Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie). 2021.

17(2)

Copyright © 2021 by Academic Publishing House Researcher s.r.o.

Published in the Slovak Republic

Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie)
Has been issued since 2005
ISSN 1994-4160
E-ISSN 2729-8132
2021. 17(2): 217-230

DOI: 10.13187/me.2021.2.217
www.ejournal53.com

Challenges in Covering Women and Girls’ Issues: Insights from

Journalistic Practices in Bangladesh

Jewel Das a , *
aDept. of Journalism and Media Studies, Port City International University,
Chittagong, Bangladesh

Abstract
As a deep-rooted patriarchal and traditional value-centric society, women and girls are often
treated as inferior to men to participate in key aspects of their socioeconomic lives in Bangladesh.
This ill fate has made the female community vulnerable to achieving Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG’s). Achieving the SDG’s highly depends on the actual portrayal of women and girls by
media professionals. However, media professionals, especially, journalists are yet facing deep
challenges in covering news on women and girls’ issues. The portrayal of women and girls in news
thus remains poor and stereotyped. Under the given context what challenges journalists are facing
in covering women and girls’ issues and how to overcome these that are unident ified yet. Based
on survey of 26 journalists working in Chittagong, an industrially developed south-eastern district
of Bangladesh, and nine (9) in-depth interviews from gender and media analysts, this study
explores to what extent socio-cultural attitudes, customs and practices and policies of media
challenge the journalists in covering women or gender issues. The findings show that the
challenges are ranged from ‘very challenging’ to ‘somewhat challenging’ to most of the journalists.
The study suggests that trainings and workshops for journalists and rethinking media policies for
information literacy can be effective tools for overcoming the challenges.
Keywords: gender inequalities, media professionals, media portrayal, SDGs, SEM.

1. Introduction
Despite different initiatives taken for ensuring gender equality in all sphere of society, women
and girls are still considered inferior to men by many norms, cultures and traditions (Sultana,
2010), whether in developed, developing, or undeveloped societies. Inflexible socioeconomic
conditions, rigid socio-cultural attitudes, religious factors, traditional customs and practices of the
societies are the prime reasons to look upon women and girls in such a manner (Sharma, 2017).
Societies having such harmful traditional cultural values and practices (Maluleke, 2012) “restrict
women’s mobility and reject their freedom over themselves” (Sultana, 2010: 7), often resulting in
gender inequalities, marginalization and low prioritization of women and girls’ rights.
Like the mentioned societies, women and girls’ issues are also considered as low prioritized
matters in Bangladesh, though women and girls constitute almost half of the total population of the
country (BBS, 2017). Having highly patriarchal norms and traditions, women’s access to social,
economic, political and legal institutions is mainly mediated by men (Baden et al., 1994). Although
women and girls are the prime assets for the development of a country (Kumari, Joshi, 2015), yet there

*Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Das)
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is a higher level of gender gap between male and female in Bangladesh (Begum, 2005). This kind of
gender gap is often responsible for the denial of women and girls’ access to basic human rights
(UNFPA, 2006). In such socio-cultural context, exploitation, oppression and underestimation of
capabilities are pre-defined for women and girls (Nagindrappa, Radhika, 2013; Sultana, 2010). This ill
fate has made the female community vulnerable to achieving development goals.
However, empirical evidence indicates that the scenario is being changed through some
initiatives of government and non-governmental organizations. For instance, The United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA) in 1979 adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for legalizing elimination of all sort of violence against
women. The CEDAW obligates state as the actor to ensure equal right to men and women,
protection of discrimination against women and legal framework to address the prevailing
inequality or discrimination (Fardosh, 2013). Besides, the SDG-5 of the global Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) directly addresses and calls for achieving gender equality and
empowering women and girls everywhere (UN, 2017). Achieving the SDG-5 highly depends on the
actual portrayal of women and girls by media professionals. A. Kumari and H. Joshi confirm that
the media has always been recognized as a significant tool of social transformation and social
change. It has the power to mobilize people through building and shaping public opinion in society
(Kumari, Joshi, 2015).
Under the given context, the 2030 agenda for sustainable development of the United Nations
gives emphasis on enhancing information and communications to promote empowerment of
women. The United Nations’ 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing also called on media
owners and professionals to develop and adopt codes or guidelines to promote a fair and accurate
portrayal of women in the media (MAHR, 1996). In 2015, UNESCO signed an agreement with the
International Network on Gender, Media and ICTs concerning the objectives of producing and
publishing reliable evidence and data on gender, media and ICTs, particularly, comprehensive data
on gender (Lourenco, 2016). Everywhere the potential exists for the media to make a far greater
contribution to the advancement of women and girls (UN, 1995). Media as well the media
professionals can promote the women-centered sustainable development.
However, media professionals, especially, journalists are yet facing deep challenges in
covering news on women and girls’ issues of a gender sensitive society in which they live and
execute professional duties. The political and economic determinants and community’s cultural
environment impact journalistic practice and news content (Hanusch, 2015). Journalists are also
influenced by their morals, beliefs and opinions or internal factors when making news decisions, as
well as, by external matters such as their news organization, guidelines and universal ethics
(Gracia, 2015). J.T. Wood (Wood, 1994) describes that news media portray gender in stereotypical
ways that reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of gender. The portrayal of women and girls in
news thus remains poor and stereotyped.
K.M. Garcia asserts that “the way that a journalist works in the field and produces the news
has been studied for many years” (Gracia, 2015: 6). In this line of studies, there had been
researches in Bangladesh on female journalists’ professional challenges (Safa, Akter, 2015) and
gender representation on media. But, what challenges journalists encounter in covering women
and girls’ issues and how to overcome these that are unidentified yet. So, this study has been
undertaken with a view to identifying the dimensions of the challenges. The main objective of the
study is to explore to what extent socioeconomic and socio-cultural approaches challenge the
journalists in covering news on women and girls or gender issues. The study based on the main
objective also aims:
 To know the professional background of journalists;
 To discover journalistic trend to cover news on women and girls;
 To assess journalists’ awareness and understanding level of gender issues, and
 To identify the ways of overcoming the challenges of news coverage on women and girls.
The study explores how personal beliefs, socio-cultural attitudes, customs and practices, and
policies of media and state challenge the journalists in covering gender issues.

2. Materials and methods

The area of this study is Chittagong, an industrially developed south-eastern district of
Bangladesh. This area had been selected as it was convenient for the researcher to collect data

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within short time period as well as for research’s easy accesses to the location. Furthermore, this
research area represents distinct socio-cultural natures and social setting.
The study was conducted based on quantitative and qualitative research approach. A total of
26 samples of journalists working in different media in Chittagong were surveyed for the study.
Using a convenient sampling technique, all the 26 journalists were drawn from television channels,
national and local newspapers and online news media functioning in Chittagong region. Further,
nine (9) in-depth interviews from gender and media analysts were also conducted for getting more
clear ideas on the topic.
For quantitative study, a self-constructed survey questionnaire was administrated to collect
primary data considering the objectives of the study. The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions.
It included close ended demographic questions (e.g. gender, age, education level, marital status,
religion, ethnicity, etc.) and profession relating questions (e.g. work experiences, work areas,
salary, etc.). It, within five-point Likert scale, also included questions relevant to the research topic.
For qualitative study, on the other hand, in-depth interview tool was applied. According to
Ostbye researchers can test their own theories and hypothesis in qualitative interviews (in: Haland-
Solheim, 2017), The in-depth interviewees (e.g. media and gender analyst) were asked mainly two
open ended questions: 1) ‘What kind of socio-economic and socio-cultural matters challenge the
journalists in covering women and girls’ issues for news and how?’ and 2) ‘Give your suggestions on
how to address or overcome these challenges’.
Survey and in-depth interview data were collected between October, 2018 and November,
2018 by the researchers’ initiatives. Both primary and secondary data sources were used for the
study. Data analysis was done by using computer assisted software e.g. MS Excel and SPSS.
Different statistical functions e.g. frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation were measured
to analyze the answers given by the respondents. Data of in-depth interviews were also
systematically analyzed.

