,

IAWRT Uganda members share messages on IWD theme #EmbraceEquity2023

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

IAWRT Uganda Chapter, in recognition of International Women’s Day 2023, joined other actors globally to proclaim solidarity with the year’s theme DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for gender equality.

Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye, the IAWRT Uganda Chapter Head, believes that seeking knowledge, skills and knowledge lifts up the women/ girls’ self-esteem which is a strong weapon against any form of abuse especially online harassment. With authority on subjects of discussion as well as digital skills, women have the ability to fully explore the advantages and opportunities that come with the evolving digital world.

She asserts that low self-esteem often brought about by societal structured and normalised abuse of women and girls often limits women’s and girls’ ability to effective and meaningful engagements with digital innovations.

Eunice calls upon fellow women to prioritize self-empowerment through the intentional choice of power surrender through what is allowed to dominate in your mind, brain, eyes and social circles.  Because that determines how we take advantage of the opportunities that come with the digital world spaces and beyond.

Rose Namale is the Treasurer IAWRT Uganda Chapter. She calls upon the government of Uganda to take an interest and ensure safety for women is guaranteed online. She says even when it is becoming increasingly impossible to avoid the use of digital spaces and gadgets, women’s safety keeps deteriorating with limited intervention from the government even when there are laws and policies in Uganda to protect users, especially women.

Fleria Nalwanga, a board member of IAWRT Uganda, encourages women to take advantage of their natural limitless abilities to conquer what it is one desire. Women should always be bold and stand up against all barriers and take victory in all spaces because power relies on it.

Irene Birungi, a board member of IAWRT Uganda Chapter, amplifies the call for inclusive and transformative technology and digital education as a prerequisite for a sustainable future. She affirms that more women in the technology spaces result in more creative solutions and greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality.

Uhirwa Anita, a member of IAWRT Uganda, asserts that technology and innovation have the power to transform the world where progress benefits everyone. She says working together to ensure that women and girls have equal access to technology, opportunities, and digital education and that the design and development of technology take into account the needs and perspectives of diverse communities is the power within and among women and everyone in their unique capacity.

Gloria Nakiyimba, a member of IAWRT Uganda Chapter, she challenges women to support each other to leap over all forms of progress barriers. Nakiyimba encourages women to desist from pulling down fellow women but fix each other’s Crown. A candle does not lose anything by lighting up another candle.  Together we stand!!

, ,

Launch of Urdu translation of IAWRT Safety Handbook in Lahore

Text by: Department of Mass Communication, FCCU

A book on Safety Handbook for Women Journalists was launched at the Department of Mass Communication, FCCU on March 15. The book launch event was organized by Faculty of Humanities at Forman Christian College (A Chartered University) in collaboration with Journalism & Media International Center (JMIC), OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. Dr. Douglas Trimble, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at FCCU was the guest of honor on the occasion.

The book has been written by International War Correspondent and Media Trainer, Ms. Abeer Saady, and has been translated in Urdu by Ms. Sabahat Afsheen.

Dean of Humanities FCCU, Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan shared his views about the book. They said the Urdu version of the book will equip the women journalists of Pakistan to perform their duties efficiently and safely. The book launch event was moderated by Syed Muhammad Saqib, Assistant Professor at Department of Mass Communication, FCCU. Journalists, students and participants from Journalists Safety Workshop at FCCU attended the book launch.

*The IAWRT Safety Handbook is now available in English, Arabic, Turkish and Urdu.

Ian Phillips is the Director of DGC’s News and Media Division

IAWRT welcomes Ian Phillips, the new director of the UN Department of Global Communications News and Media Division.

According to UN DGC, Ian joins DGC after 30 years of working in international news agency journalism around the world. During his career as a reporter, editor, and news director he has been posted to Buenos Aires, Paris, London, Prague, Cairo, and New York. Most recently he has served as Vice President of International News for the Associated Press. He will officially start with DGC next month.

,

Women in Media: Overcoming Adversity Together

By Maria Solita J. Virtudazo

On March 8, 2023, on the historic 113th year of the International Women’s Day commemoration, the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) in partnership with Journalism and Media International Center of OsloMet University in Norway, and in collaboration with UNESCO Headquarters, gathered, via Zoom, 69 women-journalists, media workers, and academics across the globe to highlight their stories and honor their courage, heroism, and resilience.

