PNG Students learn from the GMMP

Joys Eggins, GMMP Coordinator, Papua New Guinea

A cohort of some 20 journalism students sat in groups discussing why women are very unlikely to be the central focus of a story.

These students were aware that an elite minority of mostly men dominate the news in Papua New Guinea (PNG) . They were, however, surprised at the extent of the gender disparity, as presented in the GMMP report of 2005 ‘Who makes the news?

In 2005, only 10 per cent of news stories worldwide had women as a central focus, There was a perception that developed countries had a far greater representation of women in almost everything from sports to politics.

The report was a valuable learning resource for our students, but it was still a study that did not involve PNG. Therefore the invitation to take part in this GMMP was very exciting.

We monitored 6 media organisations including; Post Courier, The National, Wantok (newspapers); Karai Service and Nau FM (radio) and EM-TV.

During the coding process, we had heated discussions and became somewhat disillusioned by trends we were discovering in the media.

We became more aware of the effects of story placements in the newscasts and newspapers. We began to analyze placement of advertisements, the layout and design process and how these can misrepresent women and men to readers.

This motivated us to take this kind of study to the next level and possibly monitor our media for a longer period, involving students for the learning experience it could give them.

Our involvement also stirred interest amongst our colleagues at Divine Word University (DWU) who wanted to know what the GMMP was. This resulted in a presentation on the project to members of the Arts Faculty at DWU in December.

The GMMP experience for us was different because of the sheer magnitude of the study. We were part of a bigger process that was focused and had a clear objective. The coordination from Toronto was excellent and enabled us at the national level to execute our tasks effectively.

The tools used in the GMMP will most certainly be useful with our journalism students in PNG. The lessons learnt from this process, as well as the coming results will provide us with invaluable information about gender representation in the world’s media.

PNG’s involvement this time round hopefully will set the pace for greater participation in further work with the GMMP and WACC as well as increase our involvement in other international activities that could be of mutual benefit.

As a national coordinator, I would like to acknowledge the assistance and involvement of the following people in PNG; Lavina P. Mul and Imelda Yabara (both monitors), Aaron English (Karai Services), Jenifer Sirias (ICT Department), National Disability Resource & Advocacy Centre (PNG), Communication Arts Department and Divine Word University.

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