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Where are all the Women?
DATELINE: 29/10/12
There has been some advancement in the extent to which women are shaping and presenting the news, but in an industry still dominated by masculinity, women remain vastly outnumbered.
Research* finds that number of women actually reporting and presenting on radio and television and having their own by-lines in newspapers, is still way below thirty per cent. Moreover, women in front-line journalism are nowhere near achieving membership of the so called 30 per cent club...the target for women with high-profile roles in politics, commerce and finance.
Equally disappointing is the vast disparity in the number of women who appear on air as expert contributors, which is below twenty percent.There are also fundamental problems and long-standing grievances over the way women are portrayed in the media. There is considerable evidence of the impact of the sexualisation and objectification of women and girls. This is evidenced by often poor reporting of violence against women stories, domestic violence and rape, which are often intrusive, inaccurate and victim-blaming.
So, what’s going on? Why such a disparity between who writes and presents the news? Why are women still being portrayed as victims or just a sum of sexualised parts? Why is violence against women mis-reported on such an endemic scale? Why is the media so misogynistic?
Nicholas Jones speaks to six active campaigners in the long struggle to give women a greater voice in the media and to have greater influence in helping the shape the way women are portrayed.
Lisa Campbell editor of the Broadcast Magazine
Lis Howell, director of broadcasting at City University
Shannon Harvey a campaigner for women’s rights from AVA (Against Violence and Abuse)
Fiona O’Cleirigh, freelance journalist, National Union of Journalists
Ann Field from the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom
Jess Hurd photographer and chair of the photographers’ branch at the National Union of Journalists
* The CPBF’s latest podcast focuses on recent research by Women in Journalism, Broadcast Magazine and City University.Podcast produced by Claire Colley.
Last modified: Friday, December 7, 2012
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Podcast
The Paralympic Legacy
New podcast on problems facing new BBC DG
George Entwistle's burden
Leveson After Murdoch
Taking on the Media Barons
Freedom of Information at risk
Getting the message across
Reporting Dissent
Reporting the Riots
Leveson - A Chance for Change?
Jeremy Dear's Momentous Decade
How the media lost touch with work
A Wapping Exhibition
Wapping 25 years on
Whither the BBC facing a six-year licence fee freeze?
What will Murdoch’s Sky bid mean?
