KARACHI: Academics, TV channel heads, editors and senior journalists sat together to discuss and minimise the stereotypical portrayal of women in the media on Thursday.

The event was organised by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability at a local hotel, where a documentary on the subject was also screened.

Speaking about professional ethics, academic and researcher Dr Jaffer Ahmed said that it depended on how people conduct themselves in media houses. “There have been cases of harassment in media houses despite the fact that media should uplift human rights and women’s rights,” he said.

“All media houses and news organisation must read the anti-harassment laws,” he advised.

The secretary general of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, Amir Mahmood, was of the view that the electronic media arrived too early and without much preparation. “Then channels at first absorbed journalists from the print media,” he said. “But as the channels increased in number there was little journalism practiced there,” he added.

“News anchors were selected on the basis of their beauty than knowledge,” he said, adding that right now different media houses had different code of ethics whereas there was a need for a unified code of ethics which all media houses could follow.

The managing director of Geo News, Azhar Abbas, said that what was concerning about the electronic media was that most grew horizontally instead of growing vertically. He said that generally there were around 18 per cent women working in media houses. The rest were men. “We need to take this percentage up. And in order for that to happen, the managements need to take some decisions,” he said.

“There is also a need for specialised training to counter the norm of having few women editors,” he said while bringing up the example of Razia Bhatti, who, he said, saw the world from a different perspective which men like himself did not usually see. “As the number of women in newsrooms increase, the newsrooms will also change,” he added.

Shahrukh Hasan of Jang Group lamented the retrogressive portrayal of women. He said that there was a need for gathering statistics to check whether this trend was growing or decreasing. Senior journalist Mohammed Usman pointed out that whenever a woman was promoted over men, the men become jealous or they were afraid of her. “But they should see how the quality of work has improved there thanks to her,” he said.

Shahab Zuberi of Aaj News said that there were also areas where women were facilitated more than the men. “For instance, they are provided with office transport. But the environment is still not ideal for women employees on the whole,” he said.

The documentary screened on the occasion highlighted the stereotypical portrayal in the media, including in the news, talk shows, morning shows and television plays.

Featuring Faryal Gohar and Asma Shirazi among others, the documentary pointed out, with the help of many examples, how women were shown as weak persons, unable to stand up for themselves.

Clips from morning shows showed how the focus was more on beauty tips and cooking. In the plays, the male characters beat them up because it is said that it is what the audience wants to see.

And in the news, horrific cases like that of the late Qandeel Baloch and Noor Muqaddam point fingers at them.

The victim blaming takes the focus away from the real crime and the criminals.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023