What is more credible than a journalist with good sources? A journalist trained to get these sources and shape them to become gender-sensitive, and thus rightfully target all groups of the society.
Towards the last quarter of 2018, Fe-Male partnered with ABAAD Organization on Naseej, a project funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands represented by its Embassy in Lebanon to promote gender-sensitive media coverage. The project titled “Protection and Mitigation of GBV against Women and Girls in Lebanon among Syrian Refugees and Vulnerable Host Communities” aimed at mitigating the root causes of gender-based violence for both refugee and host communities, in the domestic and public spheres.
Fe-Male, the expert NGO for producing media tools for better representation of women, organized and implemented a series of trainings targeting journalists, reporters and media personnel in NGOs, INGOs and media outlets highlighting the best ways of producing gender-sensitive media coverage on women’s causes.
Over 75 journalists from different backgrounds and institutions were trained over 6 days using Fe-Male’s self-developed and tested by experts training toolkit. Throughout the training, the trainees learned the how-to of a gender-sensitive interview with a woman survivor of GBV, the use of a correct language while addressing women’s and GBV causes, and more about the codes that govern gender-sensitive media coverage. In addition, the chapters of the toolkit were eye-openers on the portrayal of women’s image and representation in Lebanese media, giving the trainees insights on how to challenge the stereotypical image of women in online and traditional media. The trainers were experienced media personnel, journalists and gender experts who shared their experiences and knowledge with the trainees.
