What we do
The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) is a grassroots media monitoring, research and advocacy project which aims to promote the fair and balanced representation of women and men in news media worldwide.
The GMMP has two phases: media monitoring and research and gender and media advocacy. These two phases encompass the following activities:
Production of an Advocacy Toolkit
Gender and Media Monitoring and Advocacy Website
Production of Content
The production of a global GMMP 2005 report containing the global, regional and national quantitative results of the media monitoring provided participating groups with hard data to highlight to media professionals the problems that exist in portrayals of women and men in news media.
The extensive qualitative analysis that is contained in the Global GMMP 2005 Report supported the gender sensitization of news media by providing examples of good and bad practice. The Global Report is available in English and will be available in Spanish, French and Portuguese later in the year making it more accessible to a wider range of media professionals in a larger number of countries.
WACC also facilitated the production of regional and national GMMP 2005 reports by providing participants with the data for their country or region and a template for the reports.
Finally, WACC produced a short document containing the top ten key results from GMMP 2005. This document was printed in the thousands and sent to all groups who participated in the media monitoring. It acted as a promotional tool for GMMP and as a teaser for the full report. This document was available online from 15th February 2006.
Production of an Advocacy Toolkit
WACC produced a toolkit to facilitate the advocacy activities of the GMMP 2005 participants. The toolkit was informed by the expertise of existing WACC’s partners experience in the field of training and by the extensive knowledge of many of the GMMP 2005 participants in gender sensitization of the media.
The advocacy toolkit provides a series of ‘how to’ materials on the key elements of an advocacy campaign concerned with promoting gender equality in the media. Work on the toolkit was undertaken under the direction of the gender and media consultant Patricia Made from Zimbabwe. The toolkit is now also available in French and Spanish.
Advocacy Training Workshops
In order to ensure the most effective use of the advocacy toolkit, WACC has planed to organised eight regional advocacy-training workshopsover the 2006-2007 period at which participants who tookpart in the GMMP monitoring day are trained in how to use the toolkit.
WACC has ensured that the workshops will allow for the trainees to benefit from the experience of organizations in the region which have already implemented successful campaigns concerned with promoting more gender sensitive media. The workshops are taking place in the following regions: Latin America; the Caribbean; Eastern Europe; Francophone Africa; Anglophone Africa; Middle East; Asia; and the Pacific.
Global Weeks of Action
From 16th February – 8th March 2006, WACC organised "Who Makes the News? Three Weeks of Global Action on Gender and the Media." Endorsed by both UNIFEM and UNESCO, the three weeks of action began with the international launch of the global GMMP 2005 report in London.
The launch took the form of a press conference and commission featuring leading figures from the international news media, organised in conjunction with Amnesty International, Article 19, the International Federation of Journalists and TVE.
During the three weeks of action, the global WACC and GMMP networks and many other gender and media organisations worldwide undertook activities using the global, regional and national GMMP results as part of a process to establish a dialogue with news media on media representations of women and men.
The weeks of action ended on 8th March – International Women’s Day – with the UNESCO led initiative ‘Women Make the News’. The responses to the planned three weeks of action from the GMMP and related networks were extremely positive and many organisations planned activities for the period.
Gender and Media Monitoring and Advocacy Website
The GMMP website has been re-launched under the name Whomakesthenews.org. The aim was to create a permanent resource on media monitoring and advocacy for those concerned with the promotion of gender equality in the media.
The monitoring methodology and global, regional and national GMMP 2005 reports and advocacy toolkit are available on this website. The website also provides a forum for exchange of ideas and experience on gender and media monitoring and advocacy between the global GMMP network and others involved in similar work through blogs, comments, polls, etc…
It has also featured all the activities taking place around the world as part of ‘Who Makes the News?’ Three Weeks of Global Action on Gender and the Media. To keep informed on these, please register to our information Who makes the News listserve: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/whomakesthenews
