GENDER & KOMUNIKASI Pertemuan 11

2. GENDER & KOMUNIKASIPertemuan 11 Matakuliah : Sosiologi Komunikasi Massa Tahun : 2009/2010

3. “We believe we will never watch, listen or read the news with the same eyes” (Bosnia & Herzegovina) 3

4. GMMP 2005 4

5. Scope of GMMP 2005 • 76 countries • 12,893 news stories on TV, radio and print • 25,671 news sources • 14,273 news personnel • Total of 39,944 people in the news 5

6. News: A Mirror on the World? 6

7. Women are dramatically under-represented in the news. Only 21% of news subjects - the people who are interviewed, or whom the news is about - are female. Though there has been an increase since 1995, when 17% of those heard and seen in the news were women, the situation in 2005 remains abysmal. For every woman who appears in the news, there are four men. 7

8. When women do make the news it is primarily as 'stars' (celebrities, royalty) or as 'ordinary' people. Women make the news not as figures of authority, but as celebrities (42%), royalty (33%) or as 'ordinary people'. Female newsmakers outnumber males in only two occupational categories - homemaker (75%) and student (51%). 8

9. As newsmakers, women are under-represented in professional categoriessuch as law (18%), business (12%) and politics (12%). In reality, women's share of these occupations is higher. For instance, in Rwanda - which has the highest proportion of female politicians in the world (49%) - only 13% of politicians in the news are women. 9

10. As authorities and experts women barely feature in news stories. Expert opinion in the news is overwhelmingly male. Men are 83% of experts, and 86% of spokespersons. By contrast, women appear in a personal capacity - as eye witnesses (30%), giving personal views (31%) or as representatives of popular opinion (34%). 10

11. For women, age has a crucial bearing on whether they appear in the news. Men go on making news well into their 50s and 60s: nearly half (49%) of all male news subjects are aged 50 or over. But older women are almost invisible: nearly three-quarters (72%) of female news subjects are under 50. 11

12. Women are more than twice as likely as men to be portrayed as victims. 19% of female news subjects, compared with 8% of males are portrayed in this way. News disproportionately focuses on female victims in events that actually affect both sexes - accidents, crime, war. Topics that specifically involve women - sexual violence, domestic violence, cultural practice - are given little coverage. 12

13. Female news subjects are more than three times as likely as males to be identified in terms of their family status. 17% of women are described as wife, daughter, mother etc.; only 5% of men are described as husband, son, father and so on. Even in authoritative functions such as spokesperson or expert, women do not escape this identification with family. So while men are perceived and valued as autonomous individuals, women's status is deemed to derive primarily from their relationship to others. It is from these relationships, rather than from her own autonomous being, that a woman draws her authority. 13

14. Women are much more likely (23%) than men (16%) to appear in photographs. In stories on crime, violence or disaster, pictures of women are frequently employed for dramatic effect. In newspapers and on television, the female body is often used to titillate. 14

15. Delivering the News 15

16. There has been a steady increase in the percentage of news items reported by women - from 28% in 1995, to 31% in 2000, reaching 37% in 2005. Female reporters have gained more ground in radio and television than in newspapers. The press lags far behind the electronic media, with only 29% of stories written by female reporters in 2005. 16

17. On television, female media professionals disappear from the screen as they get older. For women in the profession, a youthful appearance is more highly valued than experience. Up to the age of 34 women are in the majority as both news presenters and reporters. By the age of 50, only 17% of reporters and 7% of presenters are female. 17

18. Female reporters predominate in only two topics - weather reports on television and radio (52%) and stories on poverty, housing and welfare (51%). Sports news is the least likely to be reported by women, with just 21% of female reporters. 18

19. Overall, male journalists report at the so-called 'hard' or 'serious' end of the news spectrum such as politics and government (where women report only 32% of stories). Female journalists are more likely to work on the so-called 'soft' stories such as social and legal issues (40% reported by women). Although many 'soft' news stories are important, they are not always perceived as such in the hierarchy of new values. As a result, the work of female journalists is sometimes under-valued, and women reporters are frequently assigned to stories that are downright trivial - celebrity news (50% reported by women), or arts and entertainment (48%). 19

20. News Content 20

21. Very little news - just 10% of all stories - focuses specifically on women. North America stands apart from the other regions: here women are central to the news in 20% of stories (23% in Canada, 19% in the USA). But even in this region only one story in five focuses on women - still a very small proportion of the total. 21

22. Women are rarely central in stories that comprise the bulk of the news agenda - politics (8%), the economy (3%). Even in topics where the percentage of female news subjects is relatively high - education, child-care, consumer issues, HIV-AIDS - women seldom feature centrally. Apart from crime and violence, where women are central in 16% of items, women are central in stories that are at the periphery of the news. 22

23. News stories are twice as likely to reinforce (6%) as to challenge (3%) gender stereotypes. Three topics contribute greatly to the reinforcement of gender stereotypes in the news: celebrity news (16% of which reinforces stereotypes), sports (12%) and arts and entertainment stories (11%). 23