The online discussion-solidarity meeting aptly titled, Women in Media: Overcoming Adversity Together, opened with an introductory message from IAWRT President Dr. Michelle Ferrier. Dr. Elisabeth Eide, journalist, writer, and professor of Journalism Studies at OsloMet University in Norway was the moderator.

Five principled and intrepid women journalists, namely, Najiba Ayubi (Afghanistan), Alina Radu (Moldova), Alyona Nevmerzhytska (Ukraine), Rhea Padilla (Philippines), and Fatuma Matulanga (Tanzania) lent their voices on behalf of their colleagues. Each of them shared how they and other women journalists in their respective countries bravely stood against and endured oppression, war, armed conflict, red-tagging, political persecution and incarceration, radicalization and extremism, online trolling, hate speech, physical and sexual assault, among other forms of abuse.

Najiba Ayubi is an Afghan multi-awarded journalist, and human rights and press freedom activist. She is a recipient of the 2013 Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media, and was named one of the 100 Information Heroes by Reporters without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) in 2014. She lamented how Islamic extremism has been oppressive and destructive to women journalists, and women, in general, since the Taliban returned to power. She cited thousands of Afghans who fled the country at all costs to preserve their life. Unfortunately, some lost their lives in an attempt to save it. One of whom is an asylum seeker and journalist Torpekai Amarkhel, who was onboard a fleeing boat that capsized near Italy. Ms. Ayubi is the head of IAWRT Afghanistan Chapter and is also in exile in the United States.

Another award-winning investigative journalist from Moldova and managing director of the country’s independent newspaper Zairul de Garda (The Guard Newspaper) is Alina Radu. She shared how women journalists in their country have been marginalized and isolated. Facebook (FB) or Metaverse is inaccessible in Moldova. Thus, she enjoined FB to be sympathetic to women journalists and provide them access to social media, which has been tightly controlled by the government. Ms. Radu currently heads IAWRT Moldova Chapter.

Prominent Ukrainian journalist Alyona Nevmerzhytska, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of media outfit hromadske, explained that while their culture is not particularly oppressive to women, however, things went on a downward spiral since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The incessant air strikes and attacks on the country’s major cities triggered the exodus of around 5 million Ukraine nationals, mostly women and children. Those who remain in the country have to endure extreme living conditions and the ravages of war.

The Philippines’ Rhea Padilla, former National Coordinator of the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) deplored the red-tagging, political persecution, intimidation, and even killing of women journalists and media personalities. She raised the case of Tacloban City-based journalist and IAWRT member Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been in jail for over three years now for trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and terrorist financing. Ms. Cumpio was among the “Tacloban 5” human rights defenders who were raided and arrested at midnight of February 7, 2020. Her arrest and continued detention speak of insidious yet blatant attacks against journalists in the country, aimed at intimidating and silencing those who are critical in their reporting. Ms. Padilla then called on government authorities for the immediate release of Ms. Cumpio and colleagues.

Journalist Fatuma Matulanga is the CEO of Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation in Zanzibar and IAWRT Tanzania’s Chapter head. She shared how women in their country have been disproportionately represented in media. Most Media Studies graduates and professionals ended up as PR officers and spokespersons.  Women have been marginalized and paid less than their male counterparts, and are in dire need of training and retooling.        

Theresa Chorbacher of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Paris talked about the organization’s mandate to work on press freedom and its various legal, policy-making, and capability-building initiatives to promote the safety of women journalists worldwide, and address the issue of impunity. In 2022, UNESCO published “The Chilling”, a report of a three-year intensive study on online violence against women journalists in 15 countries, conducted by researchers from the US-based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the UK-based Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM). The report sheds light on the “evolving challenges faced by women journalists, identifies political actors as top perpetrators of online violence against women journalists using popular social media platforms, maps out the online-offline violence trajectory, and offers practical recommendations for intergovernmental organizations, States, Big Tech, the news industry, legal and judicial actors, and civil society”. Truly, the adversities faced by women journalists in and out of the newsroom may seem daunting and insurmountable. But we can overcome it if we unite and work together in this fight.