3. Discussion
The literature review finds the relevance of the present study. There had been numerous
studies to investigate women and girls’ stereotyped portrayal on media. Aiming to contribute to
gender equality and women’s empowerment in and through media of all forms, International
Programme for the Development of Communication [IPDC] confirmed that media have the
potential to propagate and perpetuate or to ameliorate inequalities and gender stereotypes as these
exist in social structures and the minds of people (IPDC, 2012). IPDC recognized “the conscious or
unconscious biases that many media professionals, both men and women, sometimes have towards
one-sidedly reductionist masculinist perspectives is partially due to the lack of capacity to report on
women and gender more broadly” (IPDC, 2012: 5). A guide for journalists published by Michigan
Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual (MCEDSV) explained that more often media attention
focuses on cases which reinforce stereotypes of sexual assault perpetrators as “sick,” mentally ill,
lower class, or a member of a minority or ethnic group. This guide provided insight into new trends
and assist journalists in developing strategies to accurately frame the public discussion on sexual
assault (MCEDSV, 2004).
A recent study by J. Fardosh confirmed patriarchal psychological domination, cultural or
religious dogma, norms and superstitions are some of the major issues considered as the major
factors for violent activities against women in Bangladesh. She, in her paper, highlighted the
significant role of different media in disseminating information and awareness raising campaigns
against women violence (Fardosh, 2013). Seminal contributions have been made by E.J. Mujkic.
He undertook a research in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a part of the efforts to stop violence against
women which gave importance on the media reporting in line with ethical and professional
standards (Mujkic, 2016).
Some studies confirm that journalists find religious views as a challenging factor in their
work. A comprehensive description can be found in a study on the struggles of Arab Palestinian
journalists working in Israel. It is also well acknowledged that religious views, ethnic culture, social
pressures, financial difficulties, traditional customs, workplace conditions and life security are the
challenges to journalistic professionalism (Jamal, Awaisi, 2012). The qualitative study mentioned
an interview contented as: “It is hard to work in a newspaper with ideological and religious views.
For example, there is a problem with anything related to women. You can’t publish a photo of an
unveiled woman.”

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However, it has been discussed by a number of authors that journalists’ news making ways
are often influenced by the society in which they live and execute their professional duties. Squires
and Adoni claimed that there is a problem of social affiliation and journalists’ potentially
conflicting obligations between the society to which they belong and their profession (as cited in
Jamal, Awaisi, 2012). Zhu in a secondary analysis comparing media role perceptions among
journalists in China, Taiwan, and the United States, found that societal influences have the
strongest impact on journalists’ view about media roles (Zhu et al., 1997).
Different theories have been proposed to analyze the cultural context and its influences on
journalists. Peterson indicated that the cultural background of journalists and correspondents is
important in selecting and gathering news (as cited in Al-Hasani, 2008). By using the
culturological approach, M. Schudson introduced a new dimension to news production studies.
He also viewed that media are influenced by the culture (Schudson, 1989). A study by M. Haland-
Solheim on journalistic values and challenges is well documented one. The study identified that
autonomy as one of the most important journalistic values. That means journalists’ work is not to
be influenced by anyone but themselves. The study examined that journalists face challenges to
apply this core value to their work (Haland-Solheim, 2017). Under the given context,
M.E. Lourenco (Lourenco, 2016) gave extensive insights into the articulations of academic studies,
media organizations and media professionals.
However, none of the reviewed literatures explored the socio-cultural attitudes, customs and
practices and the policies of media organizations as the challenges for journalists in covering news
on women and girls issues. Furthermore, no complete and defined study was previously conducted
for evaluating to what extent these are challenging for journalists, though covering women issues
are gender sensitive matters in Bangladesh and beyond. This lack of research leaves a wide gulf in
our knowledge of socioeconomic circumstances, socio-cultural customs and practices and their
influences over journalists, their capabilities to report making and media policies in Bangladesh.
Understanding the context in a clear way would assist us in finding adequate answers to overcome
the persisting problem. So, a new approach is needed to explore the challenges for journalists in
covering women and girls issues for news.

4. Results
Quantitative description
The findings based on quantitative data collected for the study have been presented as
follows:
Background of journalists in Chittagong
Table 1 and Table 2 show that the average scenario of journalism in Chittagong is mainly
male (77 %) dominated profession where most of the journalists religiously hold Islamic beliefs
(77 %) and ethnically belong to Bengali identity affiliated to Chittagong culture (81 %). According
to N. Kabeer (Kabeer, 2000), the inhabitants of Chittagong are generally considered to be more
conservative than the rest of the country. Under this context, women’s participation in journalism
profession is discouraged by the social norms of this region. So, women’s participation in this craft
is still disappointingly low (Ullah, Akhter, 2016), comparing to the male journalists. The study
demonstrates that only 06 (23 %) are female journalists out of 26 respondents.

