Ammu Joseph : Voices unheard
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Sep 12 2005
FAILURE OF MEDIA
Cutting through the urban jungle
FAILURE OF MEDIA : Cutting through the urban jungle

It may take more than random coverage of dramatic developments on the civic front for the media fulfil its promise of connecting citizens and governments. Mere reports based entirely on press statements and conferences in which plans are presented with little questioning won't do, writes Ammu Joseph.

Aug 08 2005
CHILDREN'S VOICES
Where have all the children gone?
CHILDREN'S VOICES : Where have all the children gone?

The media today -- print and television -- reflect little active awareness of the fact that they have an important role to play in enabling children to learn about the highly complex world they live in. Children's voices are missing even in reports and articles on matters directly related and relevant to them, says Ammu Joseph.

May 11 2005
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The medium, the message, and the masses
A government panel supports freeing Doordarshan and AIR from having to run socially relevant programming. But what else is public broadcasting for, asks Ammu Joseph, pointing out that all over the world there is growing awareness of the need to keep media honest in serving the public interest.
Apr 03 2005
Public discourse on public health
: Public discourse on public health
The Patents Amendment Bill involved an issue of great concern to citizens. But did the Indian media provide a public forum for debate on the issue and enable individuals and institutions to contribute their thinking? Ammu Joseph doesn't think the media lived up to its responsibilities.
Mar 02 2005
Media with a message
: Media with a message
Access to and control over media are critical for the survival and sustenance of marginalised rural communities. Yet, this is elusive because media policy-makers rarely concern themselves with this, and focus instead on private and corporate media's expectations, notes Ammu Joseph.
Feb 02 2005
TSUNAMIS
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Gender, media and tsunamis

Can there possibly be a gender angle to the tsunami story? Certainly, says Ammu Joseph, pointing out that women from economically and socially deprived communities usually bear the brunt of disasters, thanks to the gender dimension of social inequality and inequity.

Dec 10 2004
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When violence is not news
The challenge before the media is to move beyond clubbing what happens to women with routine crime briefs, on the one hand, and sensational stories, on the other, to cover "the greatest human rights scandal of our times". Ammu Joseph looks at media coverage of violence against women.
Nov 02 2004
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Counsel for the Council
The proposed new Indian Media Council must live up to the best traditions of the press council concept, which is fundamentally based on cooperation between the media and the public to protect key human rights. Many good models for this are available around the world. Ammu Joseph begins a new column.

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.