This should be a wakeup call for media houses to take stock and look at the way it has been treating gender violence and the related issues of child abuse and defilement. The media is a very influential instrument which, in its watchdog role, can make a positive contribution to society. The importance of accuracy, fairness and sensitivity when reporting certain issues cannot be over-emphasised. Dismiss the criticism that we lack sensitivity when dealing with gender issues could alienate us from thes very society we serve. While this criticism may not apply to all media houses, it is true that some of us often hurl spiteful headlines and hurtful stories at our readers in which we poke a mullock at the victim while exulting the perpetrator.
The criticism is a call on the media to staff their houses with skilled personnel who can report on these issues with the necessary sensitivity at the highest level of professionalism.At a recent gender workshop organised by Gender Links, a South African pressure group, it emerged that in its reporting of issues of gender and gender-based violence, the media tend to be biased, especially against victims of gender violence. The workshop revealed that in headlining stories, the media tends to promote the perpetrator, couching the act in heroic terms and showing it off as an act of masochism worth celebrating. One of the examples given at the workshop was an article in which a man's sexual organ was refferd to as "the spear of the nation". It is clear that in this phrasing or headlining, there is reverence and pride in the way the perpetrator is viewed. It is understandable that media houses, especially the print media, use headlines to sell their publications; but this should be done in a responsible and sensitive manner. Media has to take a stand against gender violence and work with the relevant stakeholders to fight it.
