he says. The way the media can change is by talking to them.

is to talk to them.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:50 pm:

Marta, journalist and media counsultant, says that it seems that here people are confusing the role of advocates and journalists. Journalists are catalyst for change but reporting the news rather than taking side.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:47 pm:

AI recalls that mainstreaming gender is looking at the gender aspect of a story, not aiming the reporting at anybody.
This is a part of fair representation, and it is not about going soft or having a special eye for women.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:43 pm:

Side comments: the room is pretty full and the audience is largely made up of women. There are perhaps no more than 15-20 men!

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:41 pm:

Floor open to questions. Anybody wants to comment from the blogosphere?

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:40 pm:

Forth witness.
Amnesty International witness addresses the area where women are over represented: women as victims of natural disasters and other kinds of violence. What happened when women are represented? We have to look at human rights practices, she says. First of all, there is a major human rights scandal happening in the media: those news are only the 1% of the total news stories. Amnesty provides stories to reporters. Gender based balance does not happen by accident. It is part of the system of power and control, and women are victimised. AI regards this as a major human rights violation. AI is currently running the international "Violence Against Women" Campaign.

Victim stories are often reported as "random incidents", with no space for contextualisation. An example from AI experience: when AI's story was about domestic violence in Asia, the media reported a story on arranged marriage.
Not only gender discrimination but also minority, culture and other types of discrimination happened there. When reporting on incidents or natural disasters, not only women are under-reported but also there is also little space for background, context and no space for those advocating for change.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:24 pm:

Who is setting the agenda? Those controlling the financing and not the journalists themselves, says panellist Lesley Abdela, talking about her experience in Kossovo, and problems in budgeting to cover women's stories.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:21 pm:

There is no such a thing as women's issues, says Mrs. Hilsum. The point has been supported by other journalists in the room.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:17 pm:

Is the issues of security only a women issue?, asked Mr. Snow to Mr. Jobbins, head of the Rory Peck Trust, taking care of journalists in dangerous situations. Jobbins disagrees. But we should not separate women and men in security issues, recalls withness Mindy Ran.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:14 pm:

Pannelist Mr. Haffajee agrees and says that this is a job for the unions.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:12 pm:

Mindy Ran, Amsterdam-based freelance journalist and here representing the International Federation of Journalists, addresses the point of view of women journalists. Women almost everywhere in the world have the same problems: high stress and high pressures in the news room, sexual intimidation, harassment, pregnancy discrimination, gender pay gap, low-ranking jobs, low job security.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 12:07 pm:

Replying to the panellists questions, Dafna, second witness, says that wven if more and more women are getting into journalisms, not much change about coverage of women issues. It is not because you have a particular biological sex that you will have a special eye, but it is a matter of sensibility. Women often play the rules of the game which are not really favourable to them. But this is because that's the game they are part of.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:58 am:

Dafna Lemish from the University of Tel Aviv, here representing WACC, tells us about the practice of reporting on women around the world. She makes four points:
1. WHO are the women who are being reported: personality interested in the private sphere, lacking authorities, not having an autonomous voice... many stereotypes, women are represented as sex objects...
2. HOW: how are women reported? Women are often presented by their private life and family status: they gain authority in being a wife, daughter or mother. Representation of women appearance: women are often in photos, and women are often presenters (and when become older they disappear from the screens). Women are valuable for appearance and family status.
3. Language is often male-oriented, with terms such as "mankind", or by labelling female issues with general terms such as domestic violence.
4. Women are often relegated to soft news, and soft news are not relevant as hard news (such as politics and economics). Women are relegated to private sphere news, education, social issues, welfare.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:48 am:

Mrs. Abdela (Shevolution) says that it is by making women voices invisible that media perform the censorship. But Jon Snow says that that when you have got "ten minutes to go", you do not certainly care about gender balanced news. Abdela replays it is a problem of training and evaluation. Jounrnalists should be trained to mainstream media, and governments should take care of that.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:41 am:

Do you think there is active censorship of media issues in the media?, asked Snow to Mrs. Haffajee, from South Africa.
Mrs. Haffajee says that no... those issues are beginning to be reflected in media, at least in Southern Africa.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:38 am:

Mr. Pritchard ask more detailed information from the witnessed.
News who are crucial to women's life and would provide essential information for women such as sexual and reproduction health are not in the news. Issues such s abortion are often a no-go area for many media. 80% of expert features are male subject, says the GMMP 2005.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:35 am:

Article 19's intervention focused on "gender-base censorhsip". Media is marginalising media or giving misleading representations. Article 19, says Agnès, believe in the public interest broadcasting: media has a social and moral obligation. But there is plenty of evidences to how the media do not fulfill this public interest mission.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:30 am:

Jon Snow presented the panellists. Three women: Lesley Abdela from Eyecatcher/Shevolution, and Chief Executive of Project Parity; Ferial Haffajee, editor of the Mail&Guardian SOuth Africa; Lindsey Hilsum, international editor at Channel 4; and Yosri Fouda from Al-Jazeera who is not yet her. And three men: Bob Jobbins, former BBC World Service News and now at the Rory Peck Trust; and Stephen Pritchard, Organisation of News Ombudsmen and Readers' Editor at the Observer. SNow leaves the floor to the first witness, Agnès CCallamard from Article 19

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:23 am:

Monitoring alone is not enough, but we need to have advocacy and campaigning, said Randy Naylor, WACC secretary, introducing the media roundtable.
Randy introduced Jon Snow, from Channel 4 News (for the non-British, a very popular news presenter, on tv every evening at 7PM). Mr. Snow will chair the commission, addressing the question: "Good journalism involved a search for diversity and balance in subject matter, perspectives and points of view. Fair representation of women is simply a matter of good journalism. The GMMP 2005 report shows that this is currently not the case"

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:15 am:

From the video: the video puts together some French female independent journalists from the Association of Women Journalists who discuss the results of the GMMP 2000 looking at French media.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 11:06 am:

Jenny Richards Television for Environment presented the video. It is one of 32 short videos from a series called "From Rhetoric to Reality" by Broadcasting for Change, a group founded by TVE and largely made up of women, and born around the Beijing conference on women. The series focused on women's rights. To mark the 10th adniversary of the Beijing conference, a new series was produced which have already been broadcasted in 11 countries and which will be screened later today. The movie shown now on women representation in the media seen by media journalists has been produced in France.

Comment from Stefania on 15/02/2006 10:58 am:

So the big day has arrived! The GMMP global report was released and lauched today in London with a press conference at the Foreign Press Association. We are now live from the FPA building where soon the video "From Rhetoric to Reality: Where Are The Women?" produced by TVE, partner in the lauch. I will post some highlights from the video, which will run for about 15'. Please feel free to start posting your questions to the blog, so that I can start to collect them and pass them to the Commission. Ready to go!

Comment from Stefania on 09/02/2006 3:52 pm:

Hello! My name is Stefania and I will try to facilitate the discussion on this blog during the live event. I will report LIVE what will be happening there (I am a quick typewriter!) and pick up some of your questions to be asked during the Q&A session! Keep following us and start thinking about what you would like to ask! Stefania