Transcript MEDIA RESEARCH, POLICY & TRAINING

GMPS REGIONAL
FINDINGS
BY THABANI MPOFU,
GENDER AND MEDIA MANAGER
11 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0
Media practice
 Gender equality not given top priority in the region constituting only
1% of all topics covered.
 The proportion of single source stories at 67% is a cause for
concern.
 Voices of experts and spokesperson, in which men are better
represented than women, dominate news in the region.
 Women are proportionally better represented in the “ordinary people”
categories which include personal experience, popular opinion and
eyewitness, which together account for one quarter of all sources.
Proportion of single vs multiple source stories
Figure 2.7: Proportion of single versus multiple source stories – Regional
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Swaziland
Madagascar
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Mauritius
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Tanzania
Zimbabwe
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South Africa
DRC
Namibia
Botswana
Malawi
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Regional
Percent
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Single
Gender in media content
 There has been a marginal increase in the proportion of women
sources from 17% in the 2003 GMBS to 19% in the GMPS.
 This is slightly lower than the Global Media Monitoring Project
average of 24% but at par with the GMMP finding for Africa of 19%.
 Women are more likely to be seen than heard. They constitute
27% of all images in newspapers in the region compared to 18% of
news sources in the print media.
 Women’s voices are most likely to be heard in soft areas, which
include gender equality (43%), gender violence (41%), children and
sex and sexuality.
Gender in media content
 Gender biases in occupational categories are still pronounced.
Women predominate as beauty contestants, health workers,
homemakers and sex workers. The proportion of women
sportspersons and politicians is as low as 8% and 11% respectively.
 Women (8%) are more likely to be identified by personal tags than
men (4%).
Women sources GMBS and GMPS
Figure 3.4: Women as news sources – Regional
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Percent
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GMBS
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South Africa
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Malawi
Namibia
Tanzania
Madagascar
Seychelles
Lesotho
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All countries recorded increases except Mozambique where
the proportion of women as news sources declined from 15%
in GMBS to 14% in GMPS.
Women identified by personal tag GMBS versus
GMPS
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 There has been a dramatic decline in Malawi from 21% in
GMBS to 9% in GMPS, Tanzania (11% to 6%) and South
Africa (14% to 9%).
 There has been an increase in Mauritius (15% to 20%),
Madagascar (5% to 8%) and Botswana (1% to 4%).
GENDER IN NEWSROOMS
 There are more women presenters than women reporters.
Women constitute 29% of all reporters but 58% of TV presenters
and only 25% of print reporters.
 Interesting gender benders: while there is still gender division of
labour, proportion of women sources has increased across all
topics.
 Having more women in top and senior management positions
does not necessarily result in more women sources. Across the
region women constitute 27% of decision-makers but only 19% of
women sources.
 But having women journalists does make a difference. Women
constitute 31% of sources in stories written by women journalists
compared to 15% in stories written by men.
COVERAGE OF GBV
 GBV and stories that mentioned GBV accounted for 4% of
the topics.
 Women make up 27% of sources in stories about GBV.
 Survivors constitute almost a fifth (19%) of all sources.
COVERAGE OF HIV AND AIDS
 The proportion of coverage has remained constant at 3%
for 11 countries in the region surveyed for 2006 HIV and
AIDS, Gender and Media Study and 2% for the three
Francophone countries surveyed in the 2008
Francophone Gender, HIV and AIDS and Media Study.
 Affected people’s voices increased from 4% in the 2006
study to 36% in the GMPS while voices of people living
with HIV and AIDS only increased from 4% to 7%.
 Proportion of women sources has dropped from 39% in
the 2006 study and 30% in the 2008 Francophone to
20% in the GMPS.
Stories on HIV and AIDS: MAP vs nonMAP
 An increase in
coverage by
newsrooms that
worked with MAP in
Malawi and
Mauritius.
 Lack of
improvement points
to the need for
backstopping and
creating solutions to
the fatigue around
HIV and AIDS
coverage.
Who speaks on HIV and AIDS: MAP vs
non-MAP newsrooms
 Working with
newsrooms can
help increase
overall coverage
and quality of
stories on HIV and
AIDS.
Feedback from consultative workshops
 Need for periodic audience research to remind media
houses of what their target audience wants to read
about or hear in news. Media need a constant
reminder that audiences come first.
 Media houses must monitor their audience trends
over a given period to determine whether figures go
down or increase when gender is integrated into all
news.
 Need for gender specialists just as there are political
commentators. Proposed circulation of a directory
with contacts of women experts in various fields.
Feedback continued
 Media houses to develop gender policies. More than
140 newsrooms expressed interest to develop gender
policies during the consultative workshops.
 Regular monitoring and discussions with editors.
 Having gender policies is one thing and
implementing them is another, and perhaps the most
difficult part.