Ammu Joseph : Voices unheard
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Apr 12 2007
OPINION
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Whose budget is it anyway?
Newspapers' coverage of the Union budget left little doubt where their class interests lie. The majority of those covering the budget had no clue what it all means for the aam aadmi, or even who this mythical creature might be. Naturally, their hapless readers too were left similarly wondering, writes Ammu Joseph.
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Oct 22 2006
REPORTING ON CHILD LABOUR
Missing links - II
REPORTING ON CHILD LABOUR : Missing links - II

Only a systematic review of past policies and efforts can shed light on why child labour continues unabated in the country. Without such analysis, it will be impossible to call the official bluff, and we will continue to witness grandstanding that relies on the short attention span of the media and the public, writes Ammu Joseph.

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Oct 21 2006
REPORTING ON CHILD LABOUR
Missing links
REPORTING ON CHILD LABOUR : Missing links

Few of the reports that appeared in the press in the two-week survey period told readers anything they did not already know. Ammu Joseph surveys media reports of child labour as the Centre's widened ban on employing children in hazardous occupations comes into effect.

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Aug 21 2006
OPINION
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The media, war and peace
Voices for peace are plentiful as well as poignant, but even when there is considerable coverage of a conflict, we almost never read of any of these. There is resistance within the media to the idea of 'peace journalism'; opponents believe 'objectivity' would suffer if the media pursued indisputably worthy goals like peace, writes Ammu Joseph.
Jul 28 2006
MEDIA/LAW
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Sound and fury over the Broadcast Bill
Journalists have strongly objected to provisions of the proposed Broadcast Bill empowering the government to cripple media through pre-censorship. The media industry has been furiously lobbying against the Bill's attempt to regulate ownership. Amidst all this, there has been little mention of the need for the public to have a say, notes Ammu Joseph.
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Feb 27 2006
WOMEN AND THE MEDIA
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Missing in action
A newly released report reveals that dialogue with and within the media is needed, not just to get gendered issues or events covered but, more importantly, to promote "a gender vision." Ammu Joseph notes that if accuracy and balance are the hallmarks of good journalism, better representation of women is integral to professionalism in the media.
Jan 30 2006
MEDIA COVERAGE OF FOOD SECURITY
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Covering the Republic of Hunger
About 320 million Indians go to bed without food every night, and recent data suggests this already alarming situation is getting worse. Despite the magnitude and intensity of this problem, it remains on the margins of policy planning, public action, intellectual discourse, and media coverage, writes Ammu Joseph.
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Dec 18 2005
MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE DISABLED
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Able but unwilling?
On World Disability Day and the few days following it, there was some coverage in the media of issues that concern the disabled population. But, considering that this represents peak coverage for the year it is hardly adequate, especially as the number of disabled persons in India is huge, writes Ammu Joseph.
Nov 05 2005
MEDIA
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Far from labouring the point
One aspect of the recent south Asian earthquake disaster that has received little media attention so far is its effect on livelihoods. But employment and livelihoods are not the stuff of which headlines are made – unless, of course, it is in the context of the corporate world, or when it cannot be ignored such as a nation-wide strike, says Ammu Joseph.
Oct 01 2005
INVISIBLE ELDERS
Covering the silent revolution
INVISIBLE ELDERS : Covering the silent revolution

A flurry of activities of senior citizen associations and related news coverage usually herald the International (and National) Day of Older Persons, annually observed on 1 October since 1990. However, it will take much more to focus serious attention on the world's fastest growing population group, says Ammu Joseph.

Ammu Joseph is an independent journalist and author based in Bangalore, writing primarily on issues relating to gender, human development and the media. She contributes to a number of mainstream publications and web-based media.

Among her publications are six books:

  • Whose News? The Media and Women's Issues (1994/2006, authored/edited with Kalpana Sharma)
  • Making News: Women in Journalism (2000/2005);
  • Storylines: Conversations with Women Writers (2003, with 4 other editors);
  • Just Between Us: Women Speak about their Writing (2004, with 4 others);
  • Interior Decoration: Anthology of Poems by Indian Women (2010, with 4 others); and
  • Terror, Counter-Terror: Women Speak Out (2003, edited with Kalpana Sharma)

She has also contributed chapters to several other books and written/edited a number of other publications, both Indian and international (among them, most recently, Missing Half the Story: Journalism as if Gender Matters [2010] and the IFJ-WACC Resource Kit to Strengthen Gender-Ethical Journalism [2012]). She contributed to UNESCO.s Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media and is currently part of an international team working on a UNESCO report on World Trends in the State of Freedom of Expression and Media Development.

She is a founder-member of the Network of Women in Media, India, and of the fledgling group, Media Watch Bengaluru, which seeks to create time and space for discussions on media-related issues in Bangalore.