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Gendered Dimensions of Media
This article presents the findings of a collaborative empirical inquiry on gender sensitivity and inclusivity within media organisations across print, broadcast and advertising. It is an attempt to understand gender policies within media organisations, map the distribution of gender across different levels and study the proactive measures taken by organisations to create a gender-sensitive working environment.
This study was initiated by Population First with support from the United Nations Population Fund and was conducted by a team of teachers and students of the Gender Issues Cell at K C College, Mumbai in 2017.
The authors would like to thank the team of faculty and students of the Gender Issues Cell at K C College. Faculty members Nandini Sengupta, Poulomi Ghosh and the three student research assistants Suraj Kamdar, Anangsha Pathak and Sejal deserve a special mention.
A free and impartial media is the sine qua non of a vibrant and healthy democracy. It plays an important role in not only formulating public opinion but also in becoming a voice of the disempowered and marginalised. In this post-globalised, neo-liberal era that we inhabit, consumerism rules our lives. The Global Media Monitoring Project 2015 reports unprecedented changes in media during two decades of media monitoring (Macharia 2015). The importance of the print newspaper is diminishing in some parts of the world as content crosses over into digital spaces. Newer platforms such as Twitter, blogs and social networking sites have risen as sources of news and consequently set new trends in the news media.
How have these changes affected media’s role as a watchdog of democracy? The corporatisation and commercialisation of media have evoked widespread concerns. There is more emphasis on entertainment media (celebrity and lifestyle journalism) than on serious, development issues. The entry of media managers, financiers and research analysts into the media has necessitated greater interaction between the editors and corporate managers than between reporters and editors. As Ammu Joseph (2005) writes, “Commercial interests override professional judgements.”
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