representations of women and children in the guyanese ...€¦ · representation of women’s and...

Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media 2008 - 2009

Paloma Mohamed, Ph.D

United Nations Children’s Fund72 Brickdam

StabroekGeorgetown

Ministry of Labour, Human Services, and Social SecurityNational Resource and Documentation Centre for Gender and Development1 Cornhill Street Georgetown

A publication of the National Resource and Documentation Centre of

the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and

Social Security in collaboration with UNICEF.

Author: Paloma Mohamed, Ph.D

Permission to reproduce any part of this

publication is required.

Georgetown, Guyana

December 2009

ISBN# 978-976-95064-4-2 (pbk)

Layout and design by

luCa Design, www.lucadesign.ca

Printed by: A1 PRINt SHoP

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AppreciAtion

I am deeply indebted to the following persons who assisted in the gargantuan task of digitizing two years of data from hard copies in a very short space of time: Denise Hopkinson, Esprene Liddell, Amada Methland, Roger Vyfhuis, Amanda Abraham, Tivia Collins, and Wadecia Donald.

The following other persons provided important logistical support and were patient in the knowledge that this type of work is most time consuming and cannot best be done under pressure for time: Mrs. Yvonne Stephenson, Ministry of Social Services and Mrs. Leslyn Thompson, UNICEF.

For collecting the data and sharing her 2006 report without hesitation, Ms. Karen Davis and her team which included the staff of the National Resource and Documentation Centre for Gender Development, Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. Tivia Collins, Karen Davis, Leslyn Thompson and Yvonne Stephenson also provided valuable feedback on the drafts which preceded this final report.

I always feel blessed that I am able to work in the service of women and children. To have this insight into the way in which the media in Guyana is functioning in this regard is a privilege which I have never taken lightly. In support of the work that I do my family and close friends have made tremendous personal sacrifices. Thank you Mom, Tony and Shabaka.

Finally, to my colleagues in the media whose work continues in often trying and unsung circumstances. I thank you for choosing this profession and for your willingness always to learn, reflect and grow in service of Guyana.

Paloma, December, 2009

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tAble of contents LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES ............................................................................................... i i i

ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................................................... iv

DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS........................................................................................................ iv

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... v

Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... v

SUMMARIZED FINDINGS ...............................................................................................................vi

Women and Television .....................................................................................................................vi

Print Media and Women ..................................................................................................................vi

Print Media and Children ................................................................................................................vi

Television and Children ..................................................................................................................vii

Summarized Analysis and Discussion ..........................................................................................vii

SUMMARY OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN GUYANA

COMPARED AGAINST UNICEF AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS .......................... ix

UNICEF Guidelines for the Ethical Reportage on Children ....................................................... ix

Coverage of Women: Beijing and CEDAW .................................................................................... x

SUMMARIZED RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................xii

A. Policy Issues ................................................................................................................................. xii

B. Future Research ..........................................................................................................................xiii

C. Training .......................................................................................................................................xiii

1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1

Theoretical Underpinnings of Media, Gender and Child Issues ..................................................... 2

Visibilities are Not Born Equal .............................................................................................................. 4

2. METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................................ 5

Category I: General Coverage of Women and Children in the Media in Guyana ........................ 5

Category II: Specific Portrayals of Women and Children ................................................................. 6

Category III: Specific Coverage of Women: Language and Prominence ........................................ 7

Category IV: Specific Coverage of Children including Placement .................................................. 8

3. FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................... 10

I. General Trends ................................................................................................................................... 10

Print Media........................................................................................................................................ 10

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Television .......................................................................................................................................... 12

II. Coverage Specific to Women .......................................................................................................... 13

III. Coverage Specific to Children ....................................................................................................... 15

Print .................................................................................................................................................... 15

Television .......................................................................................................................................... 20

4. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 21

MEDIA COVERAGE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN GUYANA COMPARED AGAINST

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ..................................................................................................... 26

Children: CRC, UNICEF’s Ethical Guidelines and Beijing Declaration ...................................... 26

Coverage of Women: CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration ...................................................... 31

Media Relevant Aspects of the “Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action” ..................... 34

5. THE WAY FORWARD .............................................................................................................. 41

A. Policy Issues ................................................................................................................................. 41

B. Future Research ........................................................................................................................... 43

C. Training ......................................................................................................................................... 44

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 45

APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................................... 48

APPENDIX 1 – Media Monitoring Instrument............................................................................ 48

APPENDIX 2 – Additional Tables ................................................................................................. 52

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lists of figures And tAbles

List of Figures

Figure 1: Composition for TV news stories coded in 2009...............................................................8Figure 2: Comparative Newspaper Coverage of Women and Children 2008 - 2009....................10Figure 3: Women Spokespersons on 4 TV Newscasts 2009...............................................................11Figure 4: Total Features on Children....................................................................................................15Figure 5: Placement of Children’s Photographs in the Press, 2008 and 2009.................................18

List of Tables

Table 1: Sample Composition for Print Media Stories Coded in 2008 and 2009............................8Table 2: Coverage of Women in the Print Media in Guyana - 2008 and 2009..............................9Table 3: Coverage of Women on Four TV Newscasts in Guyana, 2009.........................................11Table 4: Reportage on Women in the Print Media in Guyana 2008-2009: Images........................12Table 5: Composite Comparison on Reportage of Women in Print Media in Guyana 2008-2009: Language and Placement......................................................................................................................13Table 6: Comparison of Key Features of Coverage of Children in Print Media between 2008 and 2009...................................................................................................................................................14Table 7: Comparison of Portrayals of Children in Print Media, 2008 & 2009...............................15Table 8: Language and Images Used to Represent Children in Guyanese Print Media, 2008 and 2009...................................................................................................................................................16Table 9: Children on Selected Television Newscasts in Guyana, July-September 2009..............18

iv MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media

Acronyms

CCS – Centre for Communication StudiesCRC – Convention on the Rights of the ChildCEDAW – Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women UNDP – United Nation’s Development ProgrammeUSAID – United Stated Agency for International DevelopmentMoLHSSS – Ministry of Labor, Human Services and Social SecurityUNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund

definitions of Key terms

Editorial: An article in a publication expressing the opinion of its editors or publishers

Features: a special story, article, etc. in a newspaper or magazine, often prominently displayedFor the purposes of current media monitoring exercise, the following definitions are also incorporated under the category of features:

A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Columns are written by columnists. A column is distinguished from other forms by the following criteria: It is a regular feature in a publication; It is personality-driven by the author; and it explicitly contains an opinion or point of view; andAn op-ed: opinion piece written by a reader of a newspaper or magazine or other source on a topic relevant to the publication audience.

News story: An article reporting news

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executive summAry

In Guyana, women and children make up about 85% of the total population of the country1. Yet, women and children are consistently under-represented in almost every axis of power in social life in Guyana. Representation of women’s and children’s issues in the media are no exception.

Methodology

Between June 2007 and September 2009 the staff of the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, coded over 2,000 newspapers in Guyana. These were the Guyana Chronicle, the Stabroek News, the Kaieteur News and the Guyana Times which began publication in June 2008. Content of these papers were coded under three main themes:

1. General Coverage of Women and Children in the Media in Guyana2. Specific Images of Women 3. Specific Images of Children

Electronic media in the form of TV newscasts were also included in the data collection from July 2009. The newscasts which were included in the monitoring exercise were NCN, Capitol News, VCT Evening News and Prime News.

1 Source: IndexMundo – Guyana Demographics 2009. UNICEF Country Demographics. 2009. This figure is a composite of the number of women in the country (49.9% and the number of people under 18 (35%)).

vi MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media

summArized findings

Stories of Guyanese women and children together accounted for only 2.9% of all stories in the media for 2008 and 2009. Women’s issues were covered 5 times more than those of children in the press and 3.5 times more on the television newscasts surveyed.

The Guyana Times since its arrival in 2008 has consistently held the lead over all the other newspapers in coverage of women’s issues, with the Stabroek News and Chronicle coming second and third respectively.

Coverage of children in the year 2009 saw a 25.3% increase in the total number of stories. The number of Editorials based on children also increased significantly (28.8%) from 16 Editorials in 2008 to 29 in 2009.

Women and Television

Coverage of women’s issues was higher on television than in the press. Of the total number of news stories coded on four television stations over 3 months in 2009, 55.2% were stories which included women. No commentries included women but 53.6% of TV news stories contained women spokespersons.

Over the 3 month period VCT and NCN carried the most newscasts about women whereas Capitol News carried more women in newscasts as spokespersons. Over 1,000 advertisements coded during July to September 2009 on four television newscasts included women.

Print Media and Women

There is a noted rise in sensational news about women and the reporting of identifying information about women. Also significant is the rise in stories about women in leadership positions as well as placement of women’s stories on prominent pages such as the front, third, center and back pages of the newspapers.

Print Media and Children

In 2008 only 13 cases of children as victims of physical violence were reported. By 2009 that figure has risen by almost 60% to 192.3%. On the other hand the number of stories of children who were perpetrators of physical violence also rose in 2009 to 41, up from 18 in 2008. This was a 52% increase.

MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media vii

Newspaper reports of children as victims of rape rose by 100% in 2009, from just 3 reports in 2008 to 6 in 2009. The number of children as perpetrators of rape rose by 75%. There were 12 such reports in 2008 and 21 in 2009. This is also related to reports of children as victims of carnal knowledge which rose by 14% in 2009.

Positive stories including children also increased between 2008 and 2009. For instance: stories of children in leadership increased from 69 in 2008 to 119 in 2009. This was a 72% increase. Stories of successful children increased from 48 in 2008 to 86 in 2009, a percentage difference between the two years of 79%. Reports of children who made outstanding achievements in non-sports activities increased by 23.4% in 2009 and those of children with outstanding achievements in sports increased by 59% by September 2009.

About 6% of all stories written about children in the press between 2008 and 2009 used some form of identification. This would have included the child’s age (0.2%), gender (1.7%), group or school (1.0%), name (1.4%) and other forms of identification such as address (1.3%). In all instances figures rose between 2008 and 2009. It should be noted however, that the use of photographs of children in news stories has risen significantly between 2008 and 2009. The pervading portrayal of Guyanese children in the media in over the last two years would have been that of victim or victimizer.

In terms of individual media coverage Stabroek News and the Guyana Times have been the most consistent and have cumulatively carried the highest coverage on almost all categories of children coded. It must however be noted that Kaieteur News in the first quarter and to some extent in the second quarter of 2008 had published close to as many and sometimes more children centered stories than Stabroek or Chronicle.

Television and Children

There were no commentaries about children or by children on TV newscasts. Children as spokespersons in newscasts numbered 37 which is about 8% of the total number of women and children appearing in the newscasts under review. NCN and VCT carried the highest number of stories involving children. They also featured the highest number of children as spokespersons in news stories.

Summarized Analysis and Discussion

The data indicated a decline in the number of features while numbers rose in every other aspect of the categories coded. Features tended to follow commemorative events, holidays, special events and significant episodes such as the death of famous women, day marking Children’s Day; domestic violence episodes and so on. The data indicates that stories of women and children as both victims and perpetrators of violence and crime have also risen.

viii MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media

That these reports are appearing could indicate some concern for women and children. However, the sensational nature of most of the reportage creates a separate and perhaps unintended second effect. This type of reportage does three things:

1. It provides others with too much detail and graphic images of how crimes were perpetuated.

2. The fact that the victim’s pain and suffering is Chronicled so publicly does not take into consideration the rights of the victim, the well-being of the often young children and elderly parents or siblings and friends.

3. Most importantly, the lack of follow up on apprehension and punishment for perpetrators creates a fallacious perception that these things can be done to women and children and nothing happens as a consequence.

There is relative stability of the rate of reporting on women and children hovering around 3% in Guyana and the Caribbean. This can be interpreted as a structural production of the interaction between actual occurrences, media variables and institutional variables in any society. Compared with print, TV news generally carries more content about women (about 50% more) but carries about (75% less) coverage of children. In the case of children and young people below the ages of 18 we see less than 1% of them in the media. Children and young people are less than 1% producers of mainstream media2. Absence of child sensitive coverage and reporting does several things:

1. It alienates children. This robs society of a rich and important perspective from an important section of its population.

2. Some media coverage tends to objectify and victimize specific children. The effects of this are well documented in that it can create feelings of anxiety, insecurity and fear in other children who may be observing via reports.

Therefore, there has to be a strong, concentrated and swift response to this. Children friendly and youth centered programming is critical if we are to reach and maintain positive inter-relations with tomorrow’s adults. In this regard UNICEF’s lone Youth Media Project is an outstanding contributor to this much neglected area.

Another consideration for why women and children may not be proportionately represented in media coverage may be located in the editors’, owners’ and journalists’ definition of what is news and newsworthy, their orientation towards and knowledge of social issues, their

2 The distinction between main stream traditional media and New Media must be made since young people actually use and produce with new media often with an exceedingly egocentric focus.

MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media ix

access to information about these subjects and their personal conscientiousness. All of this is impinged upon by the structural realties of the country and the industry which has one of the highest turnover rates in Guyana. The data also indicates that the print media in particular use definitional terms especially with regard to children interchangeably and often erroneously e.g. child, juvenile, teenager, etc.

summAry of mediA coverAge of Women And children in guyAnA compAred AgAinst unicef And internAtionAl stAndArds

There are four important international standards against which media coverage of women and children in Guyana could be compared. The first is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the other is the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the third is UNICEF’s Guidelines for the Ethical Reporting on Children, and the fourth is the Beijing Platform for Action. What follows are the greatly summarized conclusions of comparisons between the observations of media practice in Guyana and those standards. Detailed discussion of each relevant article can be found in chapter 4 – Analysis and Discussion.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by most countries of the world including Guyana as the universal standard governing the treatment of children in 1989. The CRC carries 54 articles which provide children worldwide with certain rights and protections. Of the 54, 13 may be interpreted as informing the media’s response to children and their coverage. These are articles 3, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24, 31, 34, 36, 37, 39 and 40. A general assessment of media coverage of children and child specific issues in Guyana, based on comparison of the provisions of the CRC is that while there seems to be small progress made towards sensitive coverage there are still contraventions of important tenets of the CRC. The reasons for this and the possible solutions need to be further investigated and addressed.

unicef guidelines for the ethicAl reportAge on children

UNICEF’s guidelines are largely based on the CRC. Generally, a similar comment can be made about the coverage of children’s issues in the media when compared to UNICEF’s Ethical Guidelines as was made above for the CRC. A number of stories were published and broadcast in 2008 and 2009 which did not follow some of these guidelines. While this was not necessarily continuous or widespread, the presence of even one infraction of this kind indicates an uneven and non-standard approach to child centered coverage which ought to be addressed.

x MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media

These comments however, do not apply to the entire document. There were a number of provisions in these guidelines for which the required data could not be collected in a content analysis. Such questions as if the parents consented and both parents and child properly briefed as to the possible ramifications of appearing in the media, background control, choice of children and coercion should be a next step in the research process. This data should be collected directly from journalists and their subjects. In the absence of this no objective analysis can be made.

coverAge of Women: beijing And CEDAW

Of the 30 articles which provide for the rights and protection of women under the international Convention on the Elimination of all Forms and Discrimination Against Women, six bear direct relevance to their coverage in the media. These are articles 1, 2, 7, 5 13 and 14.

The premise upon which CEDAW was developed was that “...the full and complete development of a country, the welfare of the world and the cause of peace require the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fields.3“ CEDAW therefore recognizes the presence of extensive discrimination as obstacles to female participation in important aspects of social, economic and political life. It calls for equal participation and access, and for measures to be put in place by governments to ensure the rights of women are upheld.

It is interesting to note however, that CEDAW itself does not specifically acknowledge the role and responsibility of the media to address any of the conditions set out in the declaration. Though several of the articles may be interpreted broadly to include the media, the absence of an explicit call to the media is a serious omission which ought to be amended.

• Articles 7 and 13 specially address women’s equal right to full participation at all levels and in every sphere of life. Seven (c) assures women the right “…to participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.” If the voices and concerns of women are routinely excluded from coverage in the mass media then this helps to ensure that women do not participate fully and “equally at all levels and every sphere of public life”. As such a woman-centric agenda is not advanced and by logical extension the condition of women does not significantly advance either.

• Article 14 of CEDAW provides especially for the rights of rural women to full participation, inclusion and access to adequate living conditions including access to communications. This article is of critical importance. Urban bias in mass media coverage is a widespread concern. The best probability for a rural community of getting into

3 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

MEDIA TRENDS Representations of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media xi

mainstream media coverage is if there was a terrible crime, tragedy or crisis there. When it is considered that only about 28%4 of Guyana’s population lives in urban areas the imbalance of rural-urban representation becomes even starker5.

Since CEDAW established the importance of all women, everywhere in the country to full participation and equal rights, if the vast majority of women in rural areas are left out of media coverage and are not represented in media at all, then this should be seen as a serious infringement of the rights of women and an impediment to national development.

It is instructive to note that Guyana at the Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing made a commitment to pursue the objectives of the Platform for Action. Part J of the Beijing Platform for Action strategic objectives and actions identified several issues with portrayal of women in the media. Two over arching strategic objectives were projected in order to address these issues. Several actions were deemed necessary for these objectives to be met. The actions most relevant to this study are discussed in some detail in chapter 4.

In general coverage of women and children in the Guyanese media when compared against United Nations international conventions and guidelines for the protection of women’s and children’s rights can be assessed as fair. While there are disparities in coverage among the media themselves with most of the few infractions coming from the print media, there are also intra-group disparities along age, class, and geographical lines. There is therefore room for improvement in the way women and children are covered in the Guyanese media.

4 Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/guyana/demographics_profile.html. March, 2010.5 According to “ A POVERTY MAP FOR GUYANA: BASED ON THE 2002 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS by Emmanuel Skoufias of the World Bank (September 26, 2005) “…Regions of Guyana can be classified into four groups: the bottom or very poor group (Regions 1, 8, and 9), the lower middle or poor group (Regions 2 and 7), the upper middle (or less poor) group (Regions 3 and 5) and the wealthier group (Regions 4, 6, 10 and Georgetown). Georgetown is by far the wealthier region.”

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summArized recommendAtions

Recommendations for addressing the foregoing fall into 3 categories: Policy, Research and Training.

A. policy issues

1. A Media Code of Conduct based on the principles of the CRC and the UNICEF guidelines for Ethical Journalism on the Reporting of Children should be developed.

2. Neither the CRC nor the CEDAW explicitly provide for equal access and participation of women and children in the media. It is therefore recommended that some amendments be made to these conventions which make these conditions explicit.

3. Establishment of awards and incentives for outstanding coverage of women’s and children’s issues in the Guyanese media. These awards should also recognize coverage of rural issues and the disabled.

4. Provision of support for women run media outlets.

5. It is also important at the level of policy that results from any indicative research done on the performance of the media include a dissemination plan through which this work can be transformed into self-knowledge for the media’s internal development.

6. Institutionally, key agencies responsible for the development and protection of women and children in Guyana ought to be in the vanguard of helping to produce and direct content that is woman sensitive, non-stereotypical and diverse. This can only be done if they in the first instance have trained journalists assigned to these tasks within their organizations who can feed this into the media. Where this is not possible key agencies should work hard toward cultivating journalists and media owners and editors who will develop specialized knowledge of women’s and children’s issues. 7. Every effort should be made in any Media Legislation or Code to include provisions to support child and woman centered programming in all media.

8. Since both the CRC and UNICEF Guidelines make explicit provisions for the protection of children from inappropriate programming --- programme rating and scheduling policies ensuring this should be developed and implemented. A mechanism for monitoring and enforcement should also be put in place.



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1 MEDIA TRENDS Representation of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media

1. introduction

In Guyana, women and children make up about 85% of the total population of the country6. Yet, women and children are consistently under-represented in almost every axis of power in social life in Guyana. Representation of women’s and children’s issues in the media are no exception.

Though worrisome and in need of re-dress, the way women and children are represented in the media in Guyana is not surprising. While the media do not actively create the conditions under which women and children live, they tend to reflect the existing in-equalities in any society. If they are insensitive to their role in redressing such social problems, then the media will wittingly and unwittingly play a pivotal role in re-enforcing them. Therefore, the media’s ability to set agendas, define spaces and relationships as well as to reflect and help construct social reality is significant. As much systematic empirical work as can be provided on the performance of the media on key indicators is of critical importance. It is important for several reasons:

1) Media practitioners upon whose shoulders rest so much responsibility often exist in a bit-to-bit mode. That is, they often write stories in response to things that happen as they happen and often lack the perspective and time to reflect on the sum total of their own work. This reflection is lacking especially in Guyana both at the personal and organizational levels most often because the industry does not have the requisite tools with which to perform this introspection. Therefore, media need to be given fair and accurate reports on their own performance so that this perspective is able to inform their future actions;

2) Policy makers need the information to assess so far how policies or strategies put in place have met the objectives defined. They need to know if more needs to be done and what adjustments need to be made to instruments, mechanisms and polices already developed in order to obtain better results. Relevant, timely data are the lifeblood of objectively driven agendas such as these ;

3) Educators and researchers need data in order to keep their offerings up to date and to properly locate social issues in the local context for their students. Well informed students will inevitably go back to the society with a deeper and more informed understanding of how their society is constructed. They will have better ideas about how to solve problems because the variables have been properly demonstrated in the data.Researchers and scholars also need data to build upon in their scholarly analysis of the societies in which they live in order to describe them and to proffer solutions;

6 Source: IndexMundo – Guyana Demographics 2009. UNICEF Country Demographics. 2009. This figure is a composite of the number of women in the country (49.9% and the number of people under 18 (35%)).



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MEDIA TRENDS Representation of Women and Children in the Guyanese Media 2

4) The general public, civil society, FBO and NGO bodies need to have information on the media’s portrayal of the most vulnerable groups in society because these groups are often their main clients. This information aids in their understanding of the phenomena they exist to alleviate. Additionally, if a change in the way the media sees society and reports upon it can be made interests of these groups may be better served for the good of their clients.

Finally, the general public needs to understand the net effect of media reporting upon their lives. This understanding should lead to some activism on their part for more and balanced representation in the media and inevitably to better access to goods, services and opportunities.

The fundamental point is simple: socially responsible societies need reliable feedback on how the strongest and the most vulnerable citizens are treated, represented and catered for if these societies are to progress.

theoreticAl underpinnings of mediA, gender And child issues

The emerging literature on this topic speaks to the concept of “voice”. Voice in this context is “a means or agency by which something is expressed or communicated; something suggestive of speech in being a medium of expression.”7 This definition immediately points to the importance of voice as a means of agency by which “…inclusion and participation in social, political and economic processes, meaning making, autonomy and expression can be achieved.”

The lack of this agency leads to;

“…a denial of access to modes of expression and more generally to freedom of expression; it can be the lack of the opportunity and agency to promote self-expression and advocacy; the lack of access to technologies and platforms for distribution of a range of different voices; and it can be related to the lack of opportunities to participate in the design and implementation of development interventions themselves…” 8

“Voicing of needs is now seen as fundamental to most processes of human development (Chambers, 19959 ; deHaan, 199910 ; Gardner & Lewis, 199611).”

7 wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn8 Tacchi, Jo (2006) Information, Communication, Poverty and Voice. In Proceedings Mapping the New Field of Communication for Development and Social Change, University of Queensland. Accessed from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/000013149 Chambers, R. (1995). Poverty and Livelihoods: Whose reality counts?: University of Sussex.10 deHaan, A. (1999). Social Exclusion: towards an holistic understanding of deprivation. London: DFID. 11 Gardner, K. and Lewis, D. Anthropology, Development and Post Modern Challenge. London. Pluto Press. 1996.



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Further, recent scholarly work on this area which is focused on the Caribbean (Deosarran 2006; Mohamed 2007; Mohamed 2008; and Mohamed 2009) address the role which representation plays in development. Mohamed, in Voice, Sustainable Development and Change (2006) and Communication, Power and Change in the Caribbean (2009) notes;

“…there is a lack of female specific issues reflected in the public discourse in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Women related issues account for less than 3% of the sample which is much less than 1% in the total newspaper coverage. Lack of women’s voices and issues indicates low appreciation for their issues with negative implications for social inclusion and need fulfillment…”

It is a feature of hegemonic societies that the views of the majority and most needy are reflected the least in the public domain. Dennis A. V. Brown calls this a “disconnect between policy and conditions on the ground” which functions to reflect and reinforce existing conditions, in this case the low socio economic status of women.

These are all questions to be examined in trying to explain why there is male dominance in communicative power in both Guyana and Trinidad despite vast differences in the social, economic and political situations in both countries and despite the fact that females are numerically dominant in both countries. In fact in both Guyana and Trinidad males outnumber the females producing texts 3:1.

Again this finding offers no ready answer but rather raises some questions to be further investigated. Is there some inherent reticence in the female population about publicly voicing their issues in the media? Is this finding linked to female poverty or illiteracy? Is it linked to some major difference in the life worlds of men and women where for instance women may have less spare time in which to write or even read the paper or participate in public discourse? Or is it that they abdicate this responsibility to their men?

Stuart Hall adds his voice to that of Stephen Gillatt’s in a plausible explanation. Hall (1980; 2002) points out that power relations are expressed in terms of who inhabits the public. But Gilliatt notes that the personal is more important to people low in socio economic status; the “…price of coping is indifference to those constraints not connected with immediate survival or which seem incapable of change...” These differences indicated by the different articulations of change by various groups and the ways in which various media articulate oppositional views like reggae and calypso supports the view put forward by Gilliatt that it “does not follow that the subordinate class economic status are conditioned by hegemonic ideas or ideology just because they are subject to it”

Male dominance is linked to historical differentiation of roles, socio economic status, and historical banishment of women to domains of home and “domesti-culture”



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which usually engenders alienation from the social whole, exploitation, silence and marginalization. There is a sense that the public is the domain of the male and the private of the female.

visibilities Are not born equAl

If visibility and access to public representation means access to resources, opportunity and attention then from the preceding discussion who will get what they need and who is unlikely to becomes apparent. Women and children with least public visibility are less likely to get what they need.

There is also however another aspect to the question of visibility: its quality. Visibilities are not born equal. Negative visibility which repeatedly casts persons as victims is not the same as visibility which describes and reports on challenges, achievements and life stories in a sensitive manner.

The following report of trends in media coverage of women and children in Guyana will also indicate deficiencies in the frequency, manner and content of coverage in the country when it comes to the way in which women and children are reported upon. We must be careful not to re-victimize victims and their families in our coverage, not to textually abuse those persons especially children whom we cover and to take enough time to be well informed about background, context and solutions so as to be better servants to our societies.

We must understand that a report on media trends is not a call to action for media operatives alone. The media seldom create the conditions upon which they report. Media operatives are not creatures who deliberately set out to cause ruin and pain. After all they are often part of these societies as individuals playing roles other than as media operatives. A report such as this is a call for all parts of society to sit up, take notice and act responsibly, sensitively and adequately.

This report has 5 chapters: an introduction in which I try to underscore the importance of such exercises as the one credibly carried out by UNICEF through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and coordinated by Karen Davis. In this chapter I also try to locate this work in the global context of the literature especially in emergent work on Caribbean trends; the second chapter outlines the methodology used in collecting and analyzing the data presented in this report. Chapter 2 also contains information on the sample and key areas covered in the analysis. Chapter 3 focuses on the key findings of the study and sets out simple descriptive statistics on each of the key points investigated; in chapter 4 the meaning of the observations is discussed against local, global trends and against the backdrop of United Nations provisions and guidelines especially as they relate to women and children. Chapter 5 charts the way forward based on the findings and conclusions derived from the data. The study also contains a healthy reference section and set of appendices which follow the conclusion.



