Subject: [fem-women2000 321] [B5NGONEWS] Media in LAC: An agenda for policy changes (fwd)
From: lalamaziwa <lalamazi@jca.apc.org>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 07:11:19 +0900 (JST)
Seq: 321

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 22:31:28 +0200
From: liz <liz@gn.apc.org>
Reply-To: b5ngonews@lists.sn.apc.org
To: Multiple recipients of list <b5ngonews@lists.sn.apc.org>
Subject: [B5NGONEWS] Media in LAC: An agenda for policy changes

> Media in LAC: 
> An agenda for policy changes 
> Sally Burch (ALAI/WA)
> 
> The Beijing Platform for Action rightly 
> incorporated \"Women and Media\" as a new critical area 
> of concern for women\'s equality and development. NGO 
> consultations and alternative reports for Beijing+5 
> underlined globalization of communications and 
> technology as a crucial emerging issue on which to 
> develop policy, that  guarantees spaces for women's 
> democratic participation in society.  Yet  the 
> proposals to this end have been practically excluded 
> from the Outcomes document, which contains barely five 
> paragraphs specifically on media and communication. 
> 
> In a statement addressed by Latin American and 
> Caribbean communications organizations to governments, 
> in reference to implementation of Chapter J of the 
> Beijing Platform for Action (Women and Media), the 
> regional Women Action  initiative questioned: "We met 
> our commitments, did you?"  They pointed out that women 
> have promoted advancements towards equality in media 
> venues, have created and strengthened their own 
> mechanisms and have built networks to facilitate 
> interaction.  They have promoted and appropriated 
> access to new technologies and they have advocated for 
> the right to communicate.
> 
> The Women Action alternative report on Women and Media 
> in the region registers that progress in general has 
> nonetheless been slow.  More women are being trained 
> and are working in media, yet they are still scarce in 
> decision-making positions, while governmental gender 
> programs have done little to prioritize these issues. 
> The report concludes that to change the status of women 
> in the media, it is necessary to adopt public policies 
> and media codes of ethics \"that promote affirmative 
> actions towards a greater participation of women as 
> information sources and agents, respecting their right 
> to communicate and offering opportunities to put into 
> practice this right in the media".
> 
> Meanwhile, the communications scene is undergoing rapid 
> changes in the region.  These include privatization of 
> telecommunications, the implantation of new 
> communications systems, including satellite and digital 
> technology, and increasing concentration of media 
> ownership, accompanied by modifications in the legal 
> framework, such as removing constitutional restrictions 
> on foreign investment. In most cases, these changes 
> treat information as a commodity rather than as a right 
> of citizens, and they include no consideration of how 
> they will impact on women specifically.
> 
> 





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