Journalism
is a field in which both men and women can succeed, but it has always been
considered as a male dominated profession. Due to the prevailing stereotypes
women found it very difficult to break into this profession and some face such
problems even now, depending upon the country and its culture.
Female
journalists tend to be more vulnerable to conflicts in terms of sexual or
physical assault, although both male and female journalists have been assaulted
while covering stories. Fearing the loss of their jobs, more than half of the
victims don’t talk about the horrific experiences that they have had while
covering stories. While on the other hand some journalists don’t hesitate a bit
in talking about such experiences and making such incidents public, Lora Logan
a CBS correspondent spoke out about her experience in Tahrir Square in Cairo,
Egypt, where she was attacked by a mob and both molested and brutally beaten up
to an extent that she had to be hospitalized for a few days. Another incident
took place with Natasha Smith, a British journalist at Tahrir Square. She was in Tahrir to film the
crowd for a documentary on women's rights. In Tahrir, she was groped and
prodded upon and even beaten up by a group of men. Smith claims that almost
every female journalist has been assaulted at least once in her career. Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy was also
assaulted by Egyptian security forces.
There have also been instances where a lot of male
journalists have been assaulted. Umar Cheema, a prominent political reporter for Pakistan’s
largest English-language newspaper, The News, mentioned
in one of his interviews that he was abducted, tortured and sexually assaulted
in an Islamabad suburb in September 2010. Egyptian blogger Mohammed al-Sharkawi
was sodomized in May 2006, when he was 24 and no one has been prosecuted for
the same till date. Other male media workers have been victimized in captivity.
Journalists face a lot of difficulties while
covering stories and collecting facts and are never encouraged to come up with
their negative experiences, as it would affect the image of the channel or
agency they are working for. At the same time choose not to talk about it to anyone,
as it would also affect their career and their capabilities to an extent. A lot
of times the agencies that hire journalists after finding out about such
incidents suggest the respective journalist to avoid covering up stories in
such vulnerable areas. Women being the victims on most occasions, face a larger
threat to their career. Bina Shah, a Karachi based journalist and fiction
writer quotes in one of her articles, “the
most dangerous place for women journalists seems to be their own places of
employment”. The bosses claim that female journalists are easy targets at
such situations and it’s risky for them, but if one asks them what about men?
What will one or two journalists do if a group of 15-20 people attack them? Men
can be assaulted and it’s equally risky for them too.
As soon as the bosses make decisions of
appointing male journalists for covering stories at such conflict zones, it
becomes really unfair being a clear discrimination against women. At the same
time it raises a question at their capabilities. Journalists themselves should
do the decision-making, as they are the ones who have no one to blame except
for himself or herself if things don’t go well.
The best would be to not be judgmental and help
the victim in every possible way. The news agencies and other related companies
should encourage their employees to come up with their stories and experiences,
if any, rather than covering up such issues and making situations worse, encouraging
the culprits to repeat their acts of misbehavior. This has now become a common
practice and needs to be changed. The changing trends of journalists opening up
and coming up with their stories is helping them and others to learn from the
mistakes they did and be more careful and alert at such times. There has to be
a solution to such nuisance and it has to stop.
-Ruchir Gupta
(FST 102)
Reference links:
The opening paragraph of the writeup, states the existing bias in journalism between men and women. This is a notion which the reader is either able to relate to or vehemently oppose, capturing the reader's attention, compelling them to read forward.
ReplyDeleteThis overview is what the argument is based on which compares and contrasts the status of male and female journalists. Quotes and instances of sexual abuse on males, etc. make the argument stronger. Better structuring of sentences, in certain areas, would perhaps make the writing more focused and clear. Nevertheless, the different paragraphs have been constructed around a specific point and strategically placed to lead to the final conclusion, which suggests various practices to deal with the situation of women journalists.
An elaboration on the prevailing stereotypes would give the reader a greater understanding of the nuances of journalism.
Overall it is a pretty convincing attempt to prove your point of view.