Women in Media

global media monitoring project

Global Media Monitoring Project

The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) is the largest and longest-running research on gender in the world’s news media. Every five years since 1995, GMMP reports indicators of gender in the news media, gender bias and stereotypes in news stories and other content. The sixth research in the series was published recently.

Sample

By design, the GMMP captures a snapshot of gender on one ‘ordinary’ news day in the world news media. GMMP teams in 116 countries monitored 30,172 stories published in newspapers, broadcast on radio and
television, and disseminated on news websites and through news media tweets in 2251 news outlets.

Increase in visibility for women

Forty percent stories in traditional news media are reported by women, compared to 37% since 2005.
In the past two decades, women’s newspaper byline credits have increased by 11 percent, their visibility in newscasts has increased by 9%, and online, 42% of journalists named in news articles, seen or heard in multimedia clips are women.

Women more likely to use female sources

GMMP findings across time indicate that women reporters are more likely than men to turn to women subjects and sources. In 2020 the gap is more than seven percent. Currently, 31% of the people in traditional news covered by women reporters are female, in contrast to 24% of subjects and sources in stories by men reporters.

Gender Stereotypes

News stories are unlikely to clearly challenge gender stereotypes today as they were 15 years ago.
Between seven to nine out of 10 stories on sexual harassment, rape, other forms of gender violence and specific gender inequality issues reinforce or do nothing to challenge gender stereotypes.

Fewer pandemic specialists

Women are 27% of the health
specialists appearing in coronavirus stories, far fewer than the 46% world average given in labour force statistics. Of the persons portrayed as homemakers, women are almost
seven in 10, similar to the 2015 findings.

Traditional Media Non-Inclusive

Women were only 13% of subjects and sources in the television newscast monitored and 21% in the digital
news stories and tweets coded from Al Jazeera, BBC News -World, CNN International, France 24, Reuters, RT News, TeleSur and @nytimes.

Partners

WACC carries out this work in partnership with UN Women, UNESCO, and the Global Alliance on Gender and Media (GAMAG). It will take at least 67 more years to close the average gender equality gap in traditional news media worldwide, according to the 6th Global Media Monitoring Project.