Tag Archive for: Media Law

In the early morning of June 11, the Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in the Communication Services of the Argentine Republic was enacted. A Lley product of the feminist struggles in favor of a democratization in the media organizations in both labor spheres and as producers of meaning.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The media have a fundamental role in the construction and reproduction of meanings and representations about social and subjective reality. As such, they can contribute to the support and justification of inequalities or they can question them, both from their speeches through the content they produce and disseminate as well as within themselves, being understood as work spaces with a specific labor organization.
Investigating how media content is produced, who produces it, what is their training and trajectory, and what place each one occupies within the media allows us to have a map of the situation to address the violence and structural gender inequalities that they reproduce within these spaces.
The media companies, specifically the large commercial media, are characterized by their work structure founded from an androcentric approach. What has conditioned the income, permanence, development and work performance of women and, of course, has excluded transvestite, trans, intersex and non-binary people.
This is visible in the labor trajectories differentiated by gender:

Source: Chaher and Pedraza (2018). Media and gender organizations. Córdoba: Fundeps, Communicate Equality.

To make this graph, only binary data were obtained in terms of gender, that is why it has not been possible to reconstruct work trajectories taking into account the diversity of identities, such as transvestites, trans, intersex and non-binary people. At the time the investigation was carried out, there was only a single trans person working in one of the Córdoba media. Currently there is some progress in this regard, although it remains insufficient. It is possible to recognize the structural gender inequalities that make it difficult, even more than for cisgender women, to access employment, particularly in these types of companies with diverse and dissident identities.

Now, when observing the graph, it is possible to notice that although most of the people who graduate from careers related to communication in the city of Córdoba and Buenos Aires are women, less than half of them go to work in the media commercial. Even fewer are promoted to higher positions, a situation that is reproduced again, although with a deeper inequality, in union spaces.
These career paths are traversed by personal paths. Unpaid domestic and care work falls mainly on women and femininity, affecting their autonomy. As a result, they are the majority among part-time workers and hired under precarious regimes in order to reconcile their working life with unequally distributed care responsibilities. To this must be added micro-chauvinisms and all types of violence that are combined with masculinity pacts, which perpetuate these unequal and exclusive structures.

The lack of gender and care policies, as well as the lack of gender awareness and training in a transversal manner, or the delegation of this responsibility to feminist communicators and gender editors, are some of the obstacles that many of the media companies most important in the country have not been able to overcome. Even in a context of profound changes in favor of gender equality and the demands of the audiences.

What does the law say?

The recently enacted Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in Communication Services of the Argentine Republic is inserted in a national and international legal framework and of historical claims of various social and feminist movements, of which it is the result. Claims that were previously reflected in national legislation, such as Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas in which they develop their interpersonal relationships, Law 26,743 on Gender Identity and the Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services, among others. As well as public policies, such as the creation of the Public Defender’s Office and the AFSCA, were the result of the commitments assumed by the State in the fight against gender violence.

Its purpose is “to promote equity in the representation of genders from a perspective of sexual diversity in communication services, whatever the platform used” in all the country’s communication media, although it is only mandatory for those of management state. This law does not seek parity, but goes further: it is based on the principle of equity and the inclusion of all gender gender identities in all positions of the media labor structures, breaking with binarism. the promotion of democratization and diversity of voices and their labor structures.

This democratization process from a gender and diversity perspective is understood as gradual, gradual and only mandatory for state-run media, while privately managed media will be encouraged through the preference in assigning official guidelines in cases to carry out measures in the sense proposed by this law.

These positive action measures move away from the punitive paradigm to establish proactive policies that encourage transformations respecting the times and processes of each privately managed media.

In turn, the corresponding authority will be created for the implementation of the law in order to guarantee its compliance.

We celebrate these legal advances that are the result of the insistent struggle of feminist movements, especially feminist communicators and journalists who in their daily practices sustained, and still do, transformations inside and outside their work spaces. We are aware that the struggle does not end with the enactment of a law, but requires a comprehensive and intersectional implementation plan to achieve real equality and make the rights formally sanctioned tangible.

We will keep our attention on the implementation of the law and the public policies designed and carried out to achieve it.