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2. methodology

This report presents an analysis of data collected by Karen Davis and her team which included the staff of the National Resource and Documentation Centre for Gender Development, Ministry of Human Services and Social Security between January 2008 and September 2009. This project called the UNICEF Media Monitoring Project was conducted by the Ministry of Human Services and was funded by UNICEF. Karen Davis and her team analyzed the content of the four newspapers in Guyana. These were the Guyana Chronicle, the Stabroek News, the Kaieteur News and the Guyana Times which only appeared in June 2008. In total, over 2,000 newspapers were analyzed in the period and coded under three main themes:

1. General Coverage of Women and Children in the Media in Guyana2. Specific Images of Women 3. Specific Images of Children

In total there were 109 coding categories for the newspaper content analysis. The coding frame for each of these categories was as follows:

cAtegory i: generAl coverAge of Women And children in the mediA in guyAnA

Total number of news storiesTotal number of featuresTotal number of news stories featuring womenTotal number of news stories featuring childrenTotal number of news features featuring womenTotal number of news features featuring childrenTotal number of editorials featuring womenTotal number of editorials featuring children



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cAtegory ii: specific portrAyAls of Women And children

Victims of physical violence (Children only)Perpetrators of physical violenceVictims of rapePerpetrators of rapeVictims of carnal knowledgeVictims of crimePerpetrators of crimeVictims of robberyPerpetrators of robberyDrug possession Trafficking in persons - victim(s)Trafficking in persons - perpetrator(s)Leadership positionsSuccessfulOutstanding achievements (non-sports)Outstanding in sportsOther images



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cAtegory iii: specific coverAge of Women: lAnguAge And prominence

Language used to describe women-within news stories

DerogatoryComplimentaryPatronizingSensationalNeutralOther

Identification of women AgeGroup/ SchoolNameOther

Placement of images of women in stories / features

Page 1 Page 3Page 5Center Pages Back PagesOther

Placement of images of women in photo-graphs




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cAtegory iv: specific coverAge of children including plAcement

Language used to describe children-within news stories

DerogatoryComplimentaryPatronizingSensationalNeutralOther

Identification of children AgeGenderGroup/ SchoolNameOther

Placement of images of children in stories / features


Placement of images of children in photo-graphs


Electronic media in the form of TV newscasts were also included in the data collection since July 2009. However, not all possible TV newscasts have been included and other TV programming has not yet been included. Radio is also not included in the study. The newscasts which were included in the Monitoring Exercise were NCN, Capitol News, VCT Evening News and Prime News.

Coders hand coded the variables onto hardcopy coding sheets for each day of each month. These data were tallied and three trend reports covering four months a year were produced. This final report utilizes the raw data from the coding sheets as well as that of the trend reports. Raw data was digitized and summary and descriptive statistics were produced using Excel and SPSS data analysis programmes. Additionally, comparisons with trends in 2006 are sometimes made from a report produced by Karen Davis for UNICEF in 200612.

12 Davis, K. Survey of Media Trends in Guyana. September, 2006



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Table 1 below indicates the number of stories coded in 2008 and 2009. The total number of news stories analyzed over the two year period was 95,587 while the total number of features was 25,916. Generally the data indicates a 7.1% increase in news stories about women and children in 2009 and a 1.7% decrease in features from 2008 to 2009.

tAble 1: sAmple composition for print mediA stories coded in 2008 And 2009Total Stories 2008 2009News 44,375 51,212Features 13,183 12,733

Figure 1: Composition for TV news stories coded in 2009

Figure 1 above indicates that between the months of July to September 2009 a total of 791 stories from 4 television newscasts were coded. The distribution of the stories coded per newscast varied since the newscasts vary in length. The number of stories per newscast is also dependent upon the average length per story which can vary considerably. The highest number of news stories coded were from NCN (269) followed by VCT News with 202 and Prime News with 197. The lowest number of stories coded was for Capitol News (123)13.

From this general overview of the methods used and the composition of the sample, we now move to the detailed description of the findings derived from the data collected by the methods outlined before.

13 No conclusion between the size of newscast in terms of the number of stories should be drawn prematurely from this data since other factors directly related to the quality of the newscasts need to be assessed. For instance longer stories may indicate more in-depth or contextual reporting which can be a good standard.



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3. findings

This chapter will focus on a detailed description of the key findings of data collected during the media monitoring exercise for the period January 2008 to September 2009. Occasionally where it is pertinent and possible we will include data from a previous study done in 2006 for longitudinal comparison. This section is organized in three sections for ease of reference. These sections are (I) General Trends, (II) Coverage of Women, and (III) Coverage of Children

i. generAl trends

print mediA

Comparison of data for print media between 2008 and 2009 indicates variable movement in coverage of women’s and children’s issues. The general trend is variable—with some significant gains and some important losses. 2009 has seen significant decreases in coverage of women in both news and features. In 2008, 5.6% of the total news stories were on women. In 2009 the figure was only 3.7%. This indicates a 21% decrease. In 2008, 2.8% of the features produced by the print media in Guyana were on women. In 2009 this figure decreased to 2%. This represents a 17% decrease. On the upside while there were no editorials in 2008 about women in 2009, 1.9% of the editorials were about women, this is an increase of 100%14. Table 2 below illustrates this information

Table 2: Coverage of Women in the Print Media in Guyana - 2008 and 2009

2008 2009Total number of news stories featuring women

5.69% 3.70%

Total number of news features featuring women

2.82% 2.00%

Total number of editorials fea-turing women

0 1.90%

In terms of individual newspaper performance for 2008 and 2009 the only consistent player was the Stabroek News which was recorded as having either the highest or second highest representations of women and women’s issues among the papers coded. Kaieteur News took the lead momentarily for the first quarter in 2008 but has since declined in its representations. The Guyana Times, since its arrival in 2009 has consistently held the lead over all the other newspapers in coverage of women’s issues with the Stabroek News and Chronicle coming second and third respectively. Figure 2 overleaf and Table A2-1 in the appendices records this performance.

14 This is not to be prematurely hailed as a completely good sign as it is indicated that many of these editorials were on violence against women. However a few were on the passing of Guyana’s first female President Janet Jagan.



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SN-1/08 KN-1/08 CN-1/087,405 7,017 7,740SN-2/08 KN-2/08 CN-2/087,227 12,306 2,5422,223 1,956 743SN-1/09 KN-1/09 CN-1/09 GT-1/09935 1,377 5,381 6,185259 468 1,577 1,244

SN – Stabroek NewsKN – Kaieteur NewsCN – Capitol NewsGT – Guyana Times

Figure 2: Comparative Newspaper Coverage of Women and Children 2008 - 2009

Coverage of children in the year 2009 saw a 25.3% increase in the total number of stories. In 2008, twenty thousand three hundred and eighty three stories were covered compared to thirty four thousand two hundred and sixty one in 2009.

The total number of news stories of Guyanese children increased to 1,529 in 2009 from 1,007 in 2008. This represents a 20.5% increase. In terms of features about Guyanese children there was also a significant increase from 169 features in 2008 to 313 in 2009. This was up by 29.8%. The number of Editorials based on children also increased significantly (28.8%) from 16 Editorials in 2008 to 29 in 2009.



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television

When compared to the number of stories about women and children in 2009 in the print media representations of women in TV news was much higher. Of the total number of news stories coded on four television stations over 3 months in 2009, 55.2% were stories which included women. No commentries included women but 53.6% of TV news stories contained women spokespersons. Over 1,000 advertisements coded during July to September 2009 on four Television newscasts included women. Over the 3 month period VCT and NCN carried the most newscasts about women whereas Capitol News carried more women in newscasts as spokespersons. Table 3 and Figure 3 below illustrate these findings.

Table 3: Coverage of Women on Four TV Newscasts in Guyana, 2009

NCN Prime News

VCT Evening News

Capitol News

Total %

Jul 31 41 37 19 128 29.3Aug 38 32 52 15 137 31.4Sept 46 34 69 23 172 39.4

Figure 3: Women spokespersons on 4 TV newscasts 2009

For children the numbers of news stories and children cited as spokespersons is far less than those of women. News stories including and about children made up 20% of newscasts between July and September 2009. The general trends in television and print representations of women and children in Guyana indicate stark disparities between and among social groups. Woman and children make up about 85%15 of Guyana’s population yet their voices are disproportionately underrepresented in the national media. Table A2-1 (appendices) indicates that stories of Guyanese women and children together account for only 2.9% of all stories in the media for 2008 and 2009. This figure is close to that recorded in an independent study conducted for newspapers between 2000-200616. There are also disparities between the underrepresented groups. Women’s issues were covered 5 times more than those of children in the press and 3.5 times more on the television newscasts surveyed.

15 Note that this figure also includes boys and girls under 18 in addition to women.16 Mohamed, P. Communication, Power and Change in the Caribbean. Hansib. 2009.



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ii. coverAge specific to Women

Interestingly, though the overall coverage in terms of total news stories and features of women in the print media was down in 2009 coverage of women in almost every category coded showed significant increases from 2008 to 2009. Of 42 categories coded 40 showed increases in 2009. In the two categories which did not increase the levels remained the same for both years. These were women as perpetrators of rape and women being referred to in what was considered derogatory terms by the coders17.

Table 4 overleaf maps the way in which images of women appeared in the print media in Guyana in 2008 and 2009. While it is not necessary or expedient to rehash the information presented in Table 4, a few critical flashpoints are to be noted. For instance, the rise in women as subjects of derision: women as subjects of cartoons have risen by 42%. Women as both victims and perpetrators of violence have also risen by 23% and 53% respectively. Reports of women as victims of crime and being involved in criminal activity have also risen by 17% and 32% respectively.

17 It would be useful to see the framework for such definitions used by coders.



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Table 4: Reportage on Women in the Print Media in Guyana 2008-2009: Images

Category 2008 2009 Total N- Diff % -DiffPhotographs featuring 26 43 69 17 24.6Advertisements featuring

367 453 820 86 10.5

Cartoons featuring 57 140 197 83 42.1Victims of physical violence

20 32 52 12 23.1

Perpetrators of physical violence

4 13 17 9 52.9

Victims of rape 13 29 42 16 38.1Perpetrators of rape 4 4 8 0 0Victims of carnal knowledge

13 20 33 7 21.2

Victims of crime 37 52 89 15 16.9Perpetrators of crime 14 27 41 13 31.7Victims of robbery 4 18 22 14 63.6Perpetrators of robbery 12 16 28 4 14.3Drug possession 6 6 6 100Trafficking in persons - victim(s)

0 0 0

Trafficking in persons - perpetrator(s)

0 0 0

In Table 5 overleaf, the language used in the media to describe women was coded in several categories. This is a variable mapping since there are both hopeful and worrisome indications inherent in this data. There is also a noted rise in sensational news about women and the reporting of identifying information about women. Also significant is the rise in stories about women in leadership positions as well as placement of women’s stories on prominent pages such as the front, third, center and back pages of the newspapers.



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Table 5: Composite Comparison on Reportage of Women in Print Media in Guyana 2008-2009: Language and Placement

Category 2008 2009 Total N - Diff % -DiffLanguage used to describe women-within news stories

Complimentary 0 0Patronizing 3 5 8 2 25Sensational 348 549 897 201 22.4Neutral 13 27 40 14 35Other 283 379 662 96 14.5

Identification of women Age 136 172 308 36 11.7Group/ School 803 1,095 1,898 292 15.4Name 128 207 335 79 23.6Other 48 111 159 63 39.6


Page 1 85 139 224 54 24.1Page 3 42 64 106 22 20.8Page 5 107 153 260 46 17.7Center Pages 100 157 257 57 22.2Back Pages 1,400 2,239 3,639 839 23.1Other 120 166 286 46 16.1

Placement of images of women in photographs

Page 1 43 169 212 126 59.4Page 3 19 31 50 12 24Page 5 77 98 175 21 12Center Pages 99 130 229 31 13.5Back Pages 1,248 2,102 3,350 854 25.5

1 1 1 100

iii. coverAge specific to children

print

The year 2009 saw a 25.3% increase in the total number of stories covering children. In 2008, twenty thousand three hundred and eighty three stories were covered compared to thirty four thousand two hundred and sixty one in 2009.

The total number of news stories of Guyanese children increased to 1,529 in 2009 from 1,007 in 2008. This represents a 20.5% increase. In terms of features about Guyanese children there was also a significant increase from 169 features in 2008 to 313 in 2009. This was up by 29.8%. The number of Editorials based on children also increased significantly (28.8%) from 16 Editorials in 2008 to 29 in 2009. Table 6 below Chronicles these findings. This table also indicates that the number of columns dedicated to issues involving children rose in 2009. In 2008, 35 columns



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were dedicated to children’s issues but by 2009 this figure had increased by 32.6% to 69 column inches. Letters published about children’s issues also increased by 33.7% rising from 60 in 2008 to 121 in 2009.

Table 6: Comparison of Key Features of Coverage of Children in Print Media between 2008 and 2009

Category Total 08 Total 09 Grand Total % Total N-Diff % DiffTotal Stories 20,383 34,261 54,644 100 -13,878 25.4Total News Stories 2,020 2,837 4,857 8.9 -817.2 16.8Total Features 282 526.3 808.3 1.5 -244.3 30.2Total News Stories 1,007 1,529 2,536 4.6 -522 20.6Total News Features 169 313 482 0.9 -144 29.9Editorials 16 29 45 0.1 -13 28.9Total Number of Columns 35 69 104 0.2 -34 32.7Total Number of Letters 60 121 181 0.3 -61 33.7Subjects of Features 61 202 263 0.5 -141 53.6Subjects of Editorials 15 32 47 0.1 -17 36.2

There was also a stark increase (54%) of children as subjects of features in 2009. The number of features with children as subjects rose from 61 in 2008 to 203 in 2009. Children as subjects of editorials rose also from 15 in 2008 to 32 in 2009. This was a 36% increase. There was also a 16% increase in the number of photographs of children used in the newspapers and a 40% increase in use of children in advertising in 2009 as against 2008.

