“Who Makes the Cambodian News?” by UNESCO, which assesses women’s presence and portrayal in Cambodian news.
“Who Makes the Cambodian News” was conducted by UNESCO, in collaboration with Cambodian media outlets, journalist associations, civil society organizations, and development partners. This comprehensive study provides insights into the representation of women in Cambodian news and newsrooms, highlighting gender disparities and suggesting various recommendations to improve gender equality in the media landscape.
UNESCO
Introduction and Purpose of the Report
- The report was commissioned by UNESCO to understand the representation of women in Cambodian news and to provide recommendations to enhance women’s presence and portrayal.
- A mixed-methods approach was used, involving the analysis of literature and the collection of quantitative and qualitative data.
- A total of 4,094 news stories from 12 media outlets were analyzed over a period from January 2 to January 31, 2023.
Key Findings
- Women are significantly underrepresented and misrepresented in Cambodian news.
- Only 5% of news stories had an exclusively women presence, compared to almost half of the stories having an exclusively male presence.
- Women make up only 2% of all spokespeople, 7% of all experts, and 12% of all ordinary citizens/vox pops in the news.
- No editorials or op-eds contained an exclusively women presence.
- News stories with an exclusively male presence were significantly more likely to feature in primetime bulletins and on the front page compared to stories with an exclusively women presence.
Recommendations
- The report calls for media owners, managers, senior editors, journalists, and journalist associations to be intentional about improving women’s presence and portrayal in the news.
- It urges the Royal Government of Cambodia to support the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in monitoring women’s representation in the news and to address gender imbalances.
- The report suggests that media organizations implement gender-sensitive policies in the workplace and focus on gender in content production.
UNESCO’s Role
- UNESCO aims to promote gender equality in media through greater pluralism and diversity, empowering women to take up decision-making roles and strengthening gender-sensitive reporting.
- The organization has developed Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) to provide empirical evidence on women’s presence and participation in news media.
Conclusion
- The study highlights the importance of balanced and equal coverage in news media for a prosperous and harmonious society.
- It also provides tangible opportunities for progress and includes an example of a newsroom that successfully enhanced female narratives. Full report can download here: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000388025