Más información:

We received a response from the Public Defender’s Office regarding the claims of symbolic and media violence carried out on the Los Angeles de la Mañana program on Channel 13 and the journalist Fabiana Dal Prá on the central noon newscast on Channel 12 in Córdoba.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Chimentos format and forced exposure

In the program Los Ángeles de la Mañana on Channel 13 on July 23, journalist Yanina Latorre told on the air that Karina Jelinek “does not whitewash her partner”, and that “she lives as a couple, with a very pretty girl” “They live together and are cuddly”, to which he added many other expressions referring to his private life. Later, a female worker claimed that Karina did not want to talk about her relationships and that she had declared that she was alone.

This type of “gossip” and content are very frequent on television, where the high exposure of famous women always leads to their private life and sexuality being exposed. However, an analysis of the case was requested by the Public Defender’s Office since it concerns the sexual orientation of a person who did not want to be exposed.

Faced with this claim, the Ombudsman’s Office responded by justifying and endorsing the dynamics that occurred in the program, through the argument that the reading and interpretation framework in which news related to the private life of public persons are presented responds to the magazine genre of shows. In the programs of this format, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, color “chimentos” are presented, firsts of the public and private life of entertainment figures, alluding, many times, to the fact that the media do not want data about them to be mediated . That is to say, the negative position of the figures works as the trigger for a chain of situations that transcend the broadcast, expanding on the rest of the television programs related to the genre: someone announces a scoop, the famous referrer gets angry in that or another program and interviews are carried out, among other variants provided by the format.

In this framework, the Directorate understands that the information offered by the panelist [Yanina Latorre] as a scoop, integrates the expected repertoire of possibilities that the program format enables ”.

Following this, the agency affirms that the program does not identify comments of a burlesque or discriminatory tone regarding Jelinek’s sexual orientation, but quite the opposite: “Likewise, it is observed that the comments and evaluations expressed are inserted in a framework of respectful communication of gender and sexual diversity and this approach is fostered throughout the development of the topic and by the host and all the panelists. Similarly, the dissemination of positive expressions and evaluations on the subject abounds, which contributes to questioning and de-constructing binary and stereotyped conceptions about affective relationships and a respectful visibility of diversity. “

Based on these arguments, the Ombudsman’s Office considers that the situation described does not enable an intervention in terms of violation of rights.

However, we understand that the institution must advance in deeper analyzes regarding the consent that is taken for granted about the exposure of the lives of public figures, as well as the objectification and fetishization of feminities and their sexual orientations.

The gossip format, like humor, seems to be a gray space where certain speeches are enabled that can be offensive and even violent, particularly towards the lives of LGTBIQA + people.

Without ignoring the importance of protecting the privacy of all people, it is necessary to recognize that it is not the same to speak and expose the sex-affective bonds between people who adhere to the heteronorm than those who do not, precisely because of the implications they have for their lives that pass in a heterocispatriarchal world.

In turn, the comments of the panelists involve the objectification of two women and their sexual orientation, which is evident in the comments of the panelist Yanina Latorre: “I love it”, “they tell me that it is a couple . It’s great. All good ”,“ well, we are glad ”,“ not bad. It gives me divine joy. They are both beautiful ”,“ you know I was looking at her to see what it would be like to be with her, I tell you she has divine tits ”.

Finally, why assume the supposed consent of public and media people to be exposed in all areas of their life? We are concerned about the interpretive framework used by the Ombudsman’s Office since it legitimizes the logic of these magazines, which imply a denial of the consent of public figures, which ignores what Jelinek said about not wanting to talk about his private life and which may have particularly violent implications when refer to your sexual orientation.

The Ombudsman’s Office in the media approach to cases of physical and sexual violence

Let us remember the interview conducted by the journalist Fabiana Dal Prá with a rape victim. “Do you blame yourself for something?” Dal Prá asks after Dahyana, the young woman from Cordoba who was sexually attacked in Barrio Ampliación Las Palmas, recounted her painful experience.

The claim presented to the Ombudsman’s Office was responded favorably by the agency: “This approach proposes a risky interpretative framework for the facts, since by insinuating the possible guilt of the victim (even under a discursive modality of interrogation and not of explicit affirmation) it promotes the legitimation and naturalization of the acts of violence suffered ”. At the same time, it highlights the need and responsibility of those who communicate, to dismantle and eradicate violent coverage that reproduces “the guilty and naturalizing senses that those who exercise violence often express as reasons for the causality of the facts. It is important that those who communicate emphasize that all the reasons and the responsibility lies with the person who carries out the violence ”.

