SAMGI - Southern African Media and Gender Institute

Women's Media Watch (SAMGI’s flagship project) monitors the daily newspapers and responds to particular stories that warrant comment. SAMGI responds directly through letters to the editor or opinion pieces submitted to the relevant newspapers, including community newspapers. Various other articles and opinion writing is published on our internet blog and in our quarterly publication, Making Waves. Our programmes also communicate with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) on advertisements or broadcasts which SAMGI deems offensive or inappropriate. The Women’s Media Watch was founded in 1994 and started as an interest group of women who saw the need to ensure that the least represented female voices are heard in the media. Women, the group predominantly denied access to the media, were finally given a platform to have their voices heard and to access information through the media. The small group of woman who started the Women’s Media Watch drew into their circle some women from grassroots organisations and some disadvantaged communities who were able to convey their problems and that of their communities to the group. As more and more requests for assistance were recorded, it was decided to formally launch the Women’s Media Watch and a project was born. The project currently monitors the media on specific issues such as HIV and AIDS, the representation of women and issues of xenophobia, racism, classism and homophobia. These media monitoring reports may be found under the Media tab and Publications.