3. Who Controls the Media?
Today, the majority of media companies world-wide are
managed by men. While some women have advanced
into media leadership, men make most of the decisions
about what does and does not constitute as news. In
addition, women are not moving into leadership positions
in the media in numbers that reflect their numbers in
society.”
Leading in a Different Language: Will Women Change the News
Media?
A report by International Women's Media Foundation, 2001
4. MEDIA’S ROLE IN Our lives.
1) inform (a teacher function)2) surveillance (a watcher
function).
3) service the economic system
4) hold society together (act as sort of a cultural glue)
5) entertain
6) act as a community forum (media equivalent of town hall
meeting or group discussion).
7) set the agenda
8) service the political system
5. Various examples can be quoted.
America’s war of Iraq and Afghanistan and in its policies for gulf states.
7. How the media, through their coverage of 9/11, legitimized the future US military attack
on Afghanistan, in the United States
Legitimizing through technical devices
The organization of the newspaper
Eliminating the emergence of dissent
Reaching consensus
Legitimizing through the trauma of 9/11
The Pearl Harbor analogy
Need for a proportional response
War as the logical outcome of the attacks
Creation of fear among the population
Noble motives
For the United States
For Afghanistan
For the world
8. Media on War and Conflict
The power of media in warfare is
formidable. It can be a mediator or an
interpreter or even a facilitator of conflict.
If only by editing away facts that do not
fit the demands of air time or print space”
Elizabeth Rehan, Ellen Sirleaf, Women, War and Peace
9. How media portrays conflict stories
Media mostly just follow events. They don’t
explain what led to those events.
They concentrate on bad news. They are
problem-focused.
They are often sensational and emotional in
tone.
Who are the news makers? They tend to focus
on powerful people, political leaders, the rich
and the famous, who live in town and cities.
They often reinforce stereotypes
10. Media ‘s view of women and issues
Rape is seen as an atrocity that spoils a
girl/ women (for other men)
Only young, virginal girls get raped.
There’s no such crime as marital rape
because of the sanctity of conjugal rights
Men are breadwinners; women are home
makers and should take care of the home
and children
11. It’s Effects on the Audience
It is depressing for our women listeners to hear all
these horrible stories of women becoming victims
of sexual violence and harassment.
It can discourage women not to go out any more
because they are afraid.
We also have to talk about the success-stories of
women who fight against violence, whether as an
individual or as a group in a rally or forum.
Only then, listeners can get the complete the
picture.