At the same time, the analysis of the institution revealed inconveniences at the time of safeguarding the identity of the person in a situation of violence and the absence of a badge with the 144 telephone line for assistance to victims of gender violence.

In this case, the Ombudsman’s Office recognizes that the situation presented corresponds to a case of symbolic and media violence, for which it proceeded to communicate the claim to Channel 12 and made itself available to dialogue with the channel in order to “enrich, from a rights perspective, future approaches of the station. “

The importance of the Public Defender’s Office for the eradication of gender violence

In May of this year, Miriam Lewin was appointed as Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services, after years of weakness and institutional weakness. This appointment has meant the strengthening not only of the Public Defender’s Office, but also an advance in the recognition of the rights of audiences as well as a renewed impetus in the fight against media and symbolic violence.

The responses received by the Ombudsman’s Office to the claims presented, in which the procedure for receiving, analyzing and returning them is clarified and made visible, indicates an important activation of the institution in pursuit of the defense of our rights.

Based on these claims, we celebrate the responses and actions of the Public Defender’s Office and, in turn, we require that progress be made in deeper and more enlightening interpretations of cases of symbolic and media violence.

More information

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

On July 21, in the central news show on Canal 12 in Córdoba, journalist Fabiana Dal Prá interviewed a rape victim. We denounced before the Public Defender’s Office, her approach, which was an example of media and symbolic violence, showing how much there is still no training in gender perspective in the media.

Do you blame yourself for something?” Dal Prá asks after a woman on her back recounted her painful experience, visibly moved. Dahyana, the young Cordovan woman who was sexually assaulted in the Ampliación Las Palmas neighborhood responds forcefully that she is not guilty of anything, that she has been the victim of a sex crime.

It is not the first time that the journalist has committed symbolic and media violence. In 2019, in the case of Lautaro Teruel, accused of sexual abuse of a ten-year-old girl, he described the fact on the air as a “mistake”. The same thing happened in 2018, when interviewing a young woman who had been abused in the vicinity of the Kempes Stadium, who asked her, after the account of the events: “Are you sorry for how you reacted?”.

This approach to sexual abuse cases, focusing on the victim’s guilt and questioning their actions, only manages to minimize the fact of physical and sexual violence to which they were subjected through re-victimization and stigmatization. This treatment is an exercise in media violence, not only towards the victim who is exposed and questioned, but also towards other women and femininity who are part of the audience and may have experienced situations of the same type. The impact of a journalistic action of these characteristics is enhanced by the breadth of the scope of the channel and the program’s central schedule.

Nor is it the first time that Canal 12 commits these forms of gender violence nor the first time that it receives public condemnation. This recidivism does nothing more than make evident the lack of commitment of the environment with the visibility, prevention and fight for the eradication of the different types and modalities of gender violence.

In this situation, we denounce the facts before the Public Defender, the administrative body that protects the rights of the hearings, so that it analyzes the interview and intervenes, making recommendations to the media.

Symbolic and media violence in the media
The media are key actors in the construction and reproduction of meanings and values ​​that can legitimize or transform violent practices, behaviors and ways of understanding the world. They are actors who have the possibility of building a more just and equitable society through the deconstruction of gender roles and stereotypes that violate LGBTIQ + women and people.

Unfortunately this is not the case, despite being recognized by law. We are, once again, before a medium that systematically exercises symbolic and media violence in accordance with the definitions of Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women, and which are also contemplated in Law 26,522 on Services of Audiovisual Communication.

Media violence is one that through stereotyped patterns, messages, values, icons or signs, transmits and reproduces domination, inequality and discrimination in social relations, naturalizing the subordination of women in society.

Symbolic violence is any publication or dissemination of stereotyped messages and images through any mass media, which directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women or their images, injures, defames, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or attempts against dignity of women, as well as the use of women, adolescents and girls in pornographic messages and images, legitimizing unequal treatment or building sociocultural patterns that reproduce inequality or generate violence against women.

To avoid these types of violence when dealing with cases of sexual abuse, the Public Defender’s Office has a Guide for the responsible treatment of cases of violence against women, in which it indicates that it is necessary to “dispense with approaches that stigmatize, blame , they disbelieve and / or sexualize women in situations of violence ”, as well as“ privilege approaches focused on prevention and awareness of the social problems of violence against women, regardless of the spectacularization and fictionalization of cases.”

It is urgent that the media and journalists are trained and sensitized to develop communication with a gender perspective, egalitarian and non-sexist, but fundamentally, that they put aside these violent practices.

The only appropriate and responsible way of addressing violence against women through the media is starting from a perspective that respects human rights and is committed to the prevention and eradication of violence.

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Last Wednesday, May 27, in the midst of the health emergency affecting Argentina, the bicameral commission for the Promotion and Monitoring of Audiovisual Communication, Telecommunications Technologies and Digitization approved the appointment of journalist Miriam Lewin for the position Defender of the Public of Audiovisual Communication Services and only remains to be endorsed by those who preside over both houses, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Sergio Massa. The position was created by the Media Law and remained headless during the previous government’s term.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The political and economic instability that has been experienced in the country in recent years has led to a mismatch in regulatory agencies, which has resulted in difficulties in the normal functioning of the agencies responsible for directing and executing public gender and communication policies.

This situation exposed society to violations of their rights. Especially if we bear in mind that the media and advertising agencies are essential actors in content development. They hold a power not only commercial or as cultural institutions, but are considered as opinion formers, producers, reproducers and transmitters of values, stereotypes, meanings and common sense, while determining what is considered relevant, normal , debatable and socially accepted or rejected.

Actors who have a monopoly on the media and content production systematically legitimize gender inequalities through the content they disseminate. For this reason, it is necessary to demand that the State guarantee the effective use of public policies that ensure respect for human rights, democratization of the media, that promote equality and that eliminate discrimination. Not only to overthrow the violence and the reproduction of stereotypes and gender violence that are perpetuated within the contents that are circulating, but also for the elimination of structural inequalities in the work spaces of this industry that mostly affect women.

Thanks to the feminist struggle and its agenda, gender-based violence is no longer tolerated today and as a result of the complaints they managed to create a legislative framework in which Media and Symbolic violence is contemplated. The Audiovisual Communication Services Law and the Comprehensive Protection Law to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas in which their interpersonal relationships are developed have the goal of protecting and safeguarding the rights of women and LGBTQ + people. In addition, state agencies such as ENACOM, the INAM Observatory of Media and Symbolic Violence (now absorbed by the new Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity), the Public Defender, INADI and the Office for the Monitoring of Publication of Sexual Trade Offer Notices.

Who is Miriam?

Miriam Liliana Lewin is an investigative journalist with an extensive career in television, radio and graphics, including work on Telenoche Investiga, Todo Noticias, Radio Nacional and América TV, among others. She was nominated seven times for the Martín Fierro award on radio and television.

She was a member of the Peronist left during the 1970s and was detained in the Virrey Cevallos clandestine detention center and in ESMA during the last civic-military dictatorship (1976-1983). In 1985 she was a witness in the Trial to the Boards, continues to declare in cases related to crimes against humanity in Argentina and is an active activist for human rights and in the struggles of the feminist movement.

As a writer, her literary works include “Ni putas ni guerrilleras” (co-authored with Olga Wornat) on sexual crimes in clandestine detention centers during the last military dictatorship. It had its first edition in 2014, pre #NiUnaMenos, #MeToo and debate on abortion, and is an indicator of interest and conviction in the feminist agenda.

On several occasions, she has expressed her affinity with the feminist movement, participating as a speaker in talks on abuse and power in society, or referring to the Women and Dissidence meeting, which is held every year in La Plata, highlighting the significant growth and importance of the women’s movement, the green, violet tide and the groups that fight for rights in the country.

In dialogue with TN, Lewin promised “to carry out a democratic and participatory management, with open doors for both communicators and all sectors that feel their rights violated in this special reality. The Ombudsman does not have punitive functions. It is that all those involved in the phenomenon of communication can be represented on the media map. To extend the rights of all and always respecting freedom of expression. “

Today more and more discriminatory discourses are questioned by society and in this line, the appointment of Miriam Lewin constitutes a hopeful message regarding the fight against media violence that affects, mostly, women and people belonging to the LGTBQ + community.

Author 

Irene Aguirre
Sofía Mongi

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org