Source: The Guardian (UK)
Author: Roy Greenslade (blog)
Date published: 20 March 2013

The Mail on Sunday has appointed the first female sports editor of a national newspaper - Alison Kervin.
[...]

Editor Geordie Greig, proud of setting a Fleet Street record, said: "Alison is a hugely impressive figure in the sports world with a sporting pedigree few sports editors can rival.

"Of course, it really doesn't matter whether the Mail on Sunday's sports editor is a man or a woman – but I can think of no better candidate to break the mould than Alison."

Read more...
 

Source: Columbia Journalism Review
Date Published: 22 March 2013
Author: Curtis Brainard

‘The Finkbeiner Test’
Seven rules to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists
    
There’s still a gender gap in the sciences, with far fewer women than men in research jobs, and those women earning substantially less, but it doesn’t help when journalists treat every female scientist they profile as an archetype of perseverance.

Such was the consensus that emerged from a discussion prompted by a March 5 post at Double X Science by freelancer Christie Aschwanden, who observed that:

"Campaigns to recognize outstanding female scientists have led to a recognizable genre of media coverage. Let’s call it “A lady who…” genre. You’ve seen these profiles, of course you have, because they’re everywhere. The hallmark of “A lady who…” profile is that it treats its subject’s sex as her most defining detail. She’s not just a great scientist, she’s a woman! And if she’s also a wife and a mother, those roles get emphasized too".

Chime for Change global journalism platform is looking for contributors to share compelling stories (print and multimedia) about women and girls worldwide with an emphasis on how our world is transforming as a result of women and girls taking initiatives in all areas.

The call is made in partnership with the International Herald Tribune (Global edition of The New York Times) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Send your story ideas to Mariane Pearl at CFCjournalism@gmail.com

Chime for Change is an international crowd funding campaign founded by Gucci and championed by Beyonce Knowles Carter, Salma Hayek-Pinault and Frida Giannini, seeking to promote health, justice and education for women and girls everywhere.  

www.chimeforchange.org; facebook.com/chimeforchange;

www.missrepresentation.org 

"Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, Miss Representation (90 min; TV - 14 DL) uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see.

Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under - representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. 

The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself. In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty,  and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader.

While women have made great strides in leadership over the past few decades, the United States is still 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, women hold only 3% of clout positions in mainstream media, and 65% of women and girls have disordered eating behaviors. Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics ... build momentum as Miss

Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective."

Name It. Change It. Research, 2012

"Name It. Change It., a joint project of the Women’s Media Center and She Should Run, released two new studies that demonstrate the gender-based challenges women face from the media when they run for office.

The research demonstrates that when the media focuses on a woman candidate’s appearance, she pays a price in the polls. This finding holds true whether the coverage of a woman candidate’s appearance was framed positively, negatively or in neutral terms. The second survey, a simulation of the impact of sexism in campaigns, [...] found that where a woman candidate has already been attacked, sexist coverage further diminishes her vote and the perception that she is qualified"

Read more and access research reports here

Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media

by Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, FemLINKPacific, Fiji

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3 and a Community Radio Roundtable made possible with assistance from UNESCO, the European Union and International Women's Development Agency, FemLINKPacific joins the global network of Community Radio broadcasters (AMARC) in calling for greater regulatory recognition of community radios, and a greater equity in frequency allocation and transmission allocation.

AMARC calls upon States and governments, and press and audiovisual regulatory authorities to respect their engagements for press and audiovisual freedom of expression.

Community Radios all over the world should be able to develop and work in safe economic and legal environments. Their broadcast rights should be further recognized and reinforced. Community radios are the ones that allow the excluded and marginalized – particularly women and the poor – to express themselves publicly and these should be further recognized by the international community.

May 3rd was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the UNESCO's General Conference in 1991.

It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom. In dozens of countries around the world, radios are censored, fined, or simply didn’t have licence to broadcast legally, while journalists and radio directors are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.

"SAFE TO SPEAK : Securing Freedom of Expression in all Media": this is the theme for World Press Freedom Day 2013.

Read more about AMARC here

FemLINKPacific participates in the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) network as regional co-ordinator for the Pacific Region and national co-ordinator for Fiji.

www.femlinkpacific.org.fj 
 

Source: End Violence Against Women, a UK-wide coalition that campaigns for action to end all forms of violence against women and girls in the UK

Download the coalition's Submission to the Editor's Code of Practice Consultation here"

"There is a groundswell of opinion that our 'old' and 'new' media alike are awash with both unconscious sexist reporting and outright misogynistic content.

