Tag Archive for: Media violence

,

Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office: “The media and information in the pandemic”

During the year 2021, faced with a pandemic context, we participated in the first Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office in virtual mode, through a videoconference platform and, at the beginning of this year, the reports resulting from the process were published.

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.

Communication during the pandemic

The Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office have been held every year since 2013, with the exception of the 2019-2020 period, fulfilling the mandate of the Audiovisual Communication Services Law to evaluate the functioning of the body through citizen participation.

The theme that governed the conversations of the last Hearing was “The media and information in the pandemic”. The meetings that were held were of the utmost importance since it was an issue that has affected not only the country but also the world in a transversal way. Approaching communication from a rights and gender approach implies conceiving all citizens as subjects of law and commits the State to guarantee their participation and incidence in political decisions. This becomes urgent in a context in which information is a fundamental human right for survival, which is why this Hearing allowed the Public Defender’s Office to internalize the needs and claims of the different actors in society regarding this issue. and all those who touch us as communicational citizens.

The thematic axes that were debated were: right to communication and Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services; access to audiovisual communication services in coverage of the pandemic; information and disinformation in the audiovisual media about the Covid-19 pandemic; specific considerations in the audiovisual coverage of the pandemic on historically marginalized sectors; State and public communication policies linked to the operation of audiovisual communication services in a pandemic; situation of the workers of the press, regulation and organization of work; proposals, suggestions and requests addressed to the Public Defender’s Office in relation to audiovisual media in a pandemic.

Our intervention

Organized by regions, the first virtual audience was that of the Central Region, which includes the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fé and Entre Ríos, divided into two days due to the large call. Through the participation of Mayca Balaguer, coordinator of the areas of Legal Affairs and Gender and Sexual Diversity, we participated in this Public Hearing contributing from a human rights and gender perspective.

In reference to the aspects that we consider positive and negative in the media coverage of the pandemic, we highlight that the media served and had a fundamental role as a channel for transmitting information related to Covid-19 and health measures. However, we express our concern about some cases of fake news, disinformation and even bad examples.

Likewise, regarding media and symbolic gender violence, we state that during the pandemic we observed that in many cases the media reinforced gender stereotypes, fundamentally through a strong stigmatization of fat bodies, motivated by changes in habits in diet and sedentary lifestyle caused by isolation. Far from promoting healthy habits in a way that respects body diversity, we noticed that many media outlets fell into fat-phobic and stereotyping discourses.

Regarding the role of the State, we highlight the need to develop visibility strategies for alternative, self-managed, community media from different parts of the country, which are dedicated to reporting from the territories. We believe that the contribution of these media is key to recovering the voices and perspectives of non-hegemonic sectors from a perspective that respects human rights, especially those that are made up of women and dissidents, people with disabilities, racialized, fat, etc. At this point, a more equitable distribution of the official guideline may be a key factor in sustaining these media, which, due to the socioeconomic consequences derived from social isolation, may cease to exist, fueling the monopolization of information in the hands of hegemonic media.

The importance of citizen participation in communication policies

The Public Defender’s Office’s main objective is to promote and guarantee the rights of audiences in pursuit of democratic communication throughout the country. To achieve this, it holds public hearings that seek to actively participate and involve citizens in decision-making so that these are made in a transparent manner and, ultimately, a more informed and participatory society is generated that has access to its right to communication.

In these public hearings, they function as a mechanism for the State to carry out an updated diagnosis on the operation of the audiovisual media, recovering different points of view, opinions, experiences and studies provided by citizens. This makes it possible to inform, design and implement public policies aimed at the recognition and exercise of the rights of the audience.

For this reason, we celebrate this space for citizen participation in which we participate, since it is essential to guarantee equal access to information and to expand the diversity of voices in the government decision-making process. This promotes the construction of informed, inclusive, more democratic, fair and equitable public policies that incorporate a rights approach.

Autor

Irene Aguirre

Contact

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

,

Equity in the media: why and for what?

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:

,

Media and symbolic violence: under the magnifying glass of a new Public Defender’s Office

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

,

Blame it on the media

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.

More information

Contact

,

We have an Ombudsman and she is a feminist

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

Gender policies in journalism and advertising. The debates we owed

We held the National Forum on Gender Policies in Journalism and Advertising on September 12 and 13 at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UBA. We have the presence of interns from the interior of the country dedicated to advertising, journalism and communication, representatives of journalistic and advertising organizations and we obtained the signature of 44 institutions to the Commitment Agreement.

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.

