Nation Publications Institutional profile

From paper to performance and greater potential

The Nation Publication is still in the very early stages of the COE program. The Nation has not yet signed an MOU and has not yet implemented evaluation and monitoring. Although the board first started collaborating with GL in 2010, the rate of change has been slow and the degree of transformation has been marginal. A policy on gender was drafted, but has not been adopted and rolled out. Furthermore, out of six members there is only one woman on the management board. It is clear that a lot still needs to be improved and changed at the Nation; its transformation into a gender just organisation is just beginning.

During the verification meeting with the board that did not represent the actual board of managers- the first baseline score was completed and calculated. Despite a relatively low and perhaps misguiding score, it seems that although change has not been dramatic, the willingness to progress and move beyond policy drafts and deliberation is certainly apparent. “Gender Links is helping us account for our progress. Before there was no monitoring or encouragement, now we can see where we need to improve”, says Edyth Kambalame. She is the Features Editor and is one of the few people within the institution driving the agenda forward.

The board has set progress targets in the draft policy, however admit that they are unlikely to meet the targets by 2015, considering it has only recently been drafted and remains idle until it is adopted and effectively planned, managed and implemented. “We haven’t given ourselves a timeframe for the target. At this point it’s a bit ambitious”, Explains Jallison Chaguluka, who is a consultant at the Nation. In spite of this, those present agreed that small step-by-step, day to day changes are a good way to start without being hindered by the incompleteness of policies and action plans.

The board maintained that before starting the COE process, there were already existing gender sensitive practices at an editorial level. One tangible step and testament to a degree of commitment in the process is the appointment of a task force to mainstream gender pending the adoption of the policy. “We need to make sure everyone knows about it and encourage women and how to handle harassment or issues of gender”, explains Administration and Resource Manager, Maria Tandwe.

At this point, there is no existing sexual harassment policy, though there is a brief mention in the conditions of service. However, this provides no clear protocol on how to deal with sexual harassment. Regretfully, there was a case of sexual harassment in October 2012, but most staff members were unaware of it and the case was handled at a department level.

Within the newsroom, the editors encourage all journalists to use gender sensitive language and to ensure they get a 50/50% representation of female and male voices in all stories and vox pops. While women may not occupy the key decision making positions within the media house, the board members pride themselves on having improved the balance since the business editor is a women and they have a female photojournalist. In their employment adverts, they also encourage women to apply. Finally, the editorial department dedicates a supplement in the Sunday paper for issues relating to women and gender.

Besides getting the gender policy off the ground, the main challenges they experience are a lack of training and awareness, and how to seek this coaching. The board felt that greater guidance is required from GL and that gender mainstreaming needs to extend to the other departments. Although staff is encouraged to attend trainings and to share their knowledge with colleagues, gender and media training remains personal and individual endeavour.

Another hurdle discussed was financial; not only sending journalists on training courses but also that the board is cautious about limiting certain adverts as they rely on advertising to help fund their publication. Finally, The Nation struggles to increase the number of female voices and sources in their copy, especially on stories about economics and politics. The board insisted that efforts are made, but spokespeople are generally men and women are not forthcoming.

With greater guidance and training from GL, together with more commitment and willingness from staff and management, improvement can be made. These small yet significant changes demonstrate the vast potential of The Nation for becoming a fully-fledged Centre of Excellence.