Table 1. Properties of Journalists’ Demography (1)

Items Frequency (f) Percentage Mean S.D

(%)
Gender Male 20 77 N/A N/A
Female 06 23
Others 00 0
Total 26 100
Age (in years) 16-25 03 11.54
26-35
36-45
17 65.38
03 11.54
33.19 9.19
46-55

02 7.69
56-65 01 3.85
Total 26 100
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Marital Status Married 12 46 N/A N/A

Unmarried 13 50
Others 01 4
Total 26 100
Note: Researchers own field survey

On average, journalists of Chittagong are 33.19 years old (SD=9.19). Holding a strong
academic background with college or university degree as well as journalism degree, they are
contributing to the media sector in Chittagong. Of the 26 respondents in this study, 80.77 %
journalists have post-graduate degree, whereas, 11.53 % holds graduate degree and 54 % of the
total respondents have a specialized degree either in journalism or communication (Table 2).

Table 2. Properties of Journalists’ Demography (2)

Items Frequency (f) Percentage Mean S.D

(%)
Religion Islam 20 77 N/A N/A
Hinduism 05 19
Buddhism 01 4
Christianity 00 0
Others 00 0
Total 26 100
Ethnicity Chittagong based Bengali 21 81 N/A N/A
Non-Chittagong Bengali 05 19
Hill tract tribe 00 0
Plane land tribe 00 0
Others 00 0
Total 26 100
Education Post-graduation 21 80.77 N/A N/A
Level Graduation 03 11.53
Higher Secondary 01 3.85
Secondary 00 0
Others 01 3.85
Total 26 100
Journalism Yes 14 54 N/A N/A
Degree No 12 46
Total 26 100
Note: Researchers own field survey

Field survey of this study (Figure 1) finds that out of 26 respondents, 26.92 % journalists are
in senior level position (e.g. Executive news producer, Bureau chief, Head of news, senior reporter,
etc.), 50 % are in mid-level position (e.g. Staff reporter, Staff correspondent, etc.) and 23.08 %
journalists are in entry-level position (e.g. Reporter).

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Fig. 1. Percentage of respondents' job position

Journalists’ professional information

Table 3 shows that the average work experience of journalists working in Chittagong is 7.61
years (SD=4.54), and 30.79 % of them have six to ten years of professional experience. Of the
26 respondents, 62 % journalists, by their employment term, are full time employee but get a
consolidate salary from their media houses. Only 38 % journalists indicated that they get wage
board based salary with full time employment term. Whether wage board salary or consolidate
salary, the average salary of the respondent journalists is BDT 24,807 and most of them (42 %) get
a monthly salary ranged from BDT 20 thousands to 40 thousands.

Table 3. Professional Information of Journalists

Items Frequency Percentage Mean S.D

(f) (%)
Work 0-2 years 6 23.07
Experience 3-5 years 6 23.07 7.61 4.54
6-10 years 8 30.79
11-15 years 6 23.07
Total 26 100
Employment Full time (wage board based) 10 38 N/A N/A
Term Full time (consolidate salary based) 16 62
Part-time 00 0
Freelancer 00 0
Others 00 0
Total 26 100
Produced 0-2 News 3 80.77 6.42 3.06
News Number 3-5 News 7 11.53
6-8 News 8 3.85
9-11 News 8 0
Total 26 100
Monthly Less than 10 thousands 4 15 N/A
Salary 10-20 thousands 7 27 24,807
(in BDT) 20-40 thousands 11 42 BDT
40-50 thousands 3 12
50-60 thousands 1 4
Total 26 100
Note: Researchers own field survey.

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Fig. 2. Percentage of journalists’ work area in pie chart

On average the respondent journalists produce 6.42 news (SD= 3.06) in a usual week.
The majority of the respondents (73.08 %) do not have a specific working area and they work on
different types of subject area (Figure 2). Table 4 demonstrates that their major subjects’ areas are
crime (50 %), environment (42.31 %), politics (34.61 %), society (34.46 %), etc.

