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Women in bikinis and tangas posing on a beach, heart attacks and snoring. To most there would seem to be no obvious connection between these disparate items, but in one Turkish television news report in February 2001 it was deemed appropriate to illustrate a serious story on research into the link between heart attacks and snoring in women with video footage of scantily-clad women posing on a beach. What message does this deliver about women in the news?
It was stories like these that came under the microscope in the Global Media Monitoring Projects (GMMP) carried out in 1995 and 2000. The idea for a one-day study of the representation and portrayal of women in the media worldwide was conceived at the international conference ‘Women Empowering Communication’ organised by WACC in Bangkok in 1994. Media Watch Canada co-ordinated the first study which was conducted on 18th January 1995. Five years on, as part of its research and advocacy work, the WACC Women’s Programme decided to co-ordinate a second more extensive and qualitative GMMP. So it was on 1st February 2000 that hundreds of participants in 70 countries monitored the days news on radio, television and in print, resulting in a massive 50, 853 data records.
The monitoring day was marked by tremendous excitement and solidarity among participating groups. The preliminary results of GMMP 2000 were released in time for Beijing + 5 events in June 2000. The final results including detailed country tables and qualitative analysis by region, based on more than 16,000 new stories, were published in a book entitled Who Makes the News?
The GMMP has been ‘one of the most extraordinary collective enterprises yet organised within the global women’s movement’ which not only empowered the groups who participated in the project, but also provided an essential tool for women and communication groups working to change the mainstream media. As Gloria Bonder, Co-ordinator of the monitoring effort in Latin America has explained, “The results (of GMMP) were not surprising but the insight was that monitoring is a wonderful technique and it’s easy enough that we can all do it…and monitoring is a project on the political side, because it’s not just the collecting of data – it’s the process of involving the audience in the process of acting to change women’s images in the media. We have discussed and complained in the past, but this systematic methodology provides proof of the problem and involves people in education and citizens’ rights”.
Based on the success of the two past GMMPs and in response to calls from women and communication groups worldwide, the WACC Women’s Programme has decided to co-ordinate the third Global Media Monitoring Project, to take place in 2005. This decision has been met with widespread enthusiasm from both past GMMP participants and others who would like to participate in 2005. As one gender and communication activist in Japan put it, “It is truly exciting to know that you are planning to conduct the third GMMP. We are looking forward to it”.
GMMP 2005 will aim to demystify research and empower more NGOs to carry out their own research, create a widely usable but more refined research tool, produce an up to date research study useful for gender-sensitisation, education and training purposes, provide a tool for activists to lobby for more gender-sensitive communication policy, and to promote media literacy, solidarity and networking among women’s communication groups. Whilst in many ways GMMP 2005 will be very similar to the previous studies in 1995 and 2000, there will also be various improvements that come with the advantage of hindsight provided by the experience of the earlier studies.
GMMP 2005 will contain more qualitative analysis of the media situation – participants will be asked to supplement their reports with contextual information about the media situation in their countries. Discussions with previous GMMP participants on the pertinent gender and media concerns in their particular country will inform the design of the methodology for GMMP 2005, thus allowing for more relevant country results and therefore a more useful lobbying tool for participating groups. Building on the success of press conferences held after GMMP 2000 in a number of countries including Holland and Germany, monitoring groups will also be provided with instruction kits on calling press conferences and publicising national and global results.
There are plans for a webpage to be set up before GMMP 3 to keep monitors informed on the progress of the project.
- In April, the Women’s Programme will hold a four-day consultation meeting in Cape Town, South Africa at which 15 women from around the world will come together to discuss the aims, methodology and follow-up to the next GMMP. This will allow us to refine GMMP, building on its past successes and learning from its problems.
- As the WACC Women’s Programme begins preparations for the third Global Media Monitoring Project, to be held in 2005, the Media and Gender Monitor explores a few of the different ways the results of GMMP 2000 have been used by communication groups around the world.
- If you would like to participate in the next GMMP or have any suggestions for improving the monitoring process, please write to the Editor at
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- Latin America
- In 2001, RED-ADA, Bolivia’s most important women’s communication network, carried out a follow-up project to GMMP 2000. Using the methodology from GMMP 2000, ‘Monitoring Images of Women in Advertising’ researched the portrayal of women in TV, press and radio advertising. In addition to the monitoring, RED-ADA carried out an opinion poll on women in advertising and held a series of interviews with executives of the most well-known advertising agencies. The results of the monitoring have been used to initiate a process of information dissemination and awareness-raising amongst communicators and creative personnel in advertising agencies.
- In 2001, RED-ADA, Bolivia’s most important women’s communication network, carried out a follow-up project to GMMP 2000. Using the methodology from GMMP 2000, ‘Monitoring Images of Women in Advertising’ researched the portrayal of women in TV, press and radio advertising. In addition to the monitoring, RED-ADA carried out an opinion poll on women in advertising and held a series of interviews with executives of the most well-known advertising agencies. The results of the monitoring have been used to initiate a process of information dissemination and awareness-raising amongst communicators and creative personnel in advertising agencies.