IAWRT Philippines statement on International Women’s Day

Honoring brave women journalists on International Women’s Day

Today, as we commemorate the International Women’s Day, the International Association of Women in Radio and Television – Philippines honors brave women truthtellers in the country and around the world in the face of continuing and intensifying attacks against press freedom.

Detained journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem, veteran journalist Margarita Valle, and community journalist Anne Krueger are just few of the many brave women journalists in the country who have put a spotlight on the sufferings and aspirations of marginalized communities.

Globally, members of IAWRT in over 54 countries, which includes women journalists, communication researchers, filmmakers, among others, are also working with disadvantaged communities and documenting gendered experiences to counter authoritarian regimes that are on the rise.

Such brand of journalism and brave truthtelling do not sit well with the powers-that-be, and for this they are being discredited and attacked both as a journalist and as a woman. But they do not waver and have instead pushed back against misogyny and  human rights violations.

In the country, IAWRT Philippines’ own sister Frenchie Mae continues to languish in jail for more than three years now over trumped up charges.

As the executive director of alternative media outfit Eastern Vista, anchor of a community radio Lingganay han Kamautoran that aired at DYVL Aksyon Radyo, and IAWRT’s community radio Radyo Tacloban, she has reported the continuing plight of Typhoon Haiyan survivors, and the human rights violations in the provinces of Samar and Leyte prior to her arrest.

She was subjected to surveillance and red-tagging, and later arrested in an attempt to silence her. She is currently facing trumped up illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges and a terror financing case before Tacloban and Manila courts, respectively.

In the face of intensifying attacks on our role as truthtellers, IAWRT Philippines urges its fellow women journalists and men allies in the field to stand united in upholding and defending press freedom.

#FreeFrenchieMae

#DefendPressFreedom

Reference:

Executive Board, International Association of Women in Radio and Television – Philippines

[email protected]

UN DGC and IAWRT Side Event at CSW

UN Department of Global Communications & UN Civil Society Unit CSW67  Side Event

“Women Leaders in Media: Making Innovative Technology Work for Women and Girls.”

Date: Friday, 17 March 2023 

Panel discussion: 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. EDT

Hands-on workshop: 11:30 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. EDT

Location: Conference Room 2, United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY 

Live: media.un.org

Register: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=2zWeD09UYE-9zF6kFubccEg8aL8pB0JCpeMXGGRd7lJUNEhCVFlIT0lMMTFTSlk2MFdINTlDSzA4Ti4u

Organized as a side event of the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in cooperation with the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT), a DGC- associated NGO.

Innovative technology is playing a significant role in creating opportunities for women and girls in media. With the rise of social media, women can now share their stories and experiences directly with the world, bypassing traditional gatekeepers in the media industry. This has led to a proliferation of new voices and perspectives, creating a more diverse and representative media landscape.

One of the biggest challenges faced by women in media is the lack of representation and representation at decision-making levels. However, women leaders in media are making a change by breaking the mold and using their platforms to give voice to the stories and experiences of women and girls.

Women leaders in media are leveraging technology to create new opportunities for women and girls in the media industry. For instance, by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, women leaders are able to automate tasks that were previously performed by humans, freeing up time for creative and strategic thinking. This has the potential to level the playing field for women and girls, who are often held back by gender-based discrimination and biases.

Another example of how women leaders in media are making innovative technology work for women and girls is through the use of virtual and augmented reality. These technologies are being used to create immersive experiences that educate, entertain and engage women and girls, encouraging them to be active participants in media and storytelling.

We cannot look at this topic without taking into consideration the digital human rights aspect to innovative technology as laid out in the Secretary General roadmap for Digital Transformation 2020. He highlighted the need for due diligence in addressing the broad use of digital technology as mechanisms of ‘surveillance, suppression, censorship, and sexual harassment’ of vulnerable groups.

IAWRT Philippines holds paralegal training on counter-terrorism and free speech

By Cyril Dayao

March 2, 2023

Last February 26, 2023, the International Association of Women in Radio and Television – Philippines held a paralegal training on how counter-terrorism measures impact free speech and the practice journalism.

“Current counter-terrorism measures in the Philippines have a profound and grave impact on free speech and press freedom,” said the secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and human rights lawyer Josalee Deinla, who discussed the issue currently faced by society regarding counter-terrorism.

