SUMMARY OF THE WORKING GROUP ON
MEDIA STRATEGIES
The participants in the Media Working Group agreed that:
- There has been limited coverage of ICPD in the media; there has been extensive coverage of "overpopulation" in the media, reinforced by the image of abject poverty that is prevalent in the world. There has been no coverage of distribution issues, including population distribution, which in some countries is more of a problem than population growth.
- Women's issues and women's perspectives on population activities have received limited or no coverage at all.
- Different strategies are needed for broadcast, audio, and print media.
- All women and NGOs are part of the media; NGOs are instruments for carrying and disseminating information.
- We should target alternative media to convey information about women's issues.
The working group recommended the following strategies:
Before and during Cairo we should:
- Identify our present media assets, and human and material resources.
- Use all outlets available to us to convey information about women and women's perspectives on population activities; cultivate and sensitize the mainstream media, journalists, and media managers on population and development issues. Also sensitize the official media of international organizations and the alternative media on women's issues. Use prime time to disseminate messages.
- Bombard the media with citations from international agreements that have denounced the abuse of and discrimination against women, and focus attention on governments that are signatories of these international treaties and hold them accountable for their commitments.
- Find facts, figures, and positive images of quality of life to at least counter, if not subvert, the prevailing portrayal of population issues in the media as only "growth." Print buttons, T-shirts, banners, and other memorabilia to blitz the Cairo conference and other conferences.
- Identify sources of funding to launch a women's media campaign on population changes and women's issues. Make use of audiovisual materials already produced to promote feminist ideas of social development.
- Include women's agenda and perspectives on population on the agenda of national and international media meetings.
- Solicit support of attendees of previous international conferences on how to strategize about media during the ICPD. Images of population and development "problems" should not focus on developing countries alone; these are global issues and should be presented as such. The voices of women, especially those who are silenced or have been forgotten, must be amplified.
- Ensure that at least one feminist press agency and journalist from each region is present at the PrepCom and in Cairo.
After Cairo, we must:
- Collect as much information as possible from Cairo for feedback and dissemination after the conference.
- Continue to cultivate journalists; encourage women to become media actors who will continuously promote women's voices, especially those that are not often heard.
- Recognize and encourage universities and institutions that train journalists to focus on nonsexist curricula, and to challenge gender stereotypes in the media; also promote women's perspectives on gender and development.
- Maintain the media momentum towards the Social Development Summit and the Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995, ensuring that the achievements in one United Nations conference are carried on to the next one.
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