Table 4. Journalists’ Work Subjects or Topics*

Subjects Respondents’ Percentage

Frequencies (N=26) %
Politics 9 34.61
Crime 13 50
Business/Economy 10 34.46
Entertainment & Culture 7 26.92
Education 6 23.07
Environment 11 42.31
Sports 3 11.54
Administration 5 19.23
Society 10 34.46
Others 2 7.69
Note: Researchers own field survey. *Multiple answers were given.

Journalists’ trends to cover women and girls or gender issues

The participants were asked a question to know their tendency to cover women and girls or
gender issues. The question was “do you usually produce or write women and girls or gender
related news story?” In response to the question, most of the journalists (84.92 %) indicated YES,
whereas, 15.38 % replied that they usually do not produce these kinds of news story (Figure 3).
Whether the answer YES or NO regarding women news story production, the study demonstrates
that the 26 respondents cover different types of issues relating to women and girls or gender for
their usual reporting purposes.

Fig. 3. Proportion of covering women and girls or gender issues

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Table 5. Types of Women and Girls or Gender Issues*

Types Respondents’ Percentage

Frequencies %
(N = 26)
Physical violence against women (e.g. Killing, Beating etc.) 17 65.38
Mental torture on women 7 26.92
Women empowerment (e.g. politics, society, administration) 12 46.15
Women entrepreneurship 14 53.85
Sexual Harassment (e.g. Rape, Teasing etc.) 18 69.23
Awareness of women rights 7 26.92
Gender equality for basic human rights 11 42.31
Girls Education 13 50
Participation in decision making 3 11.54
Society and Gender (e.g. dowry system, social attitudes etc.) 8 30.77
Religious Matter and women 3 11.54
Women Healthcare 9 34.62
Others 1 3.85
Note: Researchers own field survey. *Multiple answers were given.

Table 5 indicates the journalists in Chittagong cover or focus sexual harassment (69.23 %),
physical violence against women (65.38 %), women entrepreneurship (53.85 %), women
empowerment (46.15 %), gender equality (42.31 %), women healthcare (34.62 %), society and
gender (30.77 %), mental torture on women (26.92 %), etc.
Journalists’ Understanding of Gender Issues Coverage
While answering questions about their awareness and understanding level of gender issues,
respondent journalists expressed affirmative views. Majority of journalists (46.2 %) answered that
they have good knowledge of women and girls’ rights (M=3.62, SD=0.94), whereas, most (46.2 %)
journalists indicated that they have good knowledge of laws and policies regarding women and girls
(M=3.12, SD=0.95).
The study found that 38.5 % journalists have very good understanding of their
responsibilities to promote gender equality (M=3.73, SD=1.0), 50 % expressed they have good
understanding of Govt. and NGOs’ responsibilities and actions to combat gender discrimination
(M=3.28, SD=0.74). The most respondents also ranked that they have good (38.5 %) knowledge of
professional ethics to portray women (M=3.50, SD=0.99). Most (42.3 %) journalists have good
knowledge of code of conducts to cover women and girls on news (M=3.56, SD=1.0) (Table 6).

Table 6. Journalists’ Understanding of Gender Issues Coverage Professional ethics and editorial policy

Statements Excellent Very Good Poor Very Mean

N S.D.
(5) Good (3) (2) poor
(4) (1)
% % % % %
Knowledge of women and 19.2 30.8 46.2 0 3.8 26 3.62 0.94
girls rights
Knowledge of laws and 7.7 23.1 46.2 19.2 3.8 26 3.12 0.95
policies regarding women and
girls or gender
Understanding of journalistic 23.1 38.5 30.8 3.8 3.8 26 3.73 1.00
responsibilities to promote
gender equality
Understanding of Govt. and 3.8 30.8 50.0 11.5 0 25 3.28 0.74
NGOs’ responsibilities and
actions to combat gender
discrimination

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Knowledge of professional 15.4 34.6 38.5 7.7 3.8 26 3.50 0.99

ethics to portray women and
girls related news
Knowledge of code of 23.1 19.2 42.3 11.5 0 25 3.56 1.00
conducts to cover women and
girls on news
Note: Researchers own field survey.

Professional ethics and editorial policy

One of the important aspects of the study is the importance of maintaining professional
ethics and organizational policies to the journalists in Chittagong. The study found that
maintaining media organization editorial and commercial policies regarding gender issues
(M=3.63, SD=0.96) is very important to the most (57.7 %) of the journalists, whereas, it is not
important to only 3.8 % journalists. Maintaining professional ethics in covering gender issues
(M=4.19, SD=0.63) is also very important to most of the respondents (Table 7). The lowest
standard deviation indicates the consistency of journalists’ actions to maintain professional ethics
in gender coverage.

