Search

Feminist news researchers have long argued that in the macho culture of most newsrooms, journalists’ daily decisions about what is newsworthy remain firmly based on masculine news values. As such, issues and topics traditionally seen to be particularly relevant to women tend to be pushed to the margins of the news where the implicit assumption is that they are less important than those which interest men. In so doing, men’s views and voices are privileged over women’s, thereby contributing to the ongoing secondary status of women’s participation as citizens. In this article, we draw upon data we collected from the UK and the Republic of Ireland as part of the larger, 108-country study, which comprised the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). We argue that while there have been some positive improvements in women’s representation as news actors, sources and journalists in the British and Irish news media since the first GMMP day of monitoring in 1995, women’s voices, experiences and expertise continue to be regarded by news industries as less important than those of men. Such a situation undermines and under-reports women’s contribution to social, economic and cultural life and in so doing, diminishes democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article is an editorial,analyzing feminism and its political identity in the media. The article also gives an overview of the issues dealt with in the current issue. It refers to the early portrayal of sex roles in media, a conservative, "nationalist feminism" mobilised in the interests of US cultural and political system, the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and homophobia. The author applying a transnational, cultural studies approach, argues that representations of women are constantly renegotiated through discussions of nationalism. The author also examines liberal feminism and gay/lesbian liberation. According to the author, feminist commitment continues to question the difference, authority, and power as the only violence against"honour killings" of Turkish women seems to be consistently condemned in the press.

This article introduces the topics featured in the July 2004 issue of "Feminist Media Studies." The issue begins with two articles that in very different ways examine how the media have been used, firstly in sub-Saharan Africa and secondly in Palestine, in order to promote progressive-feminist political agenda. Both papers argue for the importance of small-scale, alternative to the mainstream, grassroots media as being best suited to ensuring that their messages reach particular audiences.