There were two days of reflection and discussion around a central axis: the gender policies that exist (and are missing) in the two most important sectors dedicated to communication: advertising and journalism.

On Thursday 12, the day began in the afternoon with the opening of the Forum by the organizations that made this event possible: The Civil Association Communication for Equality, The Heinrich Boll Foundation, UNESCO and Fundeps.

Then, organizations from all over the country linked to journalism and advertising signed the Commitment Agreement on Gender Policies in Journalism and Advertising. They expressed their interest and desire to transform the labor structures of these industries and create democratic, inclusive and diverse spaces, with equal real opportunities to access decision-making positions and more valued areas.

 

They joined 44 organizations of which 16 are from within the country. They signed 9 media companies, 15 advertising agencies, 7 academic institutions, 6 professional associations and networks, 3 press unions, 3 business chambers and 1 state agency. Those who want to adhere and sign the Commitment Agreement can do so through this form.

The day ended with Luciana Peker’s talk-debate «The feminist tide in journalism and publicity: another way of telling, another way of working.»

 

Start from questions to find answers

Friday was raised as a meeting place between the various actors that are part of both industries: educational institutions, unions, business chambers, advertising agencies, media companies, civil society organizations, state agencies and workers / is from both industries.

The day was organized in four panels, designed from the critical axes found in both industries. During the morning the following were presented:

  • Care policies, in which Paula Rey and Victoria Gallo (ELA), Georgina Sticco (Gender and Work-Grow), Mariángeles Camusso (Inter-American Open University), Silvia Martínez Cassina (channel 13) and Cecilia Bustos Moreschi (Fundeps) participated as moderator.
  • Labor rights and unionization, whose panelists were Cynthia Benzion (vice president of the Association of Lawyers and Labor Lawyers of CABA), Verónica Baracat (UN Women), Diego Pietrafesa (Telefe-SiPreBA), Luciano Calió (FBC & Fire) and Melanie Tobal (Advertising. org) in moderation.

In the afternoon were the panels «Journalism and Gender» and «Advertising and Gender»:

  • The first, moderated by Pate Palero (PAR Network), was composed of Viviana Mariño (Argentine Time), Nicole Insignares (Clarín Group), Silvia Hernández (UBA) and Gabriela Toledo (Subprogram of Strategies for Training and Communication of San Luis ).
  • The last one was formed by Mariana Iesulauro (Y&R Agency), Agustina Militerno (Havas), Tomás Balduzzi (Higher School of Advertising Creatives) and Rocío Restaino (Women in Advertising) as moderator.

In these spaces, the various actors in the advertising and journalism industries were invited to ask themselves: What is the relationship between care policies and actions and the participation of women in the advertising and journalism industries? Why are there so few women in hierarchical positions and in the most valued areas? What are the most serious problems of both industries in relation to unionization and the construction of labor rights? What strategies can be designed, implemented and evaluated to generate more democratic and diverse work environments?

These questions put into question the labor practices of both industries, the production of content and promoted discussions postponed by some of these actors.

There were two days of intense debate, which allowed us to observe and realize that the advertising and journalism industries are not excluded from many sexist practices, and that, like most of the different items, gender-based inequalities suffer, such as, the wage gap between men and women and the glass ceiling, both produced mainly by the overload in women of unpaid household chores and by maternity. That in order to transform this, it is necessary to defend and transform trade union spaces, to continue with the internal demand for violence-free, equitable and egalitarian spaces. As Luciana Peker said «without union rights, but also gender-specific, there is no possibility of reaching or staying, or reaching places of hierarchy.»

We believe that the Forum was an enriching space as it sat on the same discussion table to workers, companies, unions, educational institutions, civil society organizations and the same State, in order to generate commitments that translate into policies of Formal, concrete and sustainable gender that promote real equality of opportunities, inclusion and diversity within.

Authors

Valentina Montero

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi

Contact

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

Again macho soup in the media

As part of our work monitoring public policies regulating the media, we identify situations of media and symbolic violence and carry out the corresponding complaints. On this occasion, it was about the broadcasts of two television programs: on the one hand, “Los angeles de la mañana” on Canal 13 and, on the other, “Animales sueltos” on América TV.

“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”.

What happened in “Los angeles de la mañana”?

In the program broadcast on May 14, “Los Angeles de la mañana” (a magazine directed by Ángel De Brito) made a “change of look” to Cinthia Fernández, which consisted of a haircut. During the same, Cinthia said repeatedly that he did not want to be cut, but gave in to the insistent pressure from his colleagues. In this situation, he mentioned that he did not want to be cut too much, and that he wanted to see how far they cut it, setting the limits for the intervention. Its manifestations were reduced with comments like “it is not elegant what you have”, “do not be silly, hair grows”, “you do not have to see it”, “they brought you here to be better”.