Table 7. Maintaining Professional Ethics and Editorial Policy

Statements Extremely Very Somewhat Little Not Mean

N S.D.
important important important important important
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

% % % % %
Maintaining of 11.5 57.7 15.4 7.7 3.8 25 3.68 0.96
your media
organization
editorial and
commercial
policies
regarding
gender
Maintaining of 30. 57.7 11.5 0 0 26 4.19 0.63
professional 8
ethics in
covering
gender
Note: Researchers own field survey.

Challenges for journalists in covering women and girls’ Issues

This study reports that socio-cultural aspects of a society have considerable linkages to
individuals’ barriers and challenges. The quantitative description expresses that journalists of
Chittagong, based on their personal experiences through day-to-day work, feel that some socio-
economic and socio-cultural norms, attitudes, customs practiced by the society and media houses’
and government’s policies challenge them in covering news on women and girls issues. While
answering the questions on the challenges what they face, journalists explored the reasons of the
challenges and also showed that they encounter these at individual, interpersonal, organization,
community and policy levels of social ecology.
This study finds at individual level most of the respondent journalists believe their ethnic
cultural tradition (34.6 %), religious norms and beliefs (34.6 %), professional ethics (30.8 %) and
freedom of expressing gender sensitive matters (53.8 %) are very challenging in covering gender
issues, whereas, most journalists feel that their personal values and beliefs (30.8 %) and limited
salary (58.5 %) are somewhat challenging and extremely challenging respectively. At interpersonal
level, most (57.7 %) of the respondents showed that taking interview from women and girls is
somewhat challenging (M=3.04, SD=0.95) (Table 8).

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Table 8. Dimensions of the Challenges for Journalists

Level and Extremely Very Somewhat Little Not

Statements Challenging Challenging Challenging Challenging Challe- N Mean S.D.
(5) (4) (3) (2) nging
(1)
% % % % %
Individual Level
Ethnic cultural 15.4 34.6 23.1 11.5 15.4 26 3.23 1.30
tradition of
journalists

Religious norms 19.2 34.6 23.1 7.7 15.4 26 3.35 1.32

and beliefs of
journalists
Journalistic 19.2 30.8 19.2 15.4 11.5 25 3.32 1.31
professional ethics
Expressing gender 11.5 53.8 7.7 11.5 11.5 25 3.44 1.22
sensitive matters in
news
Personal values 23.1 3.8 30.8 3.8 34.6 25 2.76 1.58
and beliefs
Limited salary for 38.5 30.8 15.4 3.8 7.7 25 3.92 1.22
profession
Interpersonal Level
Taking Interview 7.7 15.4 57.7 11.5 7.7 26 3.04 0.95
from women and
girls
Organizational Level
Media house 11.5 26.9 34.6 19.2 7.7 26 3.15 1.12
editorial policy
Commercial policy 7.7 26.9 38.5 19.2 3.8 25 3.16 0.98
of your media
Owners of media 15.4 23.1 26.9 11.5 19.2 25 3.04 1.36
Lack of 19.2 26.9 30.8 15.4 3.8 25 3.44 1.12
training/education
on Gender
Reporting
TV or Newspaper 3.8 30.8 30.8 15.4 19.2 26 2.85 1.19
Time/Space limit
Audience demand 7.7 42.3 23.1 11.5 11.5 25 3.24 1.16
for sensationalizing
women issues
Community Level
Patriarchal social 19.2 46.2 26.9 0 7.7 26 3.69 1.05
attitudes and
values towards
women
Socio-cultural 19.2 46.2 26.9 0 7.7 26 3.69 1.05
customs and
practice
Social demand for 7.7 23.1 46.2 11.5 7.7 25 3.12 1.01
stereotyping the
women
Pressures from 11.5 19.2 38.5 23.1 3.8 25 3.12 1.05
socio-political
groups
Pressures from 0 19.2 50.0 11.5 7.7 23 2.91 0.84
civic activists
Mental and 30.8 30.8 26.9 3.8 3.8 25 3.84 1.06
physical violence
against journalists
Policy Level
Media laws and 15.4 34.6 30.8 11.5 7.7 26 3.38 1.13
regulations

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formulated by
policy makers
Difficulties in 19.2 30.8 30.8 3.8 3.8 23 3.65 1.02
accessing state-
held or official
information
Pressures from law 3.8 26.9 30.8 23.1 7.7 24 2.96 1.04
enforcing agencies
Note: Researchers own field survey.

