Women’s issues underreported by media — report

AMMAN — A study released on Saturday by the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) found that women’s issues are under-reported across a range of media in the Kingdom. 

The study is part of the “Portal of Jordanian women experts” initiative, which was launched on Wednesday in partnership with the Jordan Press Association, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, and Jordan Television, with funding from the EU in cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists, Petra reported.

The study sample covered all media items published on February 26 by four daily newspapers, four news websites, two local television channels and three radio stations.

A total of 1,552 items were covered in the study, 1,361 of which addressed general issues, constituting 87.7 per cent, and 191 items were related to women’s issues, making up 12.3 per cent of sampled media output.

Items covering women’s issues on TV made up 47.7 per cent of total TV items, 28.8 per cent on websites, 17.8 per cent in print media and 5.7 per cent on radio stations.

The “woman, life and work” category in all local media outlets amounted to 28.8 per cent, “clothes, fashion and celebrities” covered 22.5 per cent, while issues related to “violence against women” constituted 14.1 per cent, and “women and civil community organisations” made up only 3.7 per cent of coverage. 

The highest focus on women and women’s issues occurred on TV with 22.7 per cent, and the least on websites with 5.1 per cent, while women’s presence on radio and in print media registered 11.8 and 9.4 per cent respectively.