Figure 4: Total Features on Children



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Table 7: Comparison of Portrayals of Children in Print Media, 2008 & 2009

Category Total 08

Total 09

Grand Total

% Total N-Diff % Diff

Victims of physical violence 13 38 51 0.1 -25 49.0Perpetrators of physical violence 18 41 59 0.1 -23 39.0Victims of rape 3 6 9 0.0 -3 33.3Perpetrators of rape 12 21 33 0.1 -9 27.3Victims of carnal knowledge 111 148 259 0.5 -37 14.3Victims of crime 46 98 144 0.3 -52 36.1Perpetrators of crime 33 70 103 0.2 -37 35.9Victims of robbery 9 22 31 0.1 -13 41.9Perpetrators of robbery 8 35 43 0.1 -27 62.8Drug possession 2 11 13 0.0 -9 69.2Trafficking in persons - victims 2 2 0.0 -2 100Trafficking in persons - perpetrators 0 0 0 0 0 0Leadership 69 119 188 0.3 -50 26.6Successful 48 86 134 0.2 -38 28.4Outstanding achievements (non-sports)

93 150 243 0.4 -57 23.5

Outstanding achievements (sports) 13 50 63 0.1 -37 58.7Other images 1 1 1 0.0 0 0

Table 7 above, indicates as in the corresponding categories of coverage of Guyanese women a stark increase in the number of children reported either as victims of perpetrators or physical violence. In 2008 only 13 cases of children as victims of physical violence were reported, by 2009 that figure has risen by almost 60% to 38. On the other hand the number of stories of children who were perpetrators of physical violence also rose in 2009 to 41, up from 18 in 2008. This was a 52% increase.

Newspaper reports of children as victims of rape rose by 50% in 2009 from just 3 reports in 2008 to 6 in 2009. The number of children as perpetrators of rape rose by 47%. There were 12 such reports in 2008 and 21 in 2009. This is also related to reports of children as victims of carnal knowledge which rose by 14% in 2009.

Reports of children both as victims and perpetrators of crime rose in 2009. Stories in print about children as victims of crime climbed by 46%, from 46 in 2008 to 98 in 2009. There were 70 stories of children as perpetrators of crime in 2009 as against a much lower figure 33 in 2008. On all counts as victims and perpetrators of robbery, drug possession and as victims of human trafficking the numbers of stories about children increased significantly between 2008 and 2009.



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Positive stories including children also increased between 2008 and 2009. However, these increases when compared to those of negative stories appeared more modest. For instance: stories of children in leadership increased from 69 in 2008 to 119 in 2009. This was a 47% increase. Stories of successful children increased from 48 in 2008 to 86 in 2009 a percentage difference between the two years of 38.3%. Reports of children who made outstanding achievements in non-sports activities increased by 23.4% in 2009 and those of children with outstanding achievements in sports increased by 59% by September 2009.

However, based on the data presented in Tables 6 and 7, the pervading portrayal of Guyanese children in the media over the last two years would have been that of child as victim or victimizer. In Table 8 below, data coded on the way language and photographic images were used in the representation of children in the Guyanese press in 2008 and 2009 are presented.

Table 8: Language and Images Used to Represent Children in Guyanese Print Media, 2008 and 2009

Category 2008 2009 Total % TotalLanguage used to describe children-within news stories

Derogatory 29 33 62 0.0Complimentary 1 1 0Patronizing 3 3 6 0.0Sensational 328 491 819 0.0Neutral 16 54 70 0.2Other 469 571 1,040 1.0

Identification of children Age 123 148 271 0.3Gender 352 432 784 1.7Group/ School 363 453 816 0.7Name 139 284 423 1.4Other 26 67 93 1.4


Page 1 36 55 91 0.3Page 3 21 24 45 0.1Page 5 80 97 177 0.1Center Pages 217 267 484 0.1Back Pages 1,264 2,035 3,299 0.3Other 48 93 141 1.2

Placement of images of children in photographs

Page 1 16 108 124 5.5Page 3 6 7 13 0.9Page 5 51 55 106 0.1Center Pages 180 211 391 0.0Back Pages 907 1,544 2,451 0.1Other 0 0.4



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Coders indicated that they thought just under 1% of all stories coded were derogatory in nature18. A small increase in numbers of these stories which appeared in 2009 (33) was recorded when compared with 29 in 2008. In both 2008 and 2009 only 1 story in each year which was complimentary to children was recorded19. Less than 1% of the stories coded in 2008 and 2009 were deemed to be sensational though there was a rise in sensational stories which included children in 2009. These stories rose from 328 in 2008 to 491 in 2009.

On the upside the number of neutral stories in 2009 increased to 54 from 16 in 2008. This represents a 64% increase in balanced stories appearing about children in the Guyanese press. About 6% of all stories written about children in the press between 2008 and 2009 used some form of identification. This would have included the child’s age (0.2%), gender (1.7%), Group or school (1%), name (1.4%) and other forms of identification such as address (1.3%). In all instances figures rose between 2008 and 2009.

Images of children on prominent pages of newspapers in Guyana are not common (Figure 5). However, though children’s stories may have seldom been carried on the front pages, of all the photos of children carried in the newspapers in 2008 and 2009, just under 6% of them appeared on the front pages (5.4%). One percent appeared on the prominent page 3 and less than one percent of children’s photos appeared in any other prominent pages in the newspapers in 2008 and 2009. It should be noted however, that the use of photographs of children in news stories has risen significantly between 2008 and 2009. Stories on page 1 rose from 16 to 108 in 2009. Those on page 3 from 7 to 13, on page 5 from 51 to 55, in the center pages from 180 to 211 and the back pages from 907 to 1,544.

Figure 5: Placement of children’s photographs in the Press, 2008 and 2009

18 Again as with this categorization of women discussed before there is an absence of a definitional and methodological frame within which an independent analyst can verify this subjective categorization. As such this particular statistic should be reported cautiously.19 Same note as above.



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television

News stories including children and about children make up 20% of news casts. This was indicated in the three month period from July to September 2009 in which 4 television newscasts in Guyana were monitored. There were no commentaries about children or by children on TV newscasts. Children and spokespersons in newscasts numbered 37 which is about 8% of the total number of women and children appearing in the newscasts under review. The number of children appearing in advertisements in this period was 133 as compared with 1,034 which included women20. Table 9 below, outlines the coverage received by women and children on the four newscasts during July to September, 2009.

Table 9: Children on Selected Television Newscasts in Guyana, July-September 2009 NCN Prime

NewsVCT Evening News

Capitol News

Total # of News Stories 269 197 202 123July Total # ads Featuring 24 9 9 2

Total # ads Featuring 15 12 0 45Spokespersons in newscasts 4 1 6 0Total # of Commentaries Featuring 0 0 0 0

Aug Total # of News Stories Featuring 3 13 23 5Total # ads Featuring 24 2 3 3Spokespersons in newscasts 4 1 4 0Total # of Commentaries Featuring 0 0 0 0

Sept Total # of News Stories Featuring 31 7 17 8Total # ads Featuring 21 4 0 4Spokespersons in newscasts 4 0 11 2

0 0 0 0

In terms of individual media coverage Stabroek News and the Guyana Times have been the most consistent and have cumulatively carried the highest coverage on almost all categories of children coded. It must however be noted that Kaieteur News in the first quarter and to some extent in the second quarter of 2008 had published close to as many and sometimes more children centered stories than Stabroek or Chronicle. Tables 11-13 in the appendices define this trend. For television newscasts as Table 9 above indicates, NCN and VCT carried the highest number of stories involving children. They also featured the highest number of children as spokespersons in news stories.

20 Data was not collected on how many of the advertisements included both women and children together and in what contexts.



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4. AnAlysis And discussion

The foregoing data from 2008 and 2009 describing the trends in media coverage of women and children in Guyana raise a few important issues which are worthy of some attention. The first is the seeming incompatible decline in the number of features while the numbers rose in every other category coded. There were 40 areas in which there were increases in 2009 (see Appendix 2 Tables 11-13). What could possibly explain this? The answer to this is not definitive but there are several possibilities.

The first which seems the most plausible is that there were longer stories and features which included multiple categories of the items coded. So that while the number of features may have declined the data indicates that the average length increased from 63 in 2008 to 104 in 2009. This shows that the next effect was in fact a rise in the visibility of issues relating to women and children in 2009. This is evident in both the increased number of words per story as well as primacy ---placement and use of photos and images. However, this did not necessarily translate into the positive contextualization of feminine and minor’s issues. In fact, the data reveals that more negative stories about women and children found their way into the news in 2009 than 2006 or 2008. Therefore what is happening in actuality is the expansion of the negative stereotypical and harmful portrayal of women and children as victims and victimizers.

Another plausible explanation for the decline in number or features as compared to the rising number or news stories, cartoons, photos and editorials has to do with the events of national importance in which women were central characters. For instance, the death of former President Janet Jagan generated at least 12% of the total number of stories about women recorded in 2009. The Ministry of Human Services’ social programmes benefitting women and children also made up a significant portion of the reporting on women and children in 2009.

The data indicates that stories of both women and children as both victims and perpetrators of violence have also risen by 23% and 52% respectively. Incidence of reports of women as victims of crime and being involved in criminal activity has also risen by 16% and 31% respectively.Do the rising numbers of reports correspond to an actual rise in incidents in the society at large? Or is there just a rise in reportage of these incidents by the media? Data on crimes committed in Guyana between 2007 and 2009 indicates a spike in total number of criminal acts in 2008. There was actually a slight rise in the number of women who were involved in criminal acts between 2007 and 2008. This figure rose from 22.8% to 24%. Highest activity was among women aged 21-30. There was a spike in the number of rapes committed in 2008. However, the number of women involved in criminal acts declined to 22.2% in 2009.21

21 Unpublished figures from the Guyana Police Force for 2002 -2009.



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If there was generally a rise in criminality and victimhood among women and children which the media was merely reflecting in its reports then one has to look to the socio-economic conditions of Guyana for the answers. For instance it is quite plausible that in any conditions of economic decline where women already made up only about 38% of the workforce22 those women could be pushed towards illicit activities as a means of supporting themselves and their children. With economic contraction taking its toll worldwide it is also entirely possible that external support by way of packages and remittances is also contracting and job opportunities for men who previously made up around 64% of the workforce is also contracting.

According to Robert Cornell (1987) Theory of Gender and Power, there are three major social structures that characterize the gendered relationships between men and women: the sexual division of labor, the sexual division of power, and the structure of cathexis23. These are all interrelated and cannot be divorced from each other. Proceeding from this, the power (ability to express their will) that a person is able to wield is directly related to their ability to work and earn, the emotional currency derived from these abilities, as well as those with significant others, such as children and spouses. Data is indicating that about 4% of the prisoners in Guyana are now female.24

In the first case the media coverage could be an indication of social crisis in which women and children are becoming pressured to criminality. Even if we are in the absence of up to date statistics in Guyana for 2007-2009, unable to conclude that more women and children are becoming victims of criminal acts, the reports are telling us quite clearly that many, too many are. There would therefore be need for more to be done to ensure that women are able to have livelihoods which empower them to make better decisions about their lives, partners and choices. If however, the there is no significant rise in the incidence of women’s and children’s criminal activity then the rising number of reports on these which are now appearing in the media could be indicating a number of possibilities which are more firmly located with the media themselves.

The first possibility is that there is in fact increased awareness by journalists and editors of women’s and children’s issues as a response to veracious training programmes which would have taken placed between 2008 and 200925. That these reports are appearing could indicate some concern for women and children. However, the sensational nature of most of the reportage creates a separate and perhaps unintended second effect. For instance, many photos of victims and perpetrators appear on prime pages and as headlines stories. This indicates a particular importance attached to the victim, the perpetrator or the occurrence. The manner in which stories are written often makes it difficult for the consumer to determine what the focus of the report is. Often, shock and disgust are the first reactions to these stories. This then gives way22 Source- UNDP, 2009. Enhancing Gender Visibility in Disaster Risk Management.23 The investment of emotional energy and the affective dimensions of an interaction or relationship.24 Source UNDOC, 2009.25 For instance USAID and UNDP conducted two separate workshops in 2008 on the coverage of sensitive issues in the Media. These included modules on women and violence.



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to a macabre sense of fascination. Why? The details. Often news reports contain minute details of how crimes were perpetrated and the struggles of the victim to stay alive. Stories also often indicate that the perpetrators escaped un-apprehended and do not follow up afterwards with reports of the consequences. This type of reportage does three things:

1) It provides others with too much detail and graphic images of how crimes we perpetuated. So that an indirect teaching takes place for anyone who wishes to pursue such a course in future;

2) The fact that the victim’s pain and suffering is Chronicled so publicly does not take into consideration the rights of the victim, the well-being of her often young children and elderly parents or siblings and friends. While, this must be excruciatingly difficult for victims’ families for perpetrators who are often still at large and possibly with access to the media must derive a great sense of satisfaction as to the intended results of their plans and actions.

3) Most importantly, the lack of follow up on apprehension and punishment for perpetrators creates a fallacious perception that these things can be done to women and children and nothing happens as a consequence. This alone can be a tremendous push factor for perpetrators in waiting.

Therefore, of critical importance is the balance of reports between the public’s right and need to know and the inevitable social learning and un-intended negative effects for society, in particular women and children.

The data also indicates that Kaieteur News in the first quarter and to some extent in the second quarter of 2008 had published as many and sometimes more children centered stories than Stabroek or Chronicle. This trend however disappeared in the last half of 2008 and almost completely in 2009. This indicates something possibly with editorial policy which ought to be investigated and addressed (37). What this isolated case indicates however is need for corroborating information on Editorial policy with regard to coverage. It is a clear signal for qualitative information on the modus operandi and logic behind decisions currently made by Guyanese media houses.

However, in the absence of this data, one can consider the relative stability of the rate of reporting in Guyana and the Caribbean as a structural production of the interaction between actual occurrences, media variables and institutional variables in any society. Take for instance the number of newspapers in Guyana compared to the number of female editors compared to the number of female journalists and then compared to the number of stories about women produced. This would look something like this 4 (newspapers):1 (female editor); app. 100 journalists:36 female journalists; 3% of total stories produced. We see a 1:3 ratio across



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the board! However, this cannot be the only explanatory variable in the mix. If one argues that one other reason why women may not be receiving more coverage is because they are largely operating outside of the public domain. The latest UNDP country assessment report indicates that women make up 38% of the formal workforce but 97% indicate that they work informally in the home. The general perception of the home is that it is a private and personal domain. Therefore, journalists by their very nature do not usually seek stories in the private domain, except of course, the subject is a public figure. Exceptions also include “newsworthy” occurrences which by their judgments the public needs to know about. Violence and abuse as well as criminal activities fall into these categories. Here again we see the 3:1 ratio operating. When compared to the statistic that women represent about 50% of Guyana’s population their under-representation in the media comes into startling perspective.

