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.
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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.
