GEM Summit News, 10 August 2008

In this edition …

– And the winners are…!
– Catching up with GEMSA
– New faces, diverse voices
– Critical citizens

Stories from the GEM Summit

Gender and Media Marketplace
by Miriam Madziwa-Sibanda
The conversations have started. In every spare corner and lounge area of the Kopanong Conference Center and Hotel Sunday, journalists, editors and media trainers and academics huddled in animated discussions as they gathered on the eve of the third Southern Africa Gender and Media (GEM) Summit. For many of the nearly 200 delegates, the conference once again provides them with the opportunity to share experiences, practices and ideas on advancing gender inequality in and through the media.
Read more…

Gender and Media Award Winners!
By Moses Magadza
This year’s gender media awards attracted 62 entries; 38 of them written by women, who made six of the 10 final winners.
Read more…

GEM Awards: Des soumissions en régression
Par Marie-Annick Savripène
Depuis la création des Gender and Media (GEM) Awards par Gender Links et GEMSA en 2004, prix récompensant une couverture médiatique sensible au genre au sein des pays de la SADC,  il y a eu un fort intérêt journalistique pour ce concours. Cela s’est traduit par un grand nombre de soumissionnaires lors de l’édition suivante, soit 187. On aurait pensé que cette tendance se serait poursuivie pour les GEM Awards de 2008. Or, les entrées sont en deçÁ  de celles de la première édition, c’est-Á -dire 62 soumissions en comparaison avec 76 entrées Á  ses débuts.
Le texte complet…

Journalists speak on awards
By Moses Magadza
While agreeing that the Gender Links Gender Media Awards for journalists have extrinsically motivated more journalists to write on gender issues in the region, media practitioners interviewed on the sidelines of the Gender and Media Summit in Ekurhuleni, , said the awards should go further than rewarding the individual journalist.
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GEM Network no longer walking; it’s running!
By Arthur Mwansa and Rishi Ramnauth
Four years ago, the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network was a small movement of journalists, editors and media trainers committed to putting the voices and perspectives of women on the region’s media agenda. Today, the network is not only up and running, it is a major player on the world stage of gender and media activism. Read more…

Madagascar et la République Démocratique du Congo
par Marie-Annick Savripène
Depuis 2