The women folks are reported to have suffered marginalisation in global COVID-19 pandemic news coverage, the Reuters Institute of Journalism has said. It said in its newsletter, Tuesday, that a recent survey carried out and published by International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) revealed that men were quoted three to five times than women. “A recently published report by the International Women’s Media Foundation, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, found women to be marginalised in news related to COVID-19,” it said. The report tagged; “Missing perspectives of women in COVID-19 news,” said they looked at publications in India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US. “In a sample of 2,100 quotes about COVID-19 in 80 publications, men were quoted three to five times more than women depending on the country. “In the 175 most highly ranked COVID-19 articles across the six countries 19% of featured experts were women compared to 77% who were men (4% were unidentified),” the report said. It further stated that a content analysis of nearly 45,000 stories found five times as many male protagonists in COVID-19 news stories than female ones, partly due to politics in the countries being dominated by men. “Less than 1% of news stories around COVID-19 focus on the gender inequality aspect of the pandemic; even in this minimal coverage, women are under-represented,” the report said. It recommended that news outlets reframe the pandemic to explore angles that are more inclusive of women such as unemployment and jobs, healthcare and poverty, local dimensions, and human interest stories |
COVID-19: Women suffer marginalisation on news coverage – Report
