QUADERNS ISSN: 1138-9761 / www.cac.cat DEL CAC Women on TV news programmes DOLORS COMAS D’ARGEMIR Member of the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya and Pro-fessor of Social Anthropology at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili [email protected] Abstract Resum The report drawn up by the Consell de l’Audiovisual de L’informe que ha elaborat el Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya on the presence of women on TV news programmes Catalunya sobre la presència de les dones en els informatius for the last quarter of 2008 shows significant data which are de televisió del darrer trimestre del 2008 mostra dades signi- commented on in this article. It is observed that the broad- ficatives que són comentades en aquest article. Constata que casting media do not sufficiently reproduce the greater pre- els mitjans audiovisuals no reprodueixen prou la major pre- sence of women in society. Moreover, the appearances of sència de les dones en la societat. A més, les aparicions de women are concentrated in certain areas and roles, some- les dones es concentren en determinats àmbits i rols, cosa thing that contributes to stereotyped representations. que contribueix a reproduir representacions estereotipades. Comparing this with data from previous years, we can confirm Comparant-ho amb dades d’anys anteriors, es confirma una a slight rising trend in the presence of women, associated lleugera tendència a l’increment de la presència de les dones, with an improvement in their position in society. The study que està associada a una millora en la seva posició en la methodology, based on an analysis of a considerable amount societat. La metodologia de l’estudi, basada en l’anàlisi d’un of data, as well as the measurement of speaking time, reveal considerable nombre de dades, així com en la medició del hitherto unknown data, such as the fact that statements by temps de les intervencions, revela dades fins ara desconegu- female politicians last half that of male politicians. The report des, com el fet que les declaracions de les dones polítiques provides elements for reflection and debate concerning how to duren la meitat que les dels homes. L’informe aporta elements improve women's representation and to make their actions per a la reflexió i debat sobre com millorar la representació de more visible. les dones i donar visibilitat a les seves activitats. Key words Paraules clau Women, media, gender, Catalonia, television. Dones, mitjans de comunicació, gènere, Catalunya, televisió. Over the last few years, women have undergone significant The representation of women in the media. Prior con- changes in their participation in social, economic, cultural and siderations political life but the media, for various reasons, do not suffi- ciently reflect this reality. This is one of the main conclusions Studies on the presence of men and women in the media pro- of the report by the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya vide predictable results, as the same phenomenon is repeated (CAC) which deals with the presence of women on television again and again in different places in the world: little presence news programmes broadcast in the last quarter of 2008.1 of women, narratives and texts that reinforce the traditional role This article aims to present the most relevant data from the of women and almost an absence of alternative models. This is CAC report. The diagnosis offered actually constitutes an invi- confirmed, for example, in the data from the Global Monitoring tation to reflect on the part of journalists and programmers in Media Project,2 which also show significant variations between the media regarding which aspects might be improved and one country and another, in line with the differences in position how to achieve female representation that is more in line with and power of women. The media therefore reflect the social their real presence in society. environment but, in spite of this, women's presence and repre- sentation lag behind their achievements. The studies carried out in Spain and Catalonia show the same trends.3 The Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya has drawn up sev- eral reports on the presence of women in broadcasting. A 95 Quaderns del CAC 33, December 2009 (95-106) Women on TV news programmes D. COMAS D’ARGEMIR report prior to the one we are presenting here, in this case com- what we are discussing in this article, the 2007 report on vio- missioned by the CAC, deals with gender parity on national lence states that news items on domestic violence has women public radio and television (Cóppulo 2008). Although the sam- as the protagonist, unlike the rest of the items.5 The speaking ple is small, the data from this report are quite interesting and time of women occupies 61.1% and that of men is 38.9%, a should be highlighted as not only news programmes are proportion that inverts the usual share for news as a whole analysed but programming as a whole, taking as its reference analysed in 2007, where women have 22.1% of the speaking the content broadcast on two days in the week, a Monday and time and men have 77.9%. The little representation of women a Saturday. Table 1 presents the most significant findings. in news as a whole is combined with their over-representation We can see that the presence of men is mostly among profes- in items on violence, which might contribute to women's image sionals with greater responsibility and media projection, both of victimisation and forces us to reflect on its effects. on the radio and television. Within programming this male In all, it leads us to deal with the media in their role as pro- presence is also greater among those invited to debates or dis- ducer and reproducer of cultural representations, taking into cussions and among those starring in fictional series. In the account the fact that the media not only inform on but also case of advertising, women acquire greater protagonism, reinterpret reality, recreating it and shaping a media reality that although when it is a question of inviting you to buy a product, feeds back into reality per se and helps to modify it. With the voice of authority is predominantly masculine. Moreover, regard to the differences in representations of men and women, (and this does not appear in the above table), the roles of three factors should be considered: women in TV advertising are as follows: young woman a. The gender conceptions present in society. Gender consti- (69.9%), mother (27.7%), executive/worker (25.1%) and tutes a part of the sexual difference that appears as social, as housewife (20.4%). On the radio, the roles are slightly differ- constructed. It is the series of signifieds that each society gives ent: professional/workers (40.2%), young woman (19.6%), to the physical and biological features that differentiate men expert (14.1%) and housewife (8.7%). The difference lies in and women, providing ideas on attitudes, values, beliefs and the fact that the target audience for the advertising is different symbols that give meaning to the experiences and help to con- on television and radio and that the power of the image condi- struct identity.6 tions the message: so, in the case of television, physical appea- b. Power/representation. Gender differences are power differ- rance becomes more relevant, as is the use of erotic or seduc- ences expressed in the imbalance between men and women tive images. In summary, in the different programmes, and and are projected in the implicit policy of representation in the even more so in advertising, women appear as more immature media: power to stand out, assign and classify, symbolic pow- people with less authority than men; also more closely related er, power to exclude. One of the mechanisms is the use of to domestic tasks. stereotypes in representing women, which "reduce, essential- Other CAC reports of note are those referring to how news ize, naturalise and fix the difference” (Hall 1997) and also help treats gender-based violence. This was analysed in 2002, 2004 to make them inferior, which is a form of exclusion. and 2007, something which means that trends can be followed. c. Changes in representation policy. Social and political We note the maintenance of news attention, which highlights changes are translated by the media. In fact, social and politi- the recognition of this kind of violence as a structural fact, as cal dynamics are expressed in the media that are associated well as an improvement in the quality of the information, as less with power but also with the response to power.7 The main weight is given to the aggression per se and greater presence is changes in the policy for representing women have taken place afforded to the court cases and policies. For the purposes of at strong moments, as the result of the accumulative cultural Table 1. Gender parity on the public radio and television of Catalonia. 20084 TV RADIO Men Women Men Women Stars of fiction 78% 39% - - Directing programmes 88% 12% 90% 10% Presenting programmes 68% 32% 80% 53% Responsible for a section 78% 27% 61% 39% Number of people invited by the programme 5.09 2.26 4.03 1.45 People explaining their life experiences 97% 68% 83% 72% Advertising. Number of people per advertising space 1.84 1.29 1.24 0.65 Advertising. Leading role 34% 37% 65% 41% Advertising. People explaining their life experiences 32% 63% 39% 16% Advertising. Use of prescriptive voices 75% 25% 76% 41% Advertising. Use of nude or semi -nude people 44% 84% - - Source: Own, based on Cóppulo (2008) 96 Quaderns del CAC 33, December 2009 D.