During the haircut Cinthia was seen nervous, scared, pressed and uncomfortable with the situation. The driver and the panelists were all the time commenting about their appearance in a demeaning way and without letting it intervene. “I want to cry, I’m serious,” “I’m having a hard time,” he said, about the end.

We are concerned that television exposes such a violent situation, especially the exercise of acts on the body of women without their consent. It is clear that she consented to agree to the change of look, but this was not carried out under her terms, but was systematically pressed and all her comments and expressions of desire were minimized.

What happened in “Animals loose”?

On May 16, in the program broadcast by America, media and symbolic violence was again committed. Towards the end of the program, Alejandro Fantino asked the panelist Romina Manguel: “But stop, that’s how you came?”, Referring to his clothes. The driver, ignoring the discomfort of the journalist, continued saying: “Focus on Manguel”, asking him to show his clothes and parade.

Manguel’s reaction was a nervous laugh and ask him to stop. The driver continued, insisting that the cameras focus on her and insinuating that she could find a partner. All this intervention, although brief and only at the end of the program, was extremely violent for Romina and stereotyped for women. This was accompanied by the complicity and laughter of the rest of the panel made up of men, who did nothing to stop these moments of uncomfortable reification of the only female panelist of the program.

Why are we talking about media violence and what laws protect our complaints?

Both media contents are humiliating and discriminatory, and constitute cases of mediatic and symbolic violence. Recall that the Law of Comprehensive Protection for Women 26.485 defines media violence as “that publication or dissemination of stereotyped messages and images through any mass media, that directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women or their images , injure, defame, discriminate, dishonor, humiliate or threaten the dignity of women, as well as the use of women, adolescents and girls in pornographic messages and images, legitimizing inequality of treatment or construct sociocultural patterns that reproduce inequality or generators of violence against women “. In this sense, according to articles 70 and 71 of the Audiovisual Communication Services Law 26,522 all media outlets are obliged to comply with 26.485 in addition to “avoiding content that promotes or incites discriminatory treatment based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, economic status, birth, physical appearance, the presence of disabilities or that undermine human dignity or induce to behaviors that are harmful to the environment or to the health of people and the integrity of children or adolescents “.

What organisms do we denounce and what for?

Attentive to this normative framework, as well as to the great responsibility -particularly in Argentine society- of the media to construct meaning and form an opinion, we have denounced these situations in front of the Ombudsman’s Office, the INADI radio and television Observatory and the Observatory of symbolic and media violence of the INAM. We hope that these agencies take the necessary actions in this regard and we commit ourselves to continue ensuring the effective execution of existing public policies, as well as promoting those that still need to be created to fight against this and all types of gender violence.

More info:

Denunciamos a Eduardo Feinamm por sus dichos homo-odiantes sobre Facundo Nazareno Saxe

Denunciamos a TN por violencia mediática y simbólica

Denuncia al programa Animales Sueltos por tratamiento discriminatorio de la información

El Show de la Mañana otra vez incurrió en violencia mediática

Author:

Mariana Barrios Glanzmann

Contact:

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

We denounce TN for media and symbolic violence

In the framework of our work of monitoring public policies regulating the media, we identified and denounced two situations of media and symbolic violence that were exposed in two programs of the Todo Noticias channel last week.

“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 first situation occurred on May 2, when in a report issued a story is exposed about a woman (former police officer), named Johana, who was stealing cars using a drone. The second one is presented the following day in the newscast of the half day also, in a news about a former employee of the Municipality of La Plata who was dismissed from her job and considers that the dismissal was unjustified. Beyond the specific stories that are exposed in each of the news, we find in common a violent approach as the news is illustrated with photos of women in underwear or swimsuits, exposing a hypersexualization of the protagonists through the display of their bodies. This representation is stereotyped and diverts attention from what is being reported in the news, which has to do with the commission of a crime in the first case, and a labor claim in the other. Illustrating both situations with these images delegitimizes the women in these stories and inflicts media and symbolic violence on them and also on other women who may be in the same situation. That is why from Fundeps we proceeded with the corresponding complaints, which were filed with the Public Defender’s Office, the Radio and Television Observatory of INADI and the National Institute for Women. In a context of social transformation, driven fundamentally by the struggle of the feminist movement, it is inadmissible to tolerate expressions that contain discriminatory gender stereotypes, which fuel the perpetuation of a macho culture that permanently violates the freedom and the body of women. Understanding the role of the media in the reproduction of symbolic violence is that, in addition to executing the corresponding complaints, we urgently see the need to create spaces for training and training of workers of the mass media. communication regarding the gender perspective, considering that it is the only way to guarantee the production and the approach of respectful contents that contribute to the construction of a equality society.