The study demonstrates that many challenges remain in organizational level. The most
respondents ranked that editorial policy (34.5 %), commercial policy (38.5 %), owners (26.9 %)
and lack of training (30.8 %) are somewhat challenging in gender issue coverage. On the other
hand, TV or newspaper time/space limit (30.8 %) and audience demand for sensationalizing
women issues (42.3 %) are very challenging for the respondents (Table 8).
In community/societal level, most respondents feel that patriarchal social attitudes (46.2 %)
and socio-cultural customs (46.2 %) are very challenging in covering women’s issues. Whereas,
social demand for stereotyping (46.2 %), pressures from socio-political groups (38.5 %), pressures
from civic activists (50.0 %) and violence against journalists (30.8 %) are considered somewhat
challenging (Table 8).
Journalists in Chittagong also face challenges in policy level. The study found most
journalists find media laws and regulations (34.6 %) and accessing state-held or official
information (30.8 %) are very challenging. By contrast, most respondents think law enforcing
agency (30.8 %) is somewhat challenging in gender reporting (Table 8).
Qualitative interpretation
The major focus throughout the study has been on the job practices and the considerable
challenges in different strata of journalists’ social ecology in term of women and girls issue
coverage. Several dimensions of this study have been interpreted in this section with qualitative
evidences.
This study found that respondent journalists belong to a conservative socio-cultural setting
where their professional activities are mostly influenced by rigid social norms, ethnic tradition,
religious beliefs and cultural values. According to F. Hanusch, culture and cultural values play role
in shaping journalists’ professional views and practices (Hanusch, 2015). In such context, women
issues are covered or portrayed by a journalist in such rigid socio culture driven ways. Qualitative
in-depth interview evident that traditional perception of gender roles in a society is also
responsible for the underrepresentation of gender issues on media by journalists. While sharing
experiences on journalists’ social practices and coverage of women issues as news, Mrs. A. Parveen,
a law teacher of a university and a gender analyst, in an in-depth interview, opined (Interview 3):
“Some journalists present women and girls on media in stereotyped forms where women are
represented by their gender centric manner than being focused by their activities or contributions
to the society. There have also several evidences where it is found that affected women are often
completely invisible in media reports.”
Why such practices are being happened in media? Commenting on the question, Ms. Nasrin
Sultana, a media professional, said (Interview 7): “Rigid cultural values in a social setting influence
the way of how a journalist thinks about gender roles and depicts women on news media.”
One of the interviewees of in-depth interviews wants a society where culture may ensure equality
for all. Confirming society is now more equal for women, the interviewee Mr. R. Chowdhury, a senior
journalist, said (Interview 5): “Educated women are more aware of their rights and they express more
things to journalists without hesitation.” Mr. Rashed, however, disappointingly expressed: “Remote
society women yet influenced by social norms and traditions. So, they feel hesitate to pass information
to media professionals. Sometimes it is challenging for journalists in portraying women properly on
media (Interview 5).”
Asserting journalists’ role in ensuring proper and speedy judgment of any victimized
women’s case, Mr. Kadir, a media and gender analyst, said (Interview 6), they should represent
women’s issues in a positive and balanced way. If they undertake the role to promote women
positively and to focus on women’s activities than stereotyping them as women or girls on media,
they might overcome the socio-cultural challenges in gender issue coverage.
In Hierarchical Influences Model, Shoemaker and Reese identified five levels of influence on
media content from the macro to micro levels (Shoemaker, Reese, 2013). The macro level
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represents the influences from social systems as a whole. This macro systems level focuses on how
ideological forces influence and shape media contents. This study also found that journalists’
professional ethical ideology, media policy, personal values all are considerable challenges for
journalists who cover women and girls issues for news. As a result, the journalists cannot project
women issues properly as much as other more important topics. D. Akter, a journalism teacher and
media analyst, commented (Interview 4): “Media, in their contents, often exaggerate presentation
of women and girls’ matters for increasing circulation/viewers numbers. Sometimes, this kind of
policy (whether commercial or editorial) challenges the journalists.”
For overcoming this challenge, Mr. Riton, a media practitioner, suggested the respective
media policymakers to take necessary steps to bring all the media on a platform so that they follow
positive policies such as stopping sensationalized news presentation on women and girls and
portraying their issues in fair and balanced manner (Interview 2).
Importantly, religious beliefs of media professionals and women create challenges for
journalists as some conservative religious beliefs do not support presentation of women and girls’
matters on media. Mr. A. Sayem, a journalist of a daily newspaper, mentioned that sometimes,
women do not want to express their views to journalists for religious customs (Interview 9).
Confirming most of the journalists in Chittagong do not have training on gender issue
covering, Mr. Hamid, a women rights’ activist, advised for arranging some in-house trainings so
that journalists can know how to take interview from women respecting their religious belief
(Interview 8).
Defining news frame as “central organizing principle that holds together a diverse array of
symbols and idea elements”, W.A. Gamson focused on the influences of news frames on the
audience conception of a given issue or topic’s importance (Gamson 2001: 56-74). R. Entman
highlighted that news frame selection by journalists gives viewers, readers, and listeners a selective
explanation about a topic (Entman, 1993). This study found demand of selective framing of gender
sensitive matters in news language as a challenge for journalists.
Focusing on the media languages, one of the interviewees Mr. M.C. Das, a university teacher
and gender analyst, said (Interview 1): “There are some gender biased words (e.g. businessman,
chairman) used in media contents’ frame which sponsor patriarchal tradition. As part of the society
and not having proper knowledge, journalists often use these words consciously or
subconsciously.” Urging for appropriate uses of words in media, Mr. Madhab suggested for
arranging workshops for journalists on the proper usage of media language to overcome the
challenge (Interview 1).
In summary, from the interpretation of quantitative survey data and qualitative in-depth
interviews on the dimensions of journalists’ challenges in women and girls’ issue coverage in
Bangladesh, this paper found three core themes: 1) Conservative socio-cultural setting creates
challenges for journalists, 2) There are professional ethical ideology and media policy centric
challenges, and 3) Challenges in terming or framing gender sensitive matters in news contents.
These three themes help to get insights of Bangladeshi journalists’ challenges in women and girls’
issue coverage.
Limitations of the Study
The present study is subject to the following limitations:
– The study is relevant to a particular time period. Due to the fast changing socio-cultural
system of the study area, the findings may not be valid for a longer period of time.
– Researchers had to complete the study within very short time. So, the study was restricted
to a limited number of samples. 26 respondents might not be enough to generalize the findings.
– As the research was based on convenience sampling, so findings could be biased by
researchers.
– The study was confined to one small city area. Thus, the findings are applicable only to
similar kind of situation analysis.
– The result drawn from the study could have regional biasness.

