Media Sensitization against Violence against Women

Project Context

In a democracy, the media holds the key to bring about mass awareness on issues of political, social and economic importance.  However, it is mostly observed that political and economic news items are given more preference over social issues in many of the media channels. This is leading to a massive neglect of social issues, especially the issue of violence against women which is a rampant problem existing in the region. The lack of coverage of such an issue has led to poor awareness about women’s rights among the general public and refusal of the government to consider it as a policy issue. Therefore, it is suggested to implement a project on sensitizing the media against this issue for creating sustainable public awareness and for policy advocacy.

Project Objectives

• Increase the sensitivity-levels of the media in covering issues of violence against women
• Examine the impact of media coverage about the issue of violence against women on general public awareness and policies of the government

Project Activities

1. Identify and liaison with effective media channels and study their existing reach and coverage of social issues, especially the issue of violence against women.
2. Organize training workshops with media persons to sensitize them about the issue of violence against women.
3. Undertake a case study documentation of violence against women in the project area to support the media in featuring the news about it.
4. Carry out media analysis of the coverage of social issues, especially the issue of violence against women and report it back to the media.
5. Organize a media-government conference on the issue of violence against women

Project Outcomes

• Effective partnerships established with various media channels to cover social issues especially the issue of violence against women.
• Improved sensitivity levels of media persons in covering news about the issue of violence against women.
• Increased news items appearing about cases of violence against women across the media channels
• The government is responsive towards considering policies to address the issue of violence against women.