,

We denounce Eduardo Feinmann for his homo-hate statements about Facundo Nazareno Saxe

By virtue of Eduardo Feinmann’s homo-hateful expressions about the person, life and work of a CONICET researcher, from the Fundeps Gender and Sexual Diversity Team we decided to report this case to the Public Defender’s Office and the National Institute against Discrimination , Xenophobia and Racism (INADI).

“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”.

On Thursday, April 11, during the broadcast of his television program on the national air channel A24, journalist Eduardo Feinmann violently exposed a speech by Facundo Nazareno Saxe, researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and the Research Institute in Humanities and Social Sciences of the National University of La Plata. Taking as a reference the paper ‘Queer memory and anal cartoon: when the comic opens our asses (and we like it)’, Eduardo Feinmann said “It impresses me. A shame. These are the researchers who then complain ?, “Create something called ‘ñoquicet.” The contemptuous tone that the journalist used to denigrate the researcher’s work around the queer perspective and respect for diversity, as well as his sexual orientation, showed in himself the marked homo-hateful look that he reproduced through a massive medium Communication.

Not only did he present the researcher Saxe’s speech in a violent way, but he also exposed it, sharing his personal data and social networks, which allowed some people to access and reproduce a series of messages full of hatred and threats towards him. his way of being and thinking.

This finding made by the driver and journalist was not casual either, since it was carried out in a context in which the cuts made by the National Government to CONICET and the crisis that science was going through in our country were news. In this way he made a homo-hateful political use, taking the image of Facundo Nazareno Saxe and his investigations to criticize CONICET and in this way justify the budget reduction and lack of policies regarding it.

Making and using this type of homo-hate messages is not only violence and discrimination, but also in a context in which there is a great reaction against all the advances of conquered rights such as the Law of Equal Marriage and the Law of Identity of Gender, is extremely harmful because of the hatred it generates and endorses.

It is important to remember that, according to the report of the Argentina LGBT Federation, in 2017 alone there were 103 assaults, murders or acts of physical violence motivated by an act of discrimination based on sexual orientation, expression or gender identity. Added to this, we must consider that the Trans population of the Argentine Republic has an average life expectancy of about 32 years and that we still do not even have trans labor quota laws (except in the province of Buenos Aires) to be able to guarantee minimally basic rights that have historically been denied to them.

For all these reasons, we consider that this was a clear case of media and symbolic violence in accordance with the definitions of Law 26,522 on Audiovisual Communication Services, which in its Article 70 establishes that “the programming of services provided by law must avoid content that promote or incite discriminatory treatment based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation … or that undermine human dignity … ”

We understand that the media have an undeniable responsibility in the construction of citizenship, since they are not only opinion makers, but also endorse and legitimize practices of society.
The symbolic violence expressed through the media promotes its reproduction and bases other forms of gender violence, so we reject the statements of Feinmann, insist on the need to train journalists in gender perspective and in the treatment of this case on the part of the competent bodies.

Author

Valentina Montero

Contact

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

,

Criticism based on the note “Mothers girls with capital letters”

The editorial “Girls mothers with capital letters” of the newspaper La Nación begins extrapolating the struggle of the “green scarves” (in reference to the Campaign for the legalization of abortion) with the example of girls who decided to carry out their pregnancies.

“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 text abounds in stereotyped notions of motherhood, speaking of “mother instinct” and “what is natural in women”. In addition, minimizes and naturalizes sexual abuse in childhood, describing as “nothing desired or desirable” the “way in which pregnancies were born”, but extolling those girls who took them forward, highlighting that it is “admirable and exciting to see unfold the maternal instinct. “

“Admiration towards the mothers girls, madrazas by the way. Sadness for the “abortionist grandmothers” who happily did not achieve their criminal purpose, “the text continues, describing as” criminals “those” grandmothers “(mothers of rape victims) who make effective the right of their daughters to access the legal interruption of the pregnancy due to the violation.

