Gender in the Media 2019: Analysis of Gender Aspects in Children’s Programmes Broadcasted by the National Terrestrial Television Channels Author: Igor Micevski Research Team: Research Institute on Social Development (RESIS) Contents I. Introduction: Research Problem ................................................................................................................ 4 II. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Research Objectives and Questions .......................................................................................................... 6 Basic concepts ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Relevant literature .................................................................................................................................... 9 Methods of data collection and analysis ................................................................................................ 15 III. Analysis of the national broadcasters’ programmes for children .......................................................... 21 1. Macedonian Television – First Programme Service (MRT 1) .............................................................. 21 1. General characteristics, frequency and genre distribution of the MRT 1 programmes for children ............................................................................................................................................... 21 2. General characteristics and frequency of the characters/participants in the MRT1’s programmes for children .......................................................................................................................................... 25 3. Analysis of gender aspects of the MRT 1 programmes – analysis of specific programmes ........... 21 2. Macedonian Television – Programme in Albanian Language (MRT 2) ............................................... 56 1. General features, frequencies and genre distribution of children’s programmes on MRT 2 – Programme in Albanian Language ...................................................................................................... 56 2. General features and frequencies of the characters/participants in the children’s programmes on MRT 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 60 3. Analysis of gender aspects in special programmes on MRT 2 – Programme in Albanian language ............................................................................................................................................................ 62 3. TV Sitel ................................................................................................................................................ 71 1. General features, frequencies and genre distribution of children’s programmes on TV Sitel ....... 71 2. General features and frequencies of characters/participants in the children’s programmes of Sitel TV ........................................................................................................................................................ 73 3. Analysis of gender issues in the programmes structured as narratives/feature stories on Sitel TV – analysis of specific programmes ......................................................................................................... 75 4. TV Kanal 5 (Channel 5) ........................................................................................................................ 85 1. General features, frequencies and genre distribution of children’s programmes on Kanal 5 TV .. 85 2. General features and frequencies of characters/participants in the children’s programmes on Kanal 5 TV ............................................................................................................................................ 87 3. Analysis of gender issues in the programmes of Kanal 5 TV........................................................... 89 5. TV Alsat M ......................................................................................................................................... 103 1. General features of the children’s programmes on TV ALSAT M ................................................. 103 2. General features and frequencies of characters/participants in children’s programmes on TV Alsat M .............................................................................................................................................. 104 2 3. Analysis of gender issues in the children’s programmes on TV Alsat M – analysis of specific programmes ...................................................................................................................................... 105 6. Telma TV ........................................................................................................................................... 108 1. General features of children’s programmes on Telma TV ............................................................ 108 2. Analysis of gender issues in the programmes of TV Telma .......................................................... 110 IV. Conclusions and recommendations..................................................................................................... 119 Public Broadcasting Service – MRT ....................................................................................................... 119 Recommendations for the Public Broadcasting Service ................................................................... 124 Private TV Channels .............................................................................................................................. 125 Recommendations for private TV channels ...................................................................................... 128 Research team .................................................................................................................................. 130 3 I. Introduction: Research Problem In the popular idealized depictions, “childhood” structure is ascribed the meanings of carelessness, innocence, naivety, and happiness. Nevertheless, look deeper under the surface of this idealized and simplified concept and one shall uncover meanings that do not always correspond with this idealized perception. The key discourse-making configurations - the family, the formal educational structures and the media - often produce a normative imprint of what the role of men and women should be in the social domain, what the female body should look like, what the "objective" criteria about the dichotomous gender differentiation are, how girls should behave, and what should be the boys’ behaviour, etc. In other words, they produce a normative gender discourse that is not always transparent or indisputable. Since 2012, as a result of the special attention dedicated to raising awareness about gender issues and gender equality in the audiovisual services, the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services (AAAVMS) has initiated and published several studies and analyses which focused on gender and gender role representation in the audiovisual programmes, as well as on the presence of language and content that may lead to sex- and gender-based discrimination. The research study on Gender in the Media of 2019 is the latest in this series. The necessity for it, as is also the case of previous AAAVMS studies on the topic of gender, stems partly from the articles of the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men1, according to which, the AAAVMS is obliged to conduct analyses in order to determine the fashion of portrayal of women and men in programme concepts and contents (Article 17, paragraph 3), and to establish the treatment of gender issues in the mass media (Article 17, paragraph 4). The issue of the gender role portrayal in the children's programmes offered by the national broadcasters has not been studied comprehensively so far in the Republic of North Macedonia. This study focuses on precisely this issue. Starting from the scope, genre and contents and by using mixed research methods (content analysis, discourse analysis and thematic analysis), it analyses the gender constructs in the programmes for children aired on the Public Service Broadcaster as well as on the private TV stations. The media – more specifically, children's programmes – play a key role in the production and dissemination of normative notions of gender. Two main paradigms in the literature on the media effects focusing on the issue of children's television programmes may be crystallised (Aubrey & Harrison, 20042): cultivation theory and social learning theory. The cultivation theory suggests the existence of a positive correlation between watching television and the worldview that children develop over time - especially with regard to the construction of gender stereotypes. The social learning theory claims that children tend to adopt gender-specific behaviour through observation and by imitating media content, and to transform information and structures extracted from such 1 A consolidated text of the Law on Equal Opportunities of Women and Men is available at: http://www.mtsp.gov.mk/content/pdf/zakoni/2017/precisten%20tekst%202015%20na%20ZEM_nov.pdf 2 Aubrey, J. S., & Harrison, K. (2004).