The Media Foundation Which Runs The Hoot Has Published:Women in Journalism Makin
The Media Foundation Which Runs The Hoot Has
Published:Women in Journalism Making News
WRITTEN BY AMMU JOSEPH
The Book
The last decade of the millennium has
been an eventful one for the media in India. The spurt in the number and
visibility of Indian media women is but one of several significant developments
here during this period. However, it is an interesting and complex phenomenon
which deserves closer scrutiny than it has received so far.
"Women in Journalism: Making News" provides an
overview of the situation, experiences and perspectives of women working as
journalists in different parts of the country, in the English as well as Indian
language press, at various levels in the editorial hierarchy, and in different
branches of journalism.
Based primarily on the responses of more than 200
women to a wide range of questions, the book explores the world of journalism
in India through the eyes of women situated at different vantage points in the
profession. It examines where female media professionals are currently placed
in the print media, what they are and are not doing, why they think this is the
case, what they feel about the situation, and how they view the profession as a
whole as well as their own role in it.
The introductory chapter brings together available
information on the number of women in the field and on the history of women’s
involvement in the press. It also highlights some of the issues confronting
women in the media here and elsewhere. Subsequent chapters present the often
diverse experiences and views of female journalists with respect to the impact
of gender on their professional lives.
Among the issues discussed are: recruitment and
remuneration, assignments and beats, night work, promotions, colleagues and
sources of news/information, families, generational changes, and professional
networks. The impact of social and cultural factors on women’s experiences in
journalism are also explored, as are women’s perspectives on recent
developments in the media.
The book will be of interest and use to a wide range
of readers, including journalists, media owners and managers, students and
teachers of journalism, media studies and gender studies, as well as the
general public in the role of media consumers/watchers.
The Author
Ammu Joseph is a freelance journalist and media researcher/analyst now
based in Bangalore. She co-authored and edited "Whose News? The Media and
Women’s Issues" (Sage, 1994). She began her career in Bombay with Eve’s Weekly
(1977-81); she was editor of the Sunday magazine of The Indian Post, Bombay
(1986-88) before opting to freelance (1988 to date). For four years in the
1980s she was also visiting lecturer in journalism at the Sophia College
Polytechnic, Bombay. She was a founder-member of the Women and Media Group,
Bombay. In addition to writing articles for various publications, primarily on
issues relating to women, children and the media, and a column for children in
The Hindu’s Young World on current social and ethical issues, she has
contributed chapters – on subjects ranging from child labour to gender and the
media – for a number of books. She has degrees in English Literature (Madras