5. Conclusion
The study has been concluded after finding and analyzing the various dimensions of
challenges for journalists in Chittagong. The findings show that journalists being part of the society
and media organizations encounter some socio-cultural and policy-centric challenges when they
cover women and girls or gender issues for news. Most of the journalists, under this study, feel that

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these challenges are ranged from very challenging to somewhat challenging at their individual,
interpersonal, organizational, community and policy level. For promoting a fair and accurate
portrayal of women against poor representation and stereotyping on the media, journalists should
overcome these challenges at all levels.
In this regard, the study suggests arranging some effective training, seminars, workshops for
journalists so that they can be tactful and careful in covering women and girls issues as gender
sensitive matters. Furthermore, the policy makers of media organizations and government and
non-government organizations should rethink the existing policies and guidelines to adopt proper
codes of conduct for journalists. Besides, the positive attitude of society is very essential to bring
the change in the status of women and girls. Journalists can accelerate this way of change by
playing crucial role through news making. So, this study emphasizes the need for developing time
befitting policy for upholding journalists’ responsibilities as per the declaration of 4th World
Conference on Women.

6. Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank all the journalists and interviewees who were so cooperative
and participated in this study with their time. Moreover, an earlier version of this paper was
presented at the South Asia Communication Conference on Media Portrayal of the Marginalized
Communities held on 21-22 December 2018, in Bhubaneswar, India.

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