Resources

Meeting their public mandate?: A Critical Analysis of South African Media Statutory Bodies by MMP

This book, published by the Open Society Foundation and written by various organisations, offers insignt into the South African Media Statutory Bodies. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the Universal Services Agency, and the Media Development and Diversity Agency are explored in terms of their mandates. The Media Monitoring Project conducted the research and wrote the analysis of the SABC.

Placed here with the kind permission of the Open Society Foundation.

Media and the 16 Days Campaign 2006 by MMP

The coverage of The 16 Days Campaign in Gauteng media coverage, including e-tv and SABC 3 prime time news, was reasonable good in most aspects. Some improvements could be made in terms of reporting on woman and child abuse.

The 2006 monitoring revealed:

There were more male sources (60%) than female sources (40%) in the items that were monitored;
SABC 3 had the highest ratio of female to male sources with 60% sources being female. The Weekender, on the other hand, lacked any female sources in stories that related to the Campaign and woman and child abuse;
At 17% each, the most common roles for sources was that of “Government officials and politicians” and “Civil Society”;
Where the sex of the journalist was known, 62% of the times the stories were written by female journalists;
Topics that related to gender-based violence accounted for 36% of all stories monitored. Child abuse stories accounted for 16% of all the stories;
16 Days Campaign or campaigns relating gender issues accounted for 13% of the stories;
The most supported journalistic ethic was “Woman and child abuse are fundamental human rights violations”. The most violated principle was “Minimise harm”;
3% of stories made a link between HIV/Aids and woman and child abuse
56% of all stories monitored mentioned the 16 Days Campaign

Media wise - children make the difference by MMP

The comprehensive research study proposed by the MMP, the first of its kind in South Africa, aimed to address the representation of children and children’s rights in the news media. The ECM project took place over a three-month period in 2003. A group of monitors reviewed print, radio and television media to identify trends in the portrayal of children in the news. In an exciting and innovative research approach, the MMP also sought the active participation of children, in order to understand their views and perceptions of children’s representation in the media. The MMP, together with Clacherty & Associates, an organisation that specialises in participatory work with children, co-developed the content and methodology of the participatory workshops. Clacherty & Associates facilitated the workshops, which were run with the children. As part of the process, the children engaged in a parallel monitoring project where they monitored the media for a two-week period. This was done so that the children could express their views directly and see for themselves how they are represented by the media.

The Children's Media Mentoring Project (CMMP) Report by MMP

The Media Monitoring Project pioneered a best practice approach to working with children as monitors and with journalists as mentors in a project called the Children’s Media Mentoring Project. MMP worked together with the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) and Agência de Notícas dos Direitos da Infância (ANDI: a Brazilian news agency focused on children’s rights). This report describes the project activities and looks at The Star newspaper as a case study on the effectiveness of the MMP's approach. This file is 2MBs.

50 Years of Women's Voices: Women's Day 2006 by MMP

The 50th year anniversary of the 1956 women's pass march offered media an opportunity to educate and inform South African's of the role played by women in the struggle against apartheid. Diverse women featured in coverage including:
* The stories of heroines, leaders and activists;
* gender-based violence covered
* Successful women; and
* The Magogos.