Women and media - participation and consequences

Résumé du document

As women worldwide fight for that equal chance in the newsroom or boardroom, others are building their own media to make their voices heard. Critical questions are being raised: Will women's equal participation change the nature of journalism? Is women's news fundamentally different from men's? Are "women's pages" a pink news ghetto or a needed remedy for historic neglect? Do mainstream women's media have to be apolitical and marketing-driven? We will try to answer these questions in two points. First we will study the participation of women in the media and then the consequences of this, that is to say the representation of women in the media. Though women make up more than half the world's population, men routinely decide what news they should hear and read. What is the impact on all of us when the news is constantly reported from a male point of view?

Extraits

[...] In 2000 the Association of Women Journalists (Association des femmes journalistes AFJ) studied news coverage of women and women's issues in 70 countries. It reported that only 18 per cent of stories quote women, and that the number of women-related stories came to barely 10 per cent of total news coverage. Women athletes are also given short shrift in the media. Margaret Carlisle Duncan notes that commentators (97 per cent of whom are men) use different language when they talk about female athletes. [...]

[...] Women as Sexual Objects The pressure put on women through ads, television, film and new media to be sexually attractive is profound. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that one out of four TV commercials send some kind of "attractiveness message," telling viewers what is and is not attractive. Like in advertising, provocative images of women's partly clothed or naked bodies are especially prevalent in Magazines address to men. Shari Graydon, former president of Canada's MediaWatch, argues that women's bodies are sexualized in those Magazins in order to grab the viewer's attention. [...]

[...] When the women opted for the latter story, a heated argument erupted. Journalist Laurence Pantin reports that "the women finally won, but only because they held the key positions on that day. All other times, the peeping tom and stories like it would have prevailed." As women continue to struggle for equality in the media, Lauzen's research shows that the biggest difference is made by the women who actually work in the industry. Behind the scenes, they can have a definite impact on the ways women are portrayed on the screen and in print. [...]

[...] Media equity ? Though women make up more than half the world's population, men routinely decide what news they should hear and read. What is the impact on all of us when the news is constantly reported from a male point of view? Keep in mind that media leaders are not just leaders in that industry, but have the power to shape society's attitudes. This report Who makes the news examines the obstacles and challenges women continue to face and touches on how they might change media in the future. [...]

[...] We should provide a clearer portrait of women in media. There has been a steady increase in the percentage of news items reported by women. From 28% in 1995 to 31% in 2000. On television, female media professionals disappear from the screen as they get older. The presence of at least one female executive producer on a program doubled the number of female writers. On programs with no female executive producers, female writers accounted for only 13% of all writers. [...]