Our members believe this abuse of women in our culture is directly related to the harm many women suffer. The Head of the CPS in London has said, for example, that the media portrayal of rape is hindering attempts to make women feel safer about reporting it to the police."

Read more....

Chime for Change global journalism platform is looking for contributors to share compelling stories (print and multimedia) about women and girls worldwide with an emphasis on how our world is transforming as a result of women and girls taking initiatives in all areas.

The call is made in partnership with the International Herald Tribune (Global edition of The New York Times) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Send your story ideas to Mariane Pearl at CFCjournalism@gmail.com

Chime for Change is an international crowd funding campaign founded by Gucci and championed by Beyonce Knowles Carter, Salma Hayek-Pinault and Frida Giannini, seeking to promote health, justice and education for women and girls everywhere.  

www.chimeforchange.org; facebook.com/chimeforchange;https://twitter.com/chimeforchange
 

Monday 25 March, 2013
Labasa, Fiji

By Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls

Twenty participants gathered at FemLINKPacific's community media centre in Labasa for our first rural Young Women's Media and Advocacy Skills Training undertaken with support from the International Women's Development Programme (IWDA):

"It was with IWDA's support that we began the Generation Next project in 2005 and today we are so pleased that the training in Labasa is being organised and led by young women who joined our programme in 2010," says FemLINKPacific's Executive Director, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, " since 2011 our Labasa team of 5 young women producers and broadcasters have been producing a range of radio programmes reflecting women's priorities and managing and hosting "suitcase radio" broadcasts."

The participants have been nominated by women leaders who belong to FemLINKPacific's Rural "1325" network and attend monthly meetings and regular consultations and interactive dialogue programmes, including community radio broadcasts:

"Listening to the group presentation that has been discussed based on the 7 main pillars of human security; young women shared the same issue that face by their mother’s during the consultation," said co-facilitator Alisi Matai who joined FemLINKPacific's programme in Labasa with her mother who is a market vendor.

The training is introducing the young women to creative expression using radio productions, linked to the peace and human security pillars:

"A story that struck me the most was from Ana who shared about the violence that she face in her family and the inequality that she faces with her brothers and sister with this I have learnt a lot more and I also shared the few that I know with the group I was helping," added Lucille Chute who is a key member of FemLINKPacific's broadcast team.

The leadership by FemLINKPacific's team of young women is all part of the organisation's commitment to building a new generation of women leaders and the team includes FemLINKPacific's Programmes Administration Officer, Frances Tawake and Rusila Lautiki who brings her experience of learning and using radio to raise issues fromher village community to the training:

"Today was also a learning process for me as a young producer and broadcaster to speak in front of the youth. It has enabled and encouraged me a lot to share with the youth gathered here about the importance of raising voices and also the work that I do at FemLINK Pacific."

The training mentor is Adi Vasulevu Chute who first joined FemLINKPacific as a volunteer correspondent in 2004.

Every month FemLINKPacific hosts 16 hours of community radio broadcasts in Labasa from the St Thomas Anglican Church. A broadcast survey has found that the 100 watt transmitter of the "suitcase radio" can be heard clearly within the projected 10 kilometre radius including Vatunibale, Wailevu, the All Saints Secondary School and FSC area, Vatunibale, Wailevu Village as well as Lajonia, Tuatua and Naseakula.

Radio programmes produced this week will air on Saturday as well as travel across to Suva for FemTALK 89FM Morning WAVES and weekend broadcasts.

Further information: FemLINKPacific, Fiji
On Facebook

Source: Columbia Journalism Review
Date Published: 22 March 2013
Author: Curtis Brainard

‘The Finkbeiner Test’
Seven rules to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists
    
There’s still a gender gap in the sciences, with far fewer women than men in research jobs, and those women earning substantially less, but it doesn’t help when journalists treat every female scientist they profile as an archetype of perseverance.

Such was the consensus that emerged from a discussion prompted by a March 5 post at Double X Science by freelancer Christie Aschwanden, who observed that:

"Campaigns to recognize outstanding female scientists have led to a recognizable genre of media coverage. Let’s call it “A lady who…” genre. You’ve seen these profiles, of course you have, because they’re everywhere. The hallmark of “A lady who…” profile is that it treats its subject’s sex as her most defining detail. She’s not just a great scientist, she’s a woman! And if she’s also a wife and a mother, those roles get emphasized too".

Read more...