Resources - Media Analysis
Media Monitoring Africa releases periodic media analysis pieces looking at current issues in the media though a human rights lens.
Category: Gender [REMOVE]
- Media and the reporting of the budget speech
-
The budget speech attracts much media attention every year. This year was no different. When reporting on the budget speech, it is expected that the media ‘translate’ the implications for their readers. In this respect the reports on the speech were not entirely successful.
Tweet
- The Media and Crime
-
Print and broadcast media should that first and foremost provide viewers, listeners and readers with information about the world that is fair, balanced and accurate. It is equally as important however, for the media to challenge and interrogate government performance on fundamental issues including poverty, HIV/AIDS and the safety and security situation. These principles have seemingly been in conflict in recent crime coverage.
Tweet
- Saluting Ma Tambo?
-
This short look at the coverage around the death of Adelaide Tambo was a follow-up to coverage on Coretta Scott King. The media did exceptionally well in their role to educate and inform in this instance.
Tweet
- Upsurge of women who kill for money?
-
The coverage surrounding the ongoing court case over the death of Netshisaulu Avhatakali and the representation of his wife as a “black widow” murderer typifies recent coverage on women involved in their husband’s deaths. The coverage of this court case brought to light other cases, in which women were suspects in the killings of their husbands. It is interesting to note the bias in partner killing reports, where women kill their husbands for financial gain, whilst men kill their intimate partners out of an irrational rage. Both these examples exclude systemic physical and emotional abuse and, in so doing, create the impression that these events are somehow insulated from broader social problems.
Tweet
- Sex worker twice abused
-
Sex workers in South Africa and around the world, are doubly vulnerable because of their job which exposes them to a myriad of risks, including rape, HIV/AIDS and even slavery. They are vulnerable, too, because they engage in illegal activities, which opens them up to exploitation by police and other parties. It is therefore not surprising that the police personnel are alleged to have ‘attacked’ a sex worker. The Sowetan (18 Jaunuary 2007, p1) and The Star (18 Jaunuary 2007, pg 3) are to be commended for covering stories of this particularly vulnerable group of people. Sowetan went a step further and even followed up the story (Sowetan 22 January 2007, p5). However, the Sowetan’s coverage story, further abused the human rights of this already vulnerable woman, by showing her face when her life is apparently already in danger.
Tweet
- Not a Triumph for Women
-
Considering the recent 16 days campaign, it is disappointing to note the billboard campaign currently ongoing by Triumph International. Rather than ‘supporting’ women, Triumph has produced a range of outdoor adverts which implicitly promote stereotypical views of women. One of the series is pictured above.
Tweet
- Protecting human rights in crime coverage
-
The 16 days of activism campaign against woman and child abuse began on the international day of elimination of violence against women on the 25th November. In preparation for this time, one could expect that media would be creating greater awareness of gender based violence and the social consequences thereof. However, the Daily Sun in their article on Monday 20 November 2006, page 3 not only does not address the issues, but seems to promote vigilantism. The story, entitled “THEY RAPED IN SA’S TOUGHEST TOWNSHIP … and they paid the price!”, prominently violates the rights of two separate parties.
Tweet
- Showering Coverage on Zuma: Coverage of the rape trial
-
November 25 will see the start of the International 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign. As the country focuses on issues of violence and abuse of children and both men and women, it is worth considering one of the most prominently reported rape cases; the trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and how issues of gender based violence raised by the case were represented in the media.
Tweet
- 16 Days Fact Sheet 2005
-
In the run-up to the 16 Days of no violence against women and children, we are have released last year’s 16 days media report. Along with the report, we would like to challenge to media to improve their impressive performance of last year.
The full 16 days report for 2005 has now been released.
Tweet
- Coretta Scott King and the media: Martin’s wife
-
In early February 2006, local newspapers carried news of the death of Coretta Scott King, the widow of American civil rights activist, Martin Luther King II. Most of the articles merely announced her death. Some papers, in particular, were unique for the angle they took in covering Scott King’s death. Only some media detaiedl Scott King’s life as an activist before she met Martin Luther King.
Tweet
Categories
Subscribe
Keep up to date with the latest MMA news and resources, delivered to your email inbox.
