Volume 39, No. 3, Summer 2011

Sexual Assaults on Journalists Garner More Attention

Rape has long been a tool of war, but it is receiving more attention as women speak out and journalists respond with more reporting on the subject – and now, tales of their own experiences as sexual assault victims.

The attack on CBS Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan in Cairo’s Tahrir Square pushed the subject of sexual assault on female journalists to the forefront. What seemed brave of Logan to some seemed risky to others, and a number of bloggers and opinion writers criticized her for her pursuit of the “Arab Spring” story. It was a classic case of blaming the victim, and that opened the mouths of a number of female journalists who said they’d not reported their own attacks for fear of being the targets of exactly the same kind of ugly criticism Logan received.

In a recent issue of More magazine, journalist Deborah Copaken Kogan recalls her own experiences on the job when men attempted to assault her. Some succeeded. In her book published in 2000, Shutterbabe, she talked about those episodes and the intense criticism she received for taking the risks that go with the job. It was so traumatic, she said, that when Logan received the same treatment, and friends urged Kogan to speak up in Logan’s defense, she couldn’t bring herself to do so, knowing she’d have to relive those horrible experiences all over again. So she hesitated because, as she wrote in the article for More, “Just as sexual assault is an abuse of power, so too is our apparently favorite national pastime: judging women.”

In June, the Committee to Protect Journalists produced “The Silencing Crime: Sexual Violence and Journalists,” a special report authored by CPJ Senior Editor Lauren Wolfe. CPJ interviewed more than four dozen journalists who had been victims, though few had ever reported the attacks. According to Wolfe, many of the assaults fall into three general types: targeted sexual violation of specific journalists, often in reprisal for their work; mob-related sexual violence against journalists covering public events; and sexual abuse of journalists in detention or captivity.

IFJ and WACC to Develop Learning Resource Kit for Gender-Ethical Journalism

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) have launched a project to promote fair gender portrayal within media houses and the journalistic profession.

The Learning Resource Kit for Gender-Ethical Journalism and Media House Policy aims to respond to the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)’s findings on the perpetuation of gender-imbalanced news coverage, gender stereotyping and women’s significant underrepresentation in the world news media. The 2010 GMMP in 108 countries found that women comprise only 24% of the people seen, heard or read about on television, radio and in print news despite the fact over half of the world’s population is female.

IFJ and WACC will develop a unique learning resource that brings together innovative approaches to gender-ethical journalism from different parts of the world. The resource is intended to encourage and support the adoption and implementation of comprehensive media house policies and practices from a gender equality perspective in news content. It will be available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

For more information, contact Terry Mutuku at MT@waccglobal.org, Pamela Morinière pamela.moriniere@ifj.org or Federica Caso at intern@ifj.org.

Now You See Her, Now You Don’t: Hasidic Newspaper Erases Hillary

As the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan took place in May, President Barack Obama gathered his national security team and closest advisers around him. At the table was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Also present was Counterterrorism Director Audrey Tomason. The White House released an official photo of the group, taken by Pete Souza, which was published around the world.

But in Di Tzeitung, an orthodox Jewish newspaper published in Yiddish and based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Clinton and Tomason were missing, removed from the photo in keeping with the newspaper’s policy of not publishing photographs of women for reasons of modesty as dictated by a rabbinical board.

The paper apologized, not for eliminating women, but for violating the White House’s stipulation that media accepting the photo for publication could not alter it in any way.

Coverage of Palin and Bachmann: Yearning for The Catfight

A lot of Republicans are running for their party’s presidential nomination at the moment. One declared candidate is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. An undeclared but possible candidate is Sarah Palin, John McCain’s vice presidential running mate in 2008. As coverage of the race ramped up, it seemed that often these two were being compared more often to one another than to other candidates on the stump, as if female politicians run harder against each other than their male competitors.

Research in Depth — Silencing Feminist Interventions in News: The Future of Selling Television by Dana Schowalter

Research in Depth — The Color Complex Revisited: Beauty Ideals, Fashion Magazine Ads and Marginalized Populations by Sydney Dillard

Commentary – ‘Thelma & Louise’ at 20 by MRTW Editor Sheila Gibbons

Plus News Briefs!

Media Report to Women has hard copies of back issues dating to its founding in 1972. Indispensable for research!