Compared with print, TV news generally carries more content about women (about 50% more) but carries about (75% less) coverage of children. An interesting question to probe would be how and why. The answers to this may well indicate a way forward in the same direction for print media. Using the same logic used above for calculating the representations of women and children in the print media there were 4 TV newscasts examined in this study. The data reported is therefore confined to those 4: NCN (Editor male); Prime News ( Editor female); Capitol News (Editor male) and VCT (now TVG – Editor female) so the ratio is 2:1 just about the number of news stories recorded as relates to women.

The same calculations can be made for children. In the case of children and young people below the ages of 18 we see less than 1% of them in the media. Less than 1% of them as producers of mainstream media26. It is therefore not surprising that less than 30% of Guyanese young people listen to Guyanese radio, read the newspapers or watch local TV. They are driven increasingly to access and to create content which is appealing to their age group, their sub-cultures and their tastes. Absence of child sensitive coverage and reporting does several things:

1) It alienates children: this is why every single localized study done by students of the University of Guyana between 200527 to present on the preferences of young people for new media as compared to traditional media has indicated a significant negative correlation between age and media preferences. Persons over 35 do not indicate a strong preference for traditional media. This cannot be attributed to media coverage alone, since factors such as peoples uses and gratifications and technological context’s as well as factors such as access interact with media output to create media consumption patterns.

26 The distinction between main stream traditional media and New Media must be made since young people actually use and produce with new media often with an exceedingly egocentric focus. 27 This refers to at least 5 studies conducted in fulfillment of final year supervised research projects by students of the Centre for Communication studies at the University of Guyana. The studies are unpublished and may not be generalized because of their small sample sizes. However, meta analysis of them all provide strong indications as reported above.



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2) It robs society of a rich and important perspective of an important section of its population.

3) Some media coverage tends to objectify and victimize specific children. The effects of this is well documented in that it can create feelings of anxiety, insecurity and fear in other children who may be observing via reports.

Therefore, there has to be a strong, concentrated and swift response to this. Children friendly and youth centered programming is critical if we are to reach and maintain positive inter-relations with tomorrow adults. In this regard UNICEF’s lone Youth Media Project is an outstanding contributor to this much neglected area.

Another consideration for why women and children may not be proportionately represented in media coverage may be located in the Editors, owners and journalists definition of what is news and newsworthy, their orientation towards and knowledge of social issues, their access to information about these subjects and their personal conscientiousness. All of this is impinged upon by the structural realties of the country and the industry which has one of the highest turnover rates in Guyana.

Box 1: Most Common Media Coverage of Women 2008-2009• Victims of crime• As perpetrators of crime• As victims of rape, carnal knowledge and domestic violence – this often resulted in death• Women kidnapped, murder cases and fraud and embezzlement cases• Persons who committed carnal acts – which in the law applies to minors • Achievements in field of sports• Outstanding achievements not in the field of sports• Fashion and Culture• Cooking / Domestic Chores• Women in leadership - whether as Members of Parliament, in the Church or in various organizations

Stories in media about women and children outside of the “victims” frame tend to be agenda driven. In other words features follow commemorative events, holidays, special events and significant episodes (such as the death of a famous women, day marking Children’s Day; domestic violence episodes, etc.). Events drive the representation rather than the media seeking



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stories of quiet and steady challenges and triumphs of women and children. This goes back to the points addressed above regarding coverage of private and public domains and the interests and agendas of editors and owners in assigning beats to journalists. It also speaks to journalists own judgments about what is “important” and “newsworthy”. An examination of Box 1 above indicates quite clearly in which domains women’s activities are considered to be “important” and “newsworthy” ---sports, outstanding achievements, fashion, culture and domesticity. This therefore mirrors the dominant stereotypical perceptions of the roles and “duties” of women. Oppression can also be defined as confinement to a specific domain which is private, in which unmentionable things happen to which outsiders may not respond unless invited.

The data also indicate that the print media in particular use definitional terms especially with regard to children interchangeably and often erroneously. For example, child, juvenile, teenager, etc. This points to a need for work to be done on clarifying important terms and concepts about women and children as well as issues regarding reporting about them.

mediA coverAge of Women And children in guyAnA compAred AgAinst internAtionAl stAndArds

Apart from the preceding detailed analysis and general discussion of media coverage of women and children in Guyana, there are four important international standards against which this performance could be compared. The first is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the other is the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the third is UNICEF’s Guidelines for the Ethical Reporting on Children and the fourth is the Beijing Declaration. In other circumstances there might also be a fifth standard –the media code of conduct governing the operations of media in the country itself. However, Guyana is currently working on this so there is no local standard for comparison at the moment.

children: CRC, UNICEF’s EthICAl GUIDElINEs And beijing declArAtion

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by most countries of the world including Guyana as the universal standard governing the treatment of children in 1989. The CRC carries 54 articles which provide children worldwide with certain rights and protections. Of the 54 articles 13 may be interpreted as informing the media’s response to coverage of children and children’s issues. These are articles 3, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24, 31, 34, 36, 37, 39 & 40.Article 3 lays down the fundamental provision that all actions should be based on the principle of the “best interests of the child”. The first provision of article 3 also provides for freedom of expression.

Article 13 provides for children’s right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information.



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Article 14 provides for freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Analysis of the data collected indicates that articles 3, 13 and 14 have sometimes been compromised. The general absence of children’s voices directly from the public discourse even on matters pertaining to their own interests contravenes these provisions. Moreover, the reportage on children as victims and perpetrators of crime indicates that sometimes the principle of the “best interest of the child” may be compromised.

Article 16 provides protection from arbitrary or unlawful interference neither with his or her privacy, family, or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation and right to the protection of the law if this ever happens.

While data about the manner in which information about women and children was actually obtained by the media for use in their reports needs to be collected, there have been some instances where these violations seem to appear in the reporting itself. This appears especially where there are reports of victimization (sexual or physical) of children or their families. Often all identifying information is published. In the many cases where parents have been killed or have been victims of other tragedies, the media has published photos of the remaining children in states of grief as well as graphic photos of the victims and their injuries. This may be interpreted as a violation of article 16.

Article 17 recognizes “the important function performed by the mass media”. It provides comprehensively for children’s freedom of access to information. However, interestingly it does not directly provide for children to have access to the media for the purpose of ventilating their concerns and views. Interestingly the entire CRC while it makes implicit provisions for this right does not explicitly cover children’s right to media coverage from their own perspective. This is a deficiency which ought to be addressed in an amendment.

Article 23 specially guarantees the rights and protections for disabled children. In commenting on the coverage of children in the media it should be noted that disaggregated data was not collected for children in terms of age and gender. It also did not differentiate between coverage of special children such as those who are disabled. However, if the logic of access is extended to include disabled children, it is quite plausible that as a special subset of children, they are included much less in media coverage than other children. Disabled persons in Guyana make up about 2.2% of the total population28.

Section “E” of Article 24 ensures that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed.

28 Source: Raising the Profile of Disability in Guyana. Report on Research Conducted by the National Commission on Disability, 2005.



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Whereas media coverage may be one way in which parents may be informed about the particular perspectives and issues of children, the lack of such coverage could be construed as a contravention of this article.

Article 3 (2) makes the provision for appropriate and equal opportunities in the participation of cultural and national life.

The data indicates that coverage of children and by children is grossly dis-proportionate. Guyana has about 272,000 children below the age of 18; this is just under 36% of the total population of 763,00029. Coverage of children is less than 1%. If this logic is extended to include the disparity between urban and rural reportage as indicated by the data then much more needs to be done in order to satisfy this provision.

Article 34 provides children with protection “from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse as well as all forms of sexual exploitation in the media.

Article 36 protects them from “other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare.”No infractions of this convention have been recorded in the data analyzed.

Article 37 protects children from any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It also provides for conditions which promote psychosocial recovery and reintegration for troubled children and child victims.

Article 40 specifically provides that a “child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society.” It also provides for the child to have his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of the proceedings.

These two are areas of concern regarding the review of media coverage of children in 2008 and 2009. The data indicates that while there has been an increase in features about children there was a decline in the number of news items. Even then, the general tone has been to cover children with problems negatively. Data indicates that 1% of the stories have been coded as “derogatory”. Additionally, 6% of the stories coded used some form of identification of children and 2% of the stories carried images. While identifying information is not always problematic

29 Source: UNICEF Country Statistics Homepage for 2008 http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guyana_statistics.html#68



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when reporting on minors, and data is not available from which to derive conclusions about the relationship between negative stories and identifying information, the number of negative stories in the data set suggests that at least a small number of identifications could have also been made in negative stories.

While the number of these occurrences may be considered small, ideally there should be no such stories appearing in socially responsible and child sensitive media especially as it also relates to articles 3, 34, 36 and 40.

A general assessment of media coverage of children and child specific issues in Guyana, based on the foregoing would be that while there seems to be progress made towards sensitive coverage there are still contraventions of important tenets of the CRC. The reasons for this and the possible solutions need to be further investigated and addressed.

We will now briefly examine media coverage of children and child issues against UNICEF’s GUIDELINES FOR THE ETHICAL REPORTAGE ON CHILDREN. These guidelines which are largely based on the CRC discussed before provide that coverage should:

• not place subject or other children at risk of retribution or stigmatization• ensure a child’s right to privacy and confidentiality• ensure their right to have their opinions heard• to participate in decisions affecting them• to be protected from harm and retribution, including the potential of harm and retribution• be done in an age-appropriate and sensitive manner• ensure that the best interests of each child are to be protected over any other consideration, including over advocacy for children’s issues and the promotion of child rights• ensure child’s right to have their views taken into account • ensure that children views are to be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity• ensure that those closest to the child’s situation and best able to assess it are to be consulted about the political, social and cultural ramifications of any reportage• ensure that stories or images which might put the child, siblings or peers at risk even when identities are changed, obscured or not used are not published• avoid questions, attitudes or comments that are judgmental, insensitive to cultural values, that place a child in danger or expose a child to humiliation, or that reactivate a child’s pain and grief from traumatic events• not discriminate in choosing children to interview because of sex, race, age, religion, status, educational background or physical abilities• not engage in staging: by asking children to tell a story or take an action that is not



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part of their own history• ensure that the child or guardian knows they are talking with a reporter• ensure that children are not coerced in any way and that they understand that they are part of a story that might be disseminated• ensure that where and how the child is interviewed or the background against which the child is interviewed does not contain identifying or traceable information• limit the number of interviewers and photographers• be careful to ensure that the choice of visual or audio background implies nothing about the child and her or his life and story• that children’s homes, community or general whereabouts are not shown• ensure that no child is stigmatized ; categorizations or descriptions that expose a child to negative reprisals - including additional physical or psychological harm, or to lifelong abuse, discrimination or rejection by their local communities is to be avoided• always provide an accurate context for the child’s story or image• always change the name and obscure the visual identity of any child who is identified • in certain cases, using a child’s identity - their name and/or recognizable image - is in the child’s best interests • confirm the accuracy of what the child has to say, either with other children or an adult, preferably with both• report on the general situation for children rather than on an individual child, no matter how newsworthy the story.

Generally, a similar comment can be made about the coverage of children’s issues in the media when compared to UNICEF’s Ethical Guidelines as was made above for the CRC. A number of stories were published and broadcast in 2008 and 2009 which did not follow some one of these guidelines. While this may not have been continuous or widespread the presence of even one infraction indicates an uneven and non-standard approach to child centered coverage which ought to be addressed.

There were a number of provisions in these guidelines for which the required data could not be collected in a content analysis. Such questions as if the parents consented, if both parents and child were properly briefed as to the possible ramifications of appearing in the media, background control, choice of children and coercion should be addressed as a next step in the research process. This data should be collected directly from journalists and their subjects. In the absence of this no objective analysis can be made.

The Beijing Declaration of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) contains several provisions for the girl child which are pertinent to this report. Five of 9 strategic objectives laid out in the Beijing Declaration with regard to the girl child bear reference to the media. These are objectives 1, 2, 3 7 and 8. They are summarized as follow:



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Strategic objective 1: Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl-child.

Strategic objective 2: Eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against girls.

As indicated earlier data collected on the portrayal of children in the media was not disaggregated by gender. It is therefore not known what percentage of the negative portrayals of children appearing in the media were in fact of the girl-child. However, in so far as children are generally excluded from the media and in so far as the portrayals of women and girls as are largely as victim’s objectives 1 and 2 of the specific provisions for the girl-child in the Beijing Declaration are still to be achieved.

Strategic objective 3: Promote and protect the rights of the girl-child and increase awareness of her needs and potential.

Strategic objective 7: Eradicate violence against the girl-child.

Strategic objective 8: Promote the girl-child’s awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life.

The coverage of children as victims could help to promote and protect the rights of the girl-child if reported in the context of rights violations. Local girl-child reporting therefore needs to be informed by these concerns and should contextualize incidents as manifestations of larger societal problems.

coverAge of Women: CEDAW And the beijing declArAtion

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Of the 30 articles which provide for the rights and protection of women 6 bear direct relevance to their coverage in the media. These are articles 1, 2, 7, 5 13 and 14.

The premise upon which CEDAW was developed was that”...the full and complete development of a country, the welfare of the world and the cause of peace require the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fields.30“ CEDAW therefore recognizes the presence of extensive discrimination as obstacles to female participation in important aspects of social, economic and political life. It calls for equal participation and access, and for measures to be put in place by governments to ensure the rights of women are upheld.

30 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women



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• Article I defines the term “discrimination”. It states that “…the term “discrimination against women” shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”

• Articles 2 and 5 speak to restraints to be placed on all forms of discrimination and conditions which governments should undertake to alleviate and extinguish it. This would include modification of cultural perceptions and norms which are inherently discriminatory towards women. Article 5 also speaks to the importance of public education on the importance of the woman in the context of their traditional roles of caregiver and parent.