In Guatemala, the communication group CEDEPCA conducted follow-up activities to GMMP through a workshop for women working in community media in the interior of the country. The workshop explored the image of women projected by the media through media monitoring training based on GMMP 2000, and created a space for the exchange of concerns that served as the basis for the formation of a network of women communicators, Network of Women on Air, launched on International Women’s Day of 2002.
- Asia
- In Nepal the GMMP 2000 report has informed the advocacy work of the NGO Sancharika Samuha, particularly by providing statistics on women’s participation at various levels of media organisations and their portrayal in print and electronic media. The information has also been used to raise awareness amongst journalists and has become a vital tool in gender orientation training courses.
- In India the results of GMMP 2000 have been used as resource in academic courses in communication. The Asian Network of Women in Communication has also used the report as a tool in workshops for media monitoring training and has used the GMMP methodology for media monitoring itself, in local language print media and monitoring on Dalit issues.
- Caribbean
- In Jamaica, Women’s Media Watch (WMW) have used the results of GMMP 2000 as part of their ongoing training sessions with trainee communications personnel at the Caribbean Institute for Media and Communication. The report Who Makes the News? has become one of the key resource materials for WMW’s activities, including their recent groundbreaking workshops on gender and sexuality with young Jamaican men.
- On receiving a copy of the report from WMW, the Assistant Executive Director of the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission noted that it was ‘extremely useful information to the Commission’s work, particularly in the formulation and implementation of content standards for gender portrayals in the Jamaican mass media’.
- In Jamaica, Women’s Media Watch (WMW) have used the results of GMMP 2000 as part of their ongoing training sessions with trainee communications personnel at the Caribbean Institute for Media and Communication. The report Who Makes the News? has become one of the key resource materials for WMW’s activities, including their recent groundbreaking workshops on gender and sexuality with young Jamaican men.
- On receiving a copy of the report from WMW, the Assistant Executive Director of the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission noted that it was ‘extremely useful information to the Commission’s work, particularly in the formulation and implementation of content standards for gender portrayals in the Jamaican mass media’.
- On receiving a copy of the report from WMW, the Assistant Executive Director of the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission noted that it was ‘extremely useful information to the Commission’s work, particularly in the formulation and implementation of content standards for gender portrayals in the Jamaican mass media’.
- Africa
- In early 2002, the South African NGO, Genderlinks and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) held a workshop to devise a gender policy and action plan for the region’s main advocacy and lobbying network on issues of media freedom. As a follow-up to the workshop, Genderlinks and MISA are conducting the first baseline survey on gender and the media in Southern Africa drawing on the methodology of GMMP 2000. The results of this monitoring exercise will be published in one regional and 12 country reports.
- In early 2002, the South African NGO, Genderlinks and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) held a workshop to devise a gender policy and action plan for the region’s main advocacy and lobbying network on issues of media freedom. As a follow-up to the workshop, Genderlinks and MISA are conducting the first baseline survey on gender and the media in Southern Africa drawing on the methodology of GMMP 2000. The results of this monitoring exercise will be published in one regional and 12 country reports.
- North America
- Media Watch in Canada has used the results of GMMP in public education campaigns. Smaller scale local, regional and national monitoring on women and media issues based on GMMP has also been carried out by Media Watch volunteers and in communication and journalism classes, which has served to raise awareness and empower the groups concerned.
- Media Watch in Canada has used the results of GMMP in public education campaigns. Smaller scale local, regional and national monitoring on women and media issues based on GMMP has also been carried out by Media Watch volunteers and in communication and journalism classes, which has served to raise awareness and empower the groups concerned.
In the USA, the report has been used for information and advocacy efforts by the United Methodist Church Women. In Ohio, for example, the information from GMMP 2000 was used in developing an information sheet on gender and violence for use as a self-help resource by women survivors of domestic violence.
- Middle East
- In Israel the results have been cited in academic articles published in international journals, used as a resource material for university courses and cited in media interviews. GMMP 2000 was also the catalyst for the creation of a network of women who monitor the media in Israel for negative portrayals of women and then react to them through advocacy and lobbying.
- In Israel the results have been cited in academic articles published in international journals, used as a resource material for university courses and cited in media interviews. GMMP 2000 was also the catalyst for the creation of a network of women who monitor the media in Israel for negative portrayals of women and then react to them through advocacy and lobbying.
- Europe
- In Malta, the Gender Advisory Committee of the Broadcasting Authority uses the GMMP results in their research and training programmes. The report is also included in all press packs distributed by the Committee.
- In Germany, the women journalists association Journalistinnenbund e.V. held a press conference during their annual meeting to raise awareness of the results of GMMP 2000 among the mainstream media. This was followed by a meeting with female policy makers to discuss strategies for change. The association also repeated the monitoring exercise one year later, only to discover that representation of women had got worse in the print media!
- For the French Association of Women Journalists, GMMP, “changed the way we ‘read’ the media...and it will help us to show other journalists how and why things need to change”. This group then went on to use the GMMP methodology for a more elaborate study of the French media.
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