TOWARDS EMPOWERMENT ? A Regional Initiative on Women And Media A SEMINAR REPORT Centre for Advocacy and Research PROSHIKA ASMITA JAPAN FOUNDATION Published by Centre for Advocacy and Research C-100/B, Ist Floor, Kalkaji, New Delhi-110019 Telefax : 011-6292787, 6430133, 6229631 e-mail :
[email protected] Or Visit us at : www.viewersforum.com Designed by : Ivy D’souza, Ph : 4963366/9811356901 Project Team Centre for Advocacy and Research, India Akhila Sivadas Meeta Parti Shyamala Shiveshwarkar Rizwan Parwez Chaitali Dasgupta Maithreyee Saha Sandhya M Proshika, Bangladesh Nargis Jahan Banu Bangladesh Centre for Development Journalism and Communication Md. Nayeemul Islam ASMITA, Nepal Manju Thapa Research Advisors Shailaja Bajpai, Media Critic & Columnist Shubhra Gupta, Media Critic Udita3 Das, Data Analyst Towards Empowerment? A Regional Initiative on Women And Media 4 Contents Background .............................................................. 6 Chapter I : Monitoring Study .................................... 23 Chapter 2 : Seminar Report ...................................... 80 Annexure 1 : Television History of India ....................... 111 Annexure 2 : Agenda of the Seminar ........................... 117 Annexure 3 : List of Participants ................................. 119 Annexure 4 : Brief Storylines of the Serials ................. 121 5 Towards Empowerment? A Regional Initiative on Women And Media Background he phenomenal growth of the broadcast media with no less T then 50 channels being beamed into Indian homes and its aggressive `act local but think, plan and integrate global’ approach is causing serious concerns in civil society. Particularly worrying is the impact of this growth on the portrayal and representation of women and marginalised groups. For, while the media has acknowledged the fact that they are an important constituency - 90% of programmes are women-oriented - it does not see them as independent voices capable of thinking or speaking for themselves.