South African launch of GMMP 2005

"The news media are particularly powerful because they are our
principal source of information to what is happening in the world, yet they do not simply offer a "window on the world". They routinely decide what information we should receive, what news we should watch, hear and read. In doing so, the news media influence our beliefs, attitudes and standards, so that our idea of who we and others are, as female and male, is influenced by media messages."

On the 7th of March last month in Johannesburg, the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) of South Africa launched its 2005 report titled, “Who Makes the News?” Hundreds of people and NGO representatives, including gender and media activists, grassroots communication groups, academics and students of communication, media professionals, journalists' associations, alternative media networks and church groups, had worked to produce a comprehensive picture showing how women and men are represented in news media worldwide.

Addressing the audience, deputy-president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka noted that the question “who makes the news?” remains as relevant as ever. Despite progress made in the search for the equality between the sexes, women’s rights, and the battle to attain an ideal society which is free from discrimination, women continue to be marginalised in the world’s news media. More education on how women are portrayed in the news media needs to take place before future generations will see a better, more just representation of the roles women and men play in our society.

GMMP’s report confirms that level of inequality in South Africa and the world continue to rise. Despite the fact that women make up 52% of the population, they feature in only 21% of news. In addition, women are often poorly represented in the media: 86% of spokespeople who appear on the news are men, with the subjects presented being of predominant interest to men. Unfortunately when the material or subject is about women, it tends to focus on violence committed against them. Women are portrayed as victims twice as often as men and are rarely present in reportage considered to be about ‘serious’ issues such as politics or economics.

Nonetheless, according to the deputy-president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, (and as everyone who attended the launch agreed) South Africa and the world still have a long path to travel. Men and women have a duty to fight together to attain more justice and equality in the world’s news media. South Africa still has many challenges to face before equal gender representation in the media is achieved.

To paraphrase the words of Judith Smith Vialva, executive director of Southern Africa Media and Gender Institute (SAMGI; also the coordinators of the GMMP of South Africa), media journalists are being watched and one of the objectives is to undertake an ongoing dialogue with the editors and media decision-makers to make them aware of the results of the GMMP.Consequently, the news media itself will continue to exercise vigilance over the media. Equal representation will only be achieved by constantly challenging the media to take a more active position on the equal representation of women and men in the news.

According to the report presented on the weekend of the 7th of

March, South Africa, although still a new democracy, has already done a lot to further the fight for equality in the media – although much remains to be done. South Africa already has organisations that are actively engaged in working to ensure that future generations of journalists, news reporters and media professionals in general come to innately believe that equality between human beings is the only truth.

Congratulations South Africa! Congratulations to SAMGI for their efficient coordination of the project in this country. Congratulations to everyone who has helped to take this noble work forward. As a Brazilian, I have come to admire what they have achieved, and wish that the same undertaking could take place in my country – and the whole world.

Download the Special Report delivered by the Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the launch of the Global media Monitoring Project (GMMP)