20 Feb 2006

Monitor group says Fiji news media marginalising women

7:16 am on 20 February 2006

A media monitor group in Fiji says only one in five people featuring in national newspapers and news broadcasts is a woman, and too often women are portrayed as a victim stereotype.

Fiji Media Watch surveyed 94 news items from both print and broadcast media.

A spokesperson for one of the joint survey-takers, Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, said when the media type-casts women as victims, it becomes hard to engage with them as decision makers.

But the report said that contrary to global trends, Fiji women appeared to be at the forefront of hard news journalism and were not solely assigned softer stories such as celebrity news.