During the training, Deinla noted that there has been a so-called “security pandemic” all over the world since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Various entities intrinsic to the global counter-terrorism architecture have emerged. Then UN secretary-general Kofi Annan reminded that counter-terrorism measures must not unduly curtail human rights.

“The proliferation of security measures to counter terrorism and the adoption of measures that restrict civic space are happening simultaneously,” Deinla explained.

As the security space is ramped up, she said that it leads to the narrowing of the civic space.

“Unfortunately, human rights or civic space are being marginalized under this context.”

In recent times, there has been no balance between the civic space and the security space, and no region or country is immune to the “security pandemic.” The Philippines is among those affected by this counter-terrorism architecture.

“What is happening in the Philippines is not different from what is happening in other countries because of the UN Security Council resolution and the recommendations of various international bodies,” Deinla shared.

Human rights concerns

The international counter-terrorism architecture is characterized by a blanket approach to counter-terrorism legislation as there is no universal or single definition of terrorism all over the world.

“That is one of the problems that human rights experts have had for a long time, the lack of an agreed definition of terrorism and even violent extremism,” Deinla said.

States, she added, are free to define the term however they wish to, “so there is a problem with its interpretation in terms of broadness and this could violate the rights of the citizens.”

There is also a polarizing rhetoric, “You’re either with us or not with us,” wherein those who question the legitimacy of counter-terrorism measures are voices being silenced.

Impact of counter-terrorism laws on free speech and press freedom

In recent years, among the most contentious was the passing of an anti-terror law in the Philippines.

“The counter-terrorism measures in the Philippines have led to a curtailment of legitimate exercises of fundamental freedoms,” Deinla said.

There is a broad definition of the term terrorism in Section 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act or Republic Act 11479.

While the capacity of the Anti-Terrorism Act is not limited to the context of criminal prosecution, the concept of terrorism has been conveniently used to delegitimize independent media and stifle or censor free speech. In June 2022, Bulatlat, Pinoy Weekly and other websites were censored by the National Telecommunications Commission in compliance with a blocking order from national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

The same year, the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) ordered the cessation publication of five books that allegedly incite terrorism, including “Kalatas: Mga Kuwentong Bayan at Kuwentong Buhay” by Rommel Rodriguez and “Labas: Mga Palabas sa Labas ng Sentro” by Reuel Aguila.

The ban was lifted after three KWF commissioners withdrew their signatures, voiding the said memorandum.

A popular bookstore, Solidaridad, was also red-tagged for selling books with content that allegedly incites terrorism, and its façade was tagged with spray paint.

“In the Philippine context, restrictions on free speech engendering the government’s concept of terrorism compel journalists, artists, writers, and ordinary citizens to be wary of their vulnerability to prosecution for terrorism-related offenses concerning speech,” Deinla said.

With this, there may be a need to re-examine the Philippines’ context of the chilling effect on speech.

“For freedom of speech and of the press to have any meaning, it must likewise protect expression that challenges the status quo,” Deinla added.

About IAWRT Digital Safe House for Filipino Women Journalists

This is the second part of the paralegal training conducted in line with IAWRT’s Digital Safe House for Filipino Women Journalists (https://www.digitalsafehouseph.net/), a one-stop digital hub for women journalists at-risk and those seeking support in the face of online and offline attacks, abuse and violence. The training was attended by the IAWRT executive board, members, and journalism students.

This year, IAWRT eyes the popularization of Digital Safe House for Filipino Women Journalists by promoting it among members of the media and expanding it to members of the organization’s global network. IAWRT Philippines also aims to build capacity and awareness in raising issues related to the safety of women journalists in the Philippines.

,

IAWRT India workshop on gender and climate change

IAWRT India presents ‘I’m Living It’ on Gender, Climate Change Intersectionalities’ at Alliance Francaise, New Delhi, on 1-3 March 2023.

During the three-day workshop a group of 30 participants from very diverse backgrounds including women from marginalized communities such as tribal, urban and rural poor will join media students to learn how to make short films on mobile phones. 

About 10 women from tribal areas and 15 women and adolescent girls from underprivileged urban poor communities around Delhi will participate in the workshop. 

The skilling workshop is designed to teach the participants how to tell their stories about the ways in which climate change has impacted their lives and livelihoods with the help of these films.

Our Network