• Article 10 specially provides for the elimination of stereotypical perceptions of the role of women.

The media is considered one of the key agents of socialization. The power of the media to select social facts and to re- construct them is critical to achieving some of the conditions set out in CEDAW in particular in articles 2 and 5. The construction of social perceptions of what is important and what is not and most importantly the facilitation of setting the agenda for what people should think about by using repetition and primacy in reporting is completely media-centric. The data under review indicates that women are disproportionately represented both in terms of the number of items about them as compared to the percentage of women in the country. They are also over-represented as victims and perpetrators of crime. Traditional perceptions of women are perpetuated also through the number of stories about them in traditional roles of culture, domesticity and fashion. In the absence of an equal number of stories about their achievements academically, politically and economically, in the absence of stories about the meaningful contexts and contributions to society of women who are also still performing traditional roles, old perceptions and attitudes are re-enforced.

It is interesting to note however, that CEDAW itself does not specifically acknowledge the role and responsibility of the media to address any of the conditions set out in the declaration. Though several of the articles may be interpreted broadly to include the media, the absence of an explicit call to the media is a serious omission which ought to be amended.

• Articles 7 and 13 specially address women’s equal right to full participation at all levels and in every sphere of life. Seven (c) assures women the right “…to participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.”



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The agenda setting function of the mass media has long been established (McCombs and Shaw, 1972; Druckman, 2004; Iyengar, 1996; Kiodsis, 2003; and Weever, 2007). The agenda setting theory is the theory that mass media have a heavy influence on audiences by their choice of what stories to consider newsworthy and by how much prominence and space is given to them. The main idea is that mass media because of their reach, coverage and ability to enter into people’s homes and personal lives repetitiously, have an ability to transfer issues of importance from their own agendas to public agendas.

If the voices and concerns of women are routinely excluded from coverage in the mass media then this helps to ensure that women do not participate fully and “equally at all levels and every sphere of public life”. As such a woman-centric agenda is not advanced and by logical extension the condition of women may not significantly advance either.

This analysis is further supported by the small number of women owners of media, editors of media and woman journalists discussed before. Control of media apparatus by socially conscious women or men is an important tool for setting a woman centered agenda31.

• Finally, Article 14 of CEDAW provides especially for the rights of rural women to full participation, inclusion and access to adequate living conditions including access to communications.

This article is of critical importance. Urban bias in mass media coverage is a widespread concern (Mohamed, 2009; Deosarran, 2006). For instance an analysis of geo-spatial coverage in Trinidad and Tobago and in Guyana for five years (Mohamed, 2006) indicated a vast disparity in urban to rural coverage in all Trinidadian and Guyanese newspapers to the extent that some communities remained out of the mainstream news media for over 6 years. The incidence of negatively driven inclusion was higher for rural as against urban communities. In other words, the best probability for a rural community of getting into mainstream media coverage was if there was a terrible crime, tragedy or crisis there.

31 By July 2005, women were insufficiently represented in top-level decision-making positions relative to their number, high levels of academic achievement and increasing participation in the labor force. They were similarly underrepresented in the private sector, with only one female member in both the Private Sector Commission and the Board of the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industries.In the educational field, career choice patterns continued to reflect gender stereotypes, with women opting for traditional female dominated fields. At the University of Guyana from 1998 to 2000, females made up 77.6 per cent and 70.4 per cent of first-year social science students, while they accounted for a mere 6.8 per cent and 7.6 per cent in the technology faculty. Of 2,256 students graduating from the Cyril Potter College of Education between 1998 and 2002, some 306 or 13.6 per cent were male and 1,950 or 86.4 per cent were women. Source – Report to the United Nations on CEDAW “Guyana’s Periodic Report; Strengthening Gender Equality Bodies, 2005”.



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Though the current media monitoring exercise did not pick up data on rural-urban coverage, the data did indicate that overall coverage of women is very low. If general coverage is low it is not unreasonable to project based on findings of previous studies that coverage of urban women would be even lower and would follow the trends found by other research whereby the highest number of reports of women as victims would be from rural areas. When it is considered that only about 28%32 of Guyana’s population lives in urban areas the imbalance of rural-urban representation becomes even starker33.

Since CEDAW established the importance of all women, everywhere in the country to full participation and equal rights, if the vast majority of women in rural areas are left out of media coverage and are not represented in media at all, then this should be seen as a serious infringement of the rights of women and an impediment to national development. In fact, Guyana has scored 0.54 on the Gender development index (GDI) this places Guyanese women somewhere at the midpoint of worldwide ranking of woman empowerment34.

Media Relevant aspects of the “Beijing declaRation and platfoRM foR action”

Post dating CEDAW by 16 years, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995 went a step beyond CEDAW by specifically and comprehensively addressing the role of media in creating equality, peace and human progress. Part J of the Platform for Action strategic objectives and actions identified the several issues with portrayal of women in the media. Two over arching strategic objectives were projected in order to address these issues. Several actions were deemed necessary for these objectives to be met. The actions most relevant to this study are discussed below. It is instructive to note that Guyana at the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing made a commitment to pursue the objectives of the Platform for Action.

UndeR stRategic oBjective j1:

Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication:

• Support women’s education, training and employment to promote and ensure women’s equal access to all areas and levels of the media.

There is an impression (indication) of some action being taken with regard to these recommendations. For instance the annual intake of the Centre for Communication

32 Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/guyana/demographics_profile.html. March, 2010.33 According to “ A POVERTY MAP FOR GUYANA: BASED ON THE 2002 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS by Emmanuel Skoufias of the World Bank (September 26, 2005) “…Regions of Guyana can be classified into four groups: the bottom or very poor group (Regions 1, 8, and 9), the lower middle or poor group (Regions 2 and 7), the upper middle (or less poor) group (Regions 3 and 5) and the wealthier group (Regions 4, 6, 10 and Georgetown). Georgetown is by far the wealthier region.”34 Source: Guyana National Development Strategy, 2002.



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Studies (CCS) at the University of Guyana, which is the only institution that trainsjournalists and media practitioners in Guyana is about 100 – 130 students. Over the past 5 years the ratio of female students to male students has hovered around 3.4 females to 1 male. Bearing in mind that many of the students receive tuition assistance from government student loans an argument could be made that this practice supports the action required under strategic objective J1.

• Support research into all aspects of women and the media so as to define areas needing attention and action and review existing media policies with a view to integrating a gender perspective;• Promote women’s full and equal participation in the media, including management, programming, education, training and research;

The Resource and Documentation Centre of the MoLHSSS with the support of UNICEF and other agencies has been engaged in on –going research in this area. There is however still need for some more targeted research in terms of reviewing existing media policies with a view to integrating gender perspectives and promoting women’s full participation in the media at all levels.

• Aim at gender balance in the appointment of women and men to all advisory, management, regulatory or monitoring bodies, including those connected to the private and State or public media:

At the time of writing this report, the boards of the government run Guyana National Newspapers Ltd, the National Communications Network, the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting and the Frequency Management Unit are overwhelmingly male.

• Encourage, to the extent consistent with freedom of expression, these bodies to increase the number of programmes for and by women to see to it that women’s needs and concerns are properly addressed;

• Encourage and recognize women’s media networks …. and support women’s groups active in all media work and systems of communications;

Targeted research on the area of gender and the media is needed to indicate the extent to which these actions have been taken.

• Encourage and provide the means or incentives for the creative use of programmes in the national media for the dissemination of information on various cultural forms of indigenous people and the development of social and educational issues in this regard within the framework of national law.























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There is no evidence of a formalized system of incentives. It does however appear that NCN and other local stations and media attempt to fulfill this mandate by carrying programmes about diverse groups. The data from this study indicate however that this coverage tends to be event driven and sporadic. UNICEF is expecting to address this need by launching a local media award programme sometime in 2010 which is intended to reward and stimulate the required reporting practices.

• Guarantee the freedom of the media and its subsequent protection within the framework of national law and encourage, consistent with freedom of expression, the positive involvement of the media in development and social issues.

Though freedom of the media is not specifically guaranteed under a specific act by that name in Guyana as it is in some other CARICOM countries, freedoms of Guyanese media are protected under the constitution of Guyana which guarantees freedom of expression. Guyana maintains a satisfactory worldwide rating for freedom of the press despite periodic tensions35.

• Develop, consistent with freedom of expression, regulatory mechanisms, including voluntary ones, that promote balanced and diverse portrayals of women by the media and international communication systems and that promote increased participation by women and men in production and decision-making.

A Code of Conduct for the Guyanese Media is currently being worked upon by a team of persons from the media, media proprietors association, Centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana and the Media Monitoring Unit of the Guyana Elections Commission. Its success is predicated upon, widespread buy in from the media relevant stakeholders and the public. It is also dependent upon the development of a strong independent regulatory body and adherence to the Code by the media and media practitioners in the country. It is also important for the public to be aware of this facility and its benefits to them. The Code is expected to be completed in 2010.Training of media professionals and owners on the gender related aspects of the code will also become necessary once the finalized code is tabled.

• Encourage the development of educational and training programmes for women in order to produce information for the mass media, including funding of experimental efforts, and the use of the new technologies of communication, cybernetics space and satellite, whether public or private:

35 Guyana has been ranked 39 out of 173 in the 200 worldwide Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. In 2008, Guyana’s ranking was 88 out of 173 but it appears that this ranking was low because not enough information had been gleaned.In its annual report released on May 1, 2010, the French NGO said that press freedom is widely respected, despite sometimes tense relations.



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• Encourage the establishment of media watch groups that can monitor the media and consult with the media to ensure that women’s needs and concerns are properly reflected.

The Resource and Documentation Centre of the MoLHSS is pursuing some measure of this work. The Media Monitoring Unit of the Guyana Elections Commission also continuously monitors all media however they do not pick up information on gender. There is no evidence of any other formal group in the country which is monitoring media. However, the Centre for Communication Studies (CCS) at the University of Guyana as part of its formal training in communication research does from time to time supervise students who pursue undergraduate research in this area. The CCS has not yet established a research agenda so it’s an ample opportunity to lobby for women’s and children’s media research within their emerging research framework. Support for students interested in pursuing this kind of media research would be a good way of fulfilling this objective.

• Train women to make greater use of information technology for communication and the media, including at the international level.

• Create networks among and develop information programmes for non-governmental organizations, women’s organizations and professional media organizations in order to recognize the specific needs of women in the media, and facilitate the increased participation of women in communication, in particular at the international level, in support of South-South and North-South dialogue among and between these organizations, inter alia, to promote the human rights of women and equality between women and men.

Action in these two areas could be bolstered. Funding and support for such programmes needs to be made widely available.

• Encourage the media industry and education and media training institutions to develop, in appropriate languages, traditional, indigenous and other ethnic forms of media, such as story-telling, drama, poetry and song, reflecting their cultures, and utilize these forms of communication to disseminate information on development and social issues.

Since the early 1990’s the Allied Arts Department of the Ministry of Education has been working with schools on implementing expressive arts subjects and units in their curricula. However, there needs to be structured, standardized and dispersed training done in areas of performance so as to institutionalize this cultural approach otherwise. The Centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana has just introduced a



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new course called Specialized Journalism: Culture and Development which attempts to address this issue among trained journalists. The course could be offered as a one off workshop on culture and journalism for development also. The resurgence of the Theatre Guild of Guyana as a non-profit performance training facility is yet to realize its training objectives for lack of funding. Support for the training work of the Guild could help to develop ethnic and culture based forms of media.

under strAtegic objective j2:

Promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media • Promote research and implementation of a strategy of information, education and communication aimed at promoting a balanced portrayal of women and girls and their multiple roles.

This report itself is part of a project by the MoLHSSS’s Research and Documentation Centre with funding from UNICEF which is designed to fulfill this objective. This unit has been consistently collecting data and creating reports. The promotion of this work and its dissemination is on-going and should be supported.

• Encourage the media and advertising agencies to develop specific programmes to raise awareness of the Platform for Action.

Support for this is necessary through workshops and incentive schemes as well as other types of sensitization programmes. UNICEF with partners MoLHSS is doing some of this work. Regulation is also important. Advertising Guidelines must be part of any self-regulatory code for the media. The special group working on the code of conduct for Guyana’s media is also addressing this. Their draft will incorporate parts of the Advertising Code developed by the Guyana Bureau of Standards in 2003.

• Encourage gender-sensitive training for media professionals, including media owners and managers, to encourage the creation and use of non-stereotyped, balanced and diverse images of women in the media.Although one such training workshop has been held, this training is needed on a systematic, incremental and continuous basis because of the high turnover in the media and the complexity of addressing gender issues.

• Take effective measures or institute such measures, including appropriate legislation against pornography and the projection of violence against women and children in the media.



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It is hoped that a media driven Media Code of Conduct with the appropriate mechanisms for implementation and enforcement will gain widespread support from government agencies as well as media and international agencies. This support will be necessary to achieve the objective indicated above. The matter of pornography as well as the new offence of “voyeurism” are in part addressed in new legislation dealing with reforming the law on sexual offences.

• Increase women’s participation in decision-making at all levels of the media.

This is an objective that remains to be realized. Women are still in minority in positions of management in the media in Guyana as they are in several other areas of top management37.

• Promote the equal sharing of family responsibilities through media campaigns. Produce and/or disseminate media materials on women leaders.

• Promote extensive campaigns to increase awareness of the human rights of women

• Support the development of and finance…alternative media and the use of all means of communication to disseminate information to and about women and their concerns.

• Develop approaches and train experts to apply gender analysis with regard to media programmes.

• Educate women, men, girls and boys to promote girls’ status and encourage them to work towards mutual respect and equal partnership between girls and boys; While some action has been taken in these areas much more is yet to be done.

• Generate awareness of the disadvantaged situation of girls among policy makers, planners, administrators and implementers at all levels, as well as within households and communities;

News reports have the potential for doing this. However, they need to be properly contextualized in order to achieve this objective. Contextualized, deeply investigative and analytical reporting on women and children’s issues should be taught to reporters on a consistent basis in order to achieve this objective.

37 See Guyana CEDAW Report, 2005



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Coverage of women and children in the Guyanese media when compared against United Nations international conventions and guidelines for the protection of women’s and children’s rights can be assessed as fair. While there are disparities in coverage among the media themselves with most of the few infractions coming from the print media, there are also intra-group disparities of subjects of news reports along age, class, and geographical lines. There is therefore room for improvement in the way women and children are covered in the Guyanese media.

5. the WAy forWArd

Based on the foregoing representations and discussion the following recommendations are advanced for active consideration in addressing some of the issues which this exercise has highlighted. The recommendations fall in 3 categories. Category A addresses policy issues, category B addresses future media monitoring exercises, and Category C addresses training and advocacy.

A. policy issues

I. In Guyana there is currently no general code of conduct by which the media operates. Though data collected by the author of this document in 200938 indicates that most Journalists demonstrate general understanding of many fundamental principles in ethical journalism, this understanding varies widely. Further, the majority of journalists who were polled in the exercise indicate that they were never exposed to standard or formal codes but derived their knowledge from observation, from personal morality and from editors and media managers as well as other journalists with whom they worked. They indicated almost unanimously that a code would help them to perform better. It is therefore recommended that a CODE of Conduct based on the principles of CRC and the UNICEF guidelines for Ethical Journalism on the Reporting of Children be developed. This should be incorporated into any general code that is developed.

II. Though both the CRC and CEDAW documents imply the roles of the media neither is specific as to the responsibility of the media in its coverage of women and children. Further, neither the CRC nor CEDAW explicitly provide for equal access and participation of women and children in the media. It is therefore recommended that some amendments be made to these conventions which made these conditions explicit.

III. While media coverage of women and children in Guyana is not ideal there are some bright spots which warrant recognition. This recognition will not only serve as a

38 Paloma Mohamed. Survey of 40 Guyanese Journalists on Ethical Principles of Journalism. Georgetown Guyana, October 2009. Unpublished.



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reward for those who are doing the right thing but it will also serve as a signal for those who did not understand what was possible to make changes. Most importantly it will help to place the coverage of women and children in the spotlight and will at a political level signal the importance attached to this. It is therefore recommended that awards and incentives for outstanding coverage of women’s and children’s issues in the Guyanese media be instituted. It is not necessarily recommended that a competition is run however, data from the annual media monitoring exercise carried out by the staff of the National Resource and Documentation Centre for Gender Development within the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security Ministry of Human Services could be used to identify those media outfits and journalists who consistently meet the required standards. These awards should also recognize coverage of rural issues and the disabled.

IV. There seems to be a correlation between the number of women who work in and who own and control media and output that is woman and child sensitive39. It is therefore recommended that resources for the training of more women journalists be provided by international and national agencies. It is also recommended that support for women run media outlets be made available. This could be done through the provision of one-off grants in the form or start up or seed money, through the provision of scholarships and technical assistance to female groups demonstrating the capacity and potential to carry out such endeavors.

V. It is also important at the level of policy that results from any indicative research done on the performance of the media include a dissemination plan through which this work can transformed into self-knowledge for the media’s internal development. As far as possible there should also be mechanisms for training and support of media in the pursuit of sensitive and inclusive coverage.

VI. Institutionally, key agencies responsible for the development and protection of women and children in Guyana ought to be in the vanguard of helping to produce and direct content that is woman sensitive, non-stereotypical and diverse. This can only be done if they, in the first instance, have trained journalists assigned to these tasks within their organizations who can feed this to the media. In the second instance, where the first is not possible, key agencies should work hard toward cultivating journalists and media owners and editors who will develop specialized knowledge of women and children’s issues. This will contribute to deeper and more contextual reporting.

VII. Apart from coverage media in Guyana have precious few programmes which

39 Woman Watch. www.un.org/womenwatch/



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are specially produced with women and children in mind. Bearing in mind the importance of these and the provisions for access to age appropriate information in the CRC, every effort should be made in any Media Legislation or Code to include provisions for such programming in all media.

b. future reseArch

The media monitoring exercise carried out by the staff of the National Resource and Documentation Centre for Gender Development within the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security Ministry of Human Services under the supervision of Karen Davis has been oNGOing since 2006. The data provided by this survey is invaluable to understanding how women and children are being covered and in highlighting some of the issues still associated with this.

IX. There is only so much that a pure content analysis which is a count of the occurrence instances of particular variables during a specific timeframe can illuminate. There are some questions which require more disaggregated information and nuanced data which the content analysis cannot provide. For instance, questions like if the parents consented to interviews and if both parents and child were properly briefed as to the possible ramifications of appearing in the media. Concerns like background control, choice of children and coercion and so on cannot be picked up by a content analysis. It is therefore recommended that data collection exercise should be expanded to include a survey of media operatives themselves as well as a representative sample of their subjects. Textual analysis of the texts produced by media about women and children would also help to properly contextualize some of the data. This is the only way that we will be able to see the entire picture.

X. As far as the current Media Monitoring exercise is concerned there a few recommendations for expanding the type of data beyond which is currently collected. The current exercise only included 4 Television newscasts. There are about 24 Television stations in Guyana about 30% of them carry local news. The fact that the 4 stations included were based in Georgetown would have contributed to the urban biased observed in the data. In addition, television in Guyana is the most powerful source of information and entertainment. However it is highly segmented by geography. Television news though important is not the only source of public information on women and children.

XI. Other programmes and other types of television programming ought to be included in the collection process. For instance there seems to be growing concern in Guyana about the sexual objectification of women in some entertainment programming and advertisements40.

40 Unpublished student research, Centre for Communication Studies, University of Guyana. Sexual Messages in Music (Santos and Garrett, 2009) and Portrayal of Women in Advertisements (Lall, 2009).



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XII. Both the UNICEF guidelines and the CRC make explicit provisions for the protection of children from sexually explicit and age inappropriate materials and the CEDAW provides for the expungement of all gender stereotypes especially those that perpetuate discrimination against women. It is recommended that categories for sexual content about women and children be included in the current media monitoring instrument. This should also pick up data from all forms of advertising.

c. trAining

Many of the issues arising from the analysis of media coverage of women and children in Guyana between 2008 to 2009 may be due to the lack of knowledge and expertise. These deficiencies can only be addressed through training and provision of relevant, simple and accessible reference materials and technical support. Based on the preceding discussion the following training is necessary for Guyanese media operatives. This includes owners and editors. Specialized programming needs specialized knowledge and resources. Data collected in 2009 indicates that 91% of the journalists practicing in Guyana are untrained. Training which modular, quick is and solvent oriented is critical. Some areas where training should be conducted are:

1. Development of children specific programming based on UNICEF Guidelines.2. Development of woman specific programming3. Managing media for women and children4. CRC, UNICEF Guidelines and CEDAW5. How to translate feedback into change6. Specialized reporting of women and children’s issues7. Child Sensitive Reporting 8. Development of a course on Gender Sensitivity and Gender sensitive reporting

The data indicates also that several concepts which are important to reporting sensitively and accurately about women and children appear to be unclear to the media. There is needed for work to be done on clarifying important terms and concepts about women and children as well as issues regarding reporting about them. The development of a handbook and training manual for reference after training should be considered.

A final word on training: Guyana’s media has a fairly rapid rate of staff turnover41 . As such training programmes have to take this into consideration. Training programmes have to be programmed as oNGOing providing refreshers for those already receiving training and providing initiation for new journalists on a regular basis. If this is not done there will be little effect recorded in performance.

41 Rampersaud, S. 2009. The Relationship Between Training and Media Output in Guyana. (unpublished).



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references

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Appendices

Appendix 1 – mediA monitoring instrument42

MONITORING OF THE MEDIA TRENDS IN GUYANAIMAGES OF WOMEN AND CHILDRENDate _______________

Table A1-1: Overall images of Women and Children

Guyana Chronicle

Kaieteur News

Stabroek News

Guyana Times

Total # of news stories and features

NewsFeatures

Total # of news stories featuring

WomenChildren

Total # of features Womenfeaturing

Total # of editorialsfeaturing

WomenChildren

Subjects of features WomenChildren

Subjects of editorials WomenChildren

# of photographs featur-ing

WomenChildren

Types of photographs Passport (#)Other (#)

Do photographs ac-company news stories/features?

YesNo

# of advertisements fea-turing

WomenChildren

# of cartoons featuring WomenChildren

42 Devised by Karen Davis


Guyana Chronicle

Kaieteur News

Stabroek News

Guyana Times

Total # of news stories and features

NewsFeatures

Total # of news stories featuring

WomenChildren

Total # of features WomenChildren

Total # of editorialsfeaturing

WomenChildren

Subjects of features WomenChildren

Subjects of editorials WomenChildren

# of photographs featur-ing

WomenChildren

Do photographs ac-company news stories/features?

YesNo

# of advertisements fea-turing

WomenChildren

# of cartoons featuring WomenChildren

42 Devised by Karen Davis



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Table A1-2: Specific images of Women and Children

Guyana Chronicle

Kaieteur News

Stabroek News

Guyana Times

Victims/perpetrators of physical violence (Spec-ify)

WomenChildren

Victims /perpetrators of rape (Specify)

WomenChildren

Victims/perpetrators of carnal knowledge (Spec-ify)

WomenChildren

Victims/perpetrators of crime (Specify)

WomenChildren

Victims/perpetrators of robbery (Specify)

WomenChildren

Drug possession Women

Trafficking in persons WomenChildren

Leadership positions WomenChildren

Successful WomenChildren

Outstanding achieve-ments (non-sports)

WomenChildren

Outstanding in sports WomenChildren

Other images (Specify) WomenChildren



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Table A1-3i: Specific images of women within stories

Guyana Chronicle

Kaieteur News

Stabroek News

Guyana Times

Language used to describe women - within news stories(Give examples where possible)

DerogatoryComplimentaryPatronizingSensationalNeutralOther (Specify)

Identification of women

AgeGroup/SchoolNameOther (Specify

Placement of im-ages of women in stories / features

Page 1Page 3Page 5Centre pagesBack pagesOther (Specify)

Placement of im-ages of women in photographs




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Table A1-3ii: Specific images of children within stories

Guyana Chronicle

Kaieteur News

Stabroek News

Guyana Times

Language used to describe children - within news stories(Give examples where pos-sible)

DerogatoryComplimentaryPatronizingSensationalNeutralOther (Specify)

Identification of children AgeGroup/SchoolNameOther (Specify

Placement of images of chil-dren in stories / features


Placement of images of chil-dren in photographs




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Appendix 2 – AdditionAl tAbles

Period Key:

1/08=Jan-Jun 2008

2/08= July-Dec 2008

1/09= Jan-April 2009

2/09= May-Sept 2009

SN – Stabroek News

KN – Kaieteur News

CN – Capitol News

GT – Guyana Times



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Tabl

e A

2-1:

Ove

rall

imag

es o

f Wom

en a

nd C

hild

ren

Dis

aggr

egat

ed b

y Pa

per

1/08

2/08

1/09

2/09

SNK

NC

NTo

tal

SNK

NC

NTo

tal

SNK

NC

NG

TTo

tal

SNK

NC

NG

TTo

tal

Tota

l # o

f all

new

s sto

ries

and

feat

ures

/ co

lum

ns/ l

ette

rs

Feat

ures

/ co

l-um

ns /

lette

rs

22,0

757,

227

12,3

062,

542

22,1

6293

51,

377

5,38

16,

185

13,8

787,

159

679

5,26

37,

282

20,3

83

Tota

l # o

f all

new

s sto

ries

feat

urin

g

Wom

en7,

405

7,01

77,

740

4,92

22,

223

1,95

674

36,

638

259

468

1,57

71,

244

3,54

81,

743

374

1,59

71,

485

5,19

9C

hild

ren

2,48

81,

718

2,43

21,

064

495

452

117

1279

5081

373

313

817

711

2344

484

22,

020

Tota

l # o

f all

feat

ures

feat

ur-

ing

Wom

en45

548

234

264

930

130

444

997

1863

151

225

457

327

1623

647

11,

050

Chi

ldre

n35

233

730

825

316

073

2029

514

3213

959

244

8814

6111

928

2

Tota

l # o

f all

new

s sto

ries

feat

urin

g

Wom

en16

178

5613

454

7010

153

1210

2515

119

854

927

224

314

Chi

ldre

n54

4158

490

222

200

6822

4343

249

187

522

368

1220

941

810

07

Tota

l # o

f fea

-tu

res f

eatu

ring

Wom

en17

14

258

116

117

2511

1242

126

128

308

248

1318

238

482

7C

hild

ren

32

612

559

5214

311

1683

3414

465

548

5116

9To

tal #

of e

di-

toria

ls fe

atur

ing

Wom

en2

1

4115

206

47

816

2960

164

2128

69C

hild

ren

11

213

75

117

2

38

133

1

1216

Tota

l # o

f col

-um

ns fe

atur

ing

Wom

en8

45

82

51

101

35

817

22

514

23C

hild

ren

11

828

176

515

218

86

3420

6

935

Tota

l # o

f let

-te

rs fe

atur

ing

Wom

en6

45

54

1

156

47

724

11

417

23C

hild

ren

43

846

2214

107

51

3520

6128

14

1860

Subj

ects

of

feat

ures

Wom

en2

14

146

26

245

19

933

17

914

40C

hild

ren

86

1077

5023

469

1730

6925

141

201

1624

61Su

bjec

ts o

f ed

itoria

lsW

omen

3420

1521

134

456

124

1456

864

14

1221

Chi

ldre

n22

1915

73

31

171

16

917

6

45

15#

of p

hoto

-gr

aphs

feat

ur-

ing

Wom

en6

83

109

1

61

13

1217

171

17

26C

hild

ren

12

31,

630

759

658

213

2315

5270

520

466

1,10

872

212

476

01,

197

2,80

3

Type

s of p

hoto

-gr

aphs

Pass

port

(#)

938

844

533

487

220

220

4794

418

2015

518

938

220

623

252

542

1,02

3O

ther

(#)

312

414

218

456

212

244

1,

153

1144

557

2

1019

Do

phot

ogra

phs

acco

mpa

ny

new

s sto

ries/

feat

ures

?

YES

/ NO

439

496

218

700

469

231

1,

967

6783

173

158

481

511

8736

963

31,

600

HO

W M

AN

Y73

972

850

010

9

131

3272

6419

736

542

266

7857

61,

142

# of

adv

ertis

e-m

ents

feat

urin

gW

omen

423

499

334

555

890

1,70

74

322

5786

166

1846

137

367

Chi

ldre

n66

169

635

012

1649

162

897

1,33

0

528

6910

243

124

775

# of

car

toon

s fe

atur

ing

Wom

en53

255

224

623

214

381

828

414

324

4283

33

195

5715

381

5027

723

037

1012

3

7

916

2

1

3



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Tabl

e A

2-2:

SPE

CIF

IC IM

AG

ES O

F W

OM

EN A

ND

CH

ILD

REN

1/08

2/08

1/09

2/09

SNK

NC

NTo

tal

SNK

NC

NTo

tal

SNK

NC

NG

TTo

tal

SNK

NC

NG

TTo

tal

Vic

tims o

f phy

sica

l vio

lenc

eW

omen

2

28

1212

2

620

Chi

ldre

n

7627

427

90

17

1725

41

35

13Pe

rpet

rato

rs o

f phy

sica

l vio

lenc

eW

omen

3348

920

215

341

2

34

91

11

14

Chi

ldre

n15

188

168

62

82

18

1223

4

59

18V

ictim

s of r

ape

Wom

en4

22

105

5

61

13

216

8

14

13C

hild

ren

13

214

410

15

12

33

3

Perp

etra

tors

of r

ape

Wom

en3

66

71

42

7

2

11

4C

hild

ren

34

5

32

2

45

9

7

512

Vic

tims o

f car

nal k

now

ledg

eW

omen

2

1

1

1

2

32

75

2

613

Chi

ldre

n

1

2420

31

1

315

1837

472

1745

111

Vic

tims o

f crim

e W

omen

18

512

135

41

64

1515

27

1337

Chi

ldre

n11

1311

6135

224

771

516

3052

232

516

46Pe

rpet

rato

rs o

f crim

e W

omen

2233

2233

1914

25

12

28

134

23

514

Chi

ldre

n8

611

2519

6

463

14

2037

11

517

33V

ictim

s of r

obbe

ryW

omen

1715

1414

67

113

4

28

142

1

14

Chi

ldre

n7

42

3112

172

221

2

1013

5

22

9Pe

rpet

rato

rs o

f rob

bery

Wom

en15

61

96

3

6

1

34

5

7

12C

hild

ren

31

29

62

16

1017

278

8

Dru

g po

sses

sion

W

omen

32

111

19

1

1

32

6

Chi

ldre

n

93

6

18

2

79

11

2Tr

affic

king

in p

erso

ns -v

ictim

(s)

Wom

en7

29

1

1

4

C

hild

ren

2

2

1

11

2

Traf

ficki

ng in

per

sons

-per

petra

tor(

s)W

omen

1

1

1

Chi

ldre

n

2727

2

157

5011

063

46

7918

8Le

ader

ship

pos

ition

sW

omen

3

2

1

2

2

55

Chi

ldre

n

7718

4910

219

26

2022

5014

23

3269

Succ

essf

ulW

omen

9279

483

2

14

12

73

1312

14

3460

Chi

ldre

n1

21

4421

1112

116

11

1719

3817

13

1848

Out

stan

ding

ach

ieve

men

ts (n

on-s

ports

)W

omen

4946

2130

27

338

1

86

1510

3

1831

Chi

ldre

n16

139

5318

305

122

29

2026

5731

210

5093

Out

stan

ding

in sp

orts

Wom

en52

4228

6939

255

621

621

2957

522

3715

224

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hild

ren

1427

2113

449

796

163

2710

371

6

613

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er im

ages

W

omen

3994

3014

150

865

323

1420

341

11

1426

Chi

ldre

n13

010

291

14

14

19

1

1



List of Figures


List of Tables



Tabl

e A

2-3i

: SPE

CIF

IC IM

AG

ES O

F W

OM

EN W

ITH

IN S

TOR

IES

1/08

2/08

1/09

2/09

SNK

NC

NTo

-ta

lSN

KN

CN

Tota

lSN

KN

CN

GT

To-

tal

SNK

NC

NG

TTo

tal

Lang

uage

use

d to

de

scrib

e w

omen

-w

ithin

new

s sto

ries

Der

ogat

ory

25

631

Com

pli-

men

tary

Patro

nizi

ng

1

1

2

2

2

1

2

3Se

nsat

iona

l1

1

1111

14

2381

8320

113

32

8313

034

8N

eutra

l

22

271

7

614

51

52

13O

ther

3

2430

313

013

142

429

512

5227

9611

41

6510

328

3Id

entifi

catio

n of

w

omen

Age

165

142

122

2713

14

161

423

836

501

3451

136

Gro

up/

Scho

ol

214

203

9588

2033

05

1715

211

829

229

31

149

360

803

Nam

e13

312

176

198

9862

3827

2

2723

2979

18

3179

128

Oth

er89

9687

541

274

235

321,

009

26

2926

6321

26

1948

Plac

emen

t of i

mag

es

of w

omen

in st

orie

s / f

eatu

res

Page

1

411

354

244

111

4163

714

11

2428

5435

216

3285

Page

31

13

2816

75

412

4

1622

131

127

42Pa

ge 5

2310

846

1525

689

1

2322

4636

26

4510

7C

ente

r Pa

ges

2838

2315

112

210

2

4510

5737

49

5010

0

Bac

k Pa

ges

54

167

4420

319

722

242

326

249

839

365

3064

336

21,

400

Oth

er81

4076

7023

407

169

26

1226

4633

217

6812

0Pl

acem

ent o

f im

ages

of

wom

en in

pho

to-

grap

hs

Page

1

5277

4077

327

848

213

3,48

81

311

111

126

232

108

43Pa

ge 3

538

347

2,60

349

2818

313

43

912

9

28

19Pa

ge 5

4250

4224

615

365

129

2123

122

3177

Cen

ter

Page

s 26

2415

108

11

13

317

1131

302

2047

99

Bac

k Pa

ges

56

242

2613

315

022

240

313

279

854

508

1648

124

31,

248

Oth

er64

3155

6115

442

143

1

1



List of Figures


List of Tables



TABL

E A

2-3i

i: SP

ECIF

IC IM

AG

ES O

F C

HIL

DR

EN W

ITH

IN S

TOR

IES

SNK

NC

NTo

-ta

lSN

KN

CN

Tota

lSN

KN

CN

GT

To-

tal

SNK

NC

NG

TTo

tal

Lang

uage

use

d to

de

scrib

e ch

ildre

n-w

ithin

ne

ws s

torie

s

Der

ogat

ory

1

1

4

4

22

729

Com

pli-

men

tary

1

1

Patro

nizi

ng

1

3

3Se

nsat

iona

l

1

213

2060

7016

312

82

7911

932

8N

eutra

l2

9959

40

1

35

338

62

35

16O

ther

1

13

561

713

321

17

5539

102

121

194

253

469

Iden

tifica

tion

of c

hild

ren

Age

129

114

7872

3225

1553

8

134

2545

228

4812

3G

ende

r1

151

243

107

134

249

0

446

3080

941

8816

935

2G

roup

/ Sc

hool

212

187

9113

066

5014

166

19

4535

9084

172

206

363

Nam

e24

4110

125

111

512

88

380

157

5037

145

342

4360

139

Oth

er13

214

410

420

410

093

1141

01

213

2541

102

311

26Pl

acem

ent o

f im

ages

of

chi

ldre

n in

stor

ies /

fe

atur

es

Page

1

146

140

124

5613

385

75

5

1419

132

1011

36Pa

ge 3

13

7117

98

29

3

36

2

1321

Page

56

617

225

134

42

14

317

33

1235

80C

ente

r Pa

ges

1315

1413

44

511

2624

5059

33

125

217

Bac

k Pa

ges

51

536

2313

88

6716

028

026

477

142

636

370

432

1,26

4O

ther

3416

3816

560

104

135

4

118

2645

291

513

48Pl

acem

ent o

f im

ages

of

child

ren

in p

hoto

grap

hsPa

ge 1

16

012

866

755

203

546

61,

668

1

7219

928

5

316

Page

368

276

322

342

911

2236

4

1

1

2

22

6Pa

ge 5

1557

292

103

61

23

3

14

24

918

51C

ente

r Pa

ges

37

135

22

14

1714

3139

35

106

180

Bac

k Pa

ges

2

215

105

45

6716

016

924

163

745

732

261

157

907

1211

2285

4045

25

0



List of Figures


List of Tables



Table A2-4: Television Coverage of Women and Children, 2009 Combined

NCN Prime News VCT Eve-ning News

Capitol News

Total # of News Stories News 269 197 202 123Total # of News Stories Featuring Women 31 41 37 19

Children 24 9 9 2Total # ads Featuring Women 44 102 85 108

Children 15 12 0 45Spokespersons in newscasts Women 20 48 31 28

Children 4 1 6 0Total # of Commentaries Featuring Women 0 0 0 0

Children 0 0 0 0Total # of News Stories Featuring Women 38 32 52 15




Children 0 0 0 0Total # of News Stories Featuring Women 46 34 69 23




0 0 0 0Children



List of Figures


List of Tables



Table A2-5: Coverage in the Press 2008-2009 of Women and Children Consolidated

Total # of all news stories and features/ columns/ letters

Total 08 Total 09 Grand Total %Features / columns / letters

20,383 34,261 54,644 1

Total # of all news stories featuring

Women 5,199 8,747 13,946 26.1Children 2,020 2,837 4,857 5.3

Total # of all fea-tures featuring

Women 1,050 1,507 2,557 3.7Children 282 526 808 1.3

Total # of all news stories featuring

Women 314 512 826 0.6Children 1,007 1,529 2,536 1.2

Total # of features featuring

Women 827 1,135 1,962 0.6Children 169 313 482 0.3

Total # of editori-als featuring

Women 69 129 198 0.1Children 16 29 45 0.1

Total # of columns featuring

Women 23 40 63 0.0Children 35 69 104 0.1

Total # of letters featuring

Women 23 47 70 0.0Children 60 121 181 0.1

Subjects of fea-tures

Women 40 73 113 0.1Children 61 202 263 0.3

Subjects of edi-torials

Women 21 107 128 0.2Children 15 32 47 0.1

# of photographs featuring

Women 26 43 69 0.0Children 2,803 3,911 6,714 8.9

Types of photo-graphs

Passport (#) 1,023 1,405 2,428 3.2Other (#) 19 74 93 3.6

Do photographs accompany news stories/features?

YES/ NO 1,600 2,081 3,681 6.0HOW MANY 1,142 1,507 2,649 0.1

# of advertise-ments featuring

Women 367 453 820 6.1Children 75 177 252 5.8

# of cartoons featuring

Women 57 140 197 1.23 19 22 0.9Children



List of Figures


List of Tables



Table A2-6: SPECIFIC IMAGES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Victims of physical violence Women 20 32 52 0Children 13 38 51 0.4

Perpetrators of physical violence Women 4 13 17 0.1Children 18 41 59 0.1

Victims of rape Women 13 29 42 0.0Children 3 6 9 0.1

Perpetrators of rape Women 4 4 8 0.0Children 12 21 33 0.0

Victims of carnal knowledge Women 13 20 33 0.0Children 111 148 259 0.1

Victims of crime Women 37 52 89 0.1Children 46 98 144 0.3

Perpetrators of crime Women 14 27 41 0.1Children 33 70 103 0.2

Victims of robbery Women 4 18 22 0.1Children 9 22 31 0.1

Perpetrators of robbery Women 12 16 28 0.0Children 8 35 43 0.0

Drug possession Women 6 6 0.0Children 2 11 13 0.1

Trafficking in persons -victim(s) Women 0 0.0Children 2 2 0.0

Trafficking in persons -perpetrator(s) Women 0 0.0Children 188 298 486 0.1

Leadership positions Women 5 7 12 0.0Children 69 119 188 0.7

Successful Women 60 73 133 0.0Children 48 86 134 0.4

Outstanding achievements (non-sports) Women 31 46 77 0.2Children 93 150 243 0.4

Outstanding in sports Women 243 300 543 0.3Children 13 50 63 0.7

Other images Women 26 60 86 1.01 1 2 0.1



List of Figures


List of Tables


Children


Table A2-7i: SPECIFIC IMAGES OF WOMEN WITHIN STORIES

Language used to describe women-within news stories

Derogatory 31 31 62 0Complimentary 0Patronizing 3 5 8 0.0Sensational 348 549 897 0.0Neutral 13 27 40 0.1Other 283 379 662 1.7

Identification of women Age 136 172 308 0.1Group/ School 803 1,095 1,898 1.2Name 128 207 335 1.1Other 48 111 159 3.5



Placement of images of women in photographs

Page 1 43 169 212 9.6Page 3 19 31 50 0.4Page 5 77 98 175 0.2Center Pages 99 130 229 0.1Back Pages 1,248 2,102 3,350 0.4

1 1 0.5



List of Figures


List of Tables



Table A2-7ii: SPECIFIC IMAGES OF CHILDREN WITHIN STORIES

Language used to describe children-within news stories

Derogatory 29 33 62 0.0Complimentary 1 1 0Patronizing 3 3 6 0.0Sensational 328 491 819 0.0Neutral 16 54 70 0.2Other 469 571 1,040 1.0

Identification of children Age 123 148 271 0.3Gender 352 432 784 1.7Group/ School 363 453 816 0.7Name 139 284 423 1.4Other 26 67 93 1.4



Placement of images of children in photographs

Page 1 16 108 124 5.5Page 3 6 7 13 0.9Page 5 51 55 106 0.1Center Pages 180 211 391 0.0Back Pages 907 1,544 2,451 0.1

0 0.4



List of Figures


List of Tables


representations of women and children in the guyanese ...€¦ · representation of women’s and...

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