It should be noted that shortly after the note was published, numerous organizations and organizations of civil society expressed their rejection. Amnesty International Argentina stated that the publisher is unaware of the human rights of the girls and that most of the girls under 15 in our country “are forced child pregnancies as a consequence of situations of sexual abuse and violence that seriously affect the physical and mental integrity of girls. ”

In the same sense, UNICEF said that “pregnancy in childhood is not linked to the” maternal instinct “, it is sexual abuse and therefore pregnancy is forced. Adults (family, State, institutions) are responsible for protecting girls and boys from sexual abuse. “

The General Advisor to the City of Buenos Aires, Yael Bendel, also made public his position and said: “It is very serious that in times where girls’ infanticide, sexual abuse and as a result, pregnancies resulting from these abuses , there are editorials like these that banalize and romanticize these serious crimes. As a body for the protection of rights, we repudiate all the terms of this note. Because they violate rights. Because more than celebrating the dramatic consequences corresponds to prevent violence and punish criminal behavior.

Also, many workers in the media expressed their rejection of the note and manifested in their personal networks stating: “As a worker of LA NACION I reject the words of the editorial” Girls Mothers with capital letters “. A pregnant girl is a raped girl. # GirlsNoMothers “.

The same medium through his digital newspaper was expressed hours later listing the aforementioned criticism and rejection of the publisher in question. “The NATION regrets that the text has been interpreted as a somewhat tolerant message towards child abuse, something that, as the editorial itself pointed out, is obviously repugnant,” concludes the note, which far from making a request for Appropriate apology with the corresponding rectification, attributes the discriminatory, stereotypical and apologetic message of the editorial to the mere interpretation of the reader.

In the document that is attached, all the violences in which the editorial note is incurred are exposed, as well as the abusive reproduction of notions contrary to human rights. These behaviors carried out by the media are constituted as media and symbolic violence, and are a dangerous tool to misinform and create behavioral values ​​that are harmful to citizens.

Document Criticism based on the note “Mothers girls with capital letters”

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

Virginia Pedraza, vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

Criticism based on the note “Mothers girls with capital letters”

The document highlights the violence committed by the editorial note of the newspaper La Nación, as well as the abusive reproduction of notions contrary to human rights. These behaviors carried out by the media are constituted as media and symbolic violence, and are a dangerous tool for misinform and create behavioral values ​​that are harmful to citizens.

Descargar Documento / Download File
,

The Morning Show again incurred media violence

The Ombudsman’s Office responded to the complaint we made against “El Show de la Mañana”, broadcast on Channel 12, for content that spectacularized a situation of clear violence towards a 12-year-old girl.

“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”.

On July 19, in the program “El Show de la Mañana”, a content was recorded that recorded an episode of violence suffered by a 12-year-old girl by a woman on public roads.

The Ombudsman said that, “although, as expressed in the query, a critical and condemnatory view of the violent acts by the program’s members is observed, the video exhibition under the modality in which it is carried out, redounds in the spectacularization of an event of serious violence suffered by a girl.”

As a corollary to the complaint and the process initiated, the Ombudsman’s Office proposed to conduct a training activity aimed at the program’s members, and all those who wish to participate in the channel, based on the activities they carry out in the programs . The training took place at the Canal 12 facilities on December 7.

During the activity, they were trained in particular on the guidelines for the issuance of content in time suitable for all public, in order to protect the rights of children in journalistic approaches, since that was what initially motivated the claim. However, the Ombudsman took advantage of the instance with the members of the program, as well as all the personnel of Canal 12 who would like to join to train on other issues related to the rights of the audiences.

In particular, recommendations were provided for the coverage of events related to violence against women. The topic of non-discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexual orientation was deepened in order to denaturalize the discourses that reproduce inequality. Finally, issues related to mental health and suicide were also addressed.

The actions of the Public Defender’s Office are very important, as it acts as a link between the citizens and the audiovisual media, through dialogue with different actors, to motivate the reflection on the themes, as well as to find solutions and mechanisms of reparation for the rights affected. Its actions provide legal guarantees for radio and television audiences, as well as community media, peasant groups and indigenous peoples.

The body is in the same situation of acefalía since 2016, which almost three years ago does not allow it to implement all of its functions. While there is a temporary holder, designated until March 2019, the Ombudsman’s Office continues to carry out its work, in a prudential time, contemplating the rights of the audiences and promoting an inclusive communication and human rights. However, the situation of acefalía not only puts at risk the rights of the hearings, but also harms the public policies that promote communication from a local and community perspective. We hope that the Bicameral Commission responsible for the designation of a defender, will act and appoint a suitable person for this function, enabling the full functioning of this body.

More information

Nota Defensoría del Público -612-2018

Contact
Virginia Pedraza, vir.pedraza@fundeps.org