More and more women are playing an active professional role in the media. But their growing presence on editorial staffs and on both ends of cameras and microphones, has not significantly raised the level of gender democracy in reporting and portrayal.
Worldwide, women now make up over 40 percent of all reporters, correspondents, and especially newscasters. But of every 100 individuals represented in the news, an average of only 18 are women (12 in Germany).
These figures result from the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), whose aim is to determine the presence of women in major news services - both as those doing the reporting and those being reported on. The first study, in which 70 countries participated, took place in 1995 in preparation for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. The second was carried out in 2000 to mark the "Beijing Plus 5" UN Conference. Its results were essentially the same.
In both studies, the League of Women Journalists coordinated the collection of data from the German media. The next GMMP is planned for 2005, in which the League of Women Journalists will again participate. In the meantime, we are monitoring leading German daily papers and their online editions on a day chosen at random each year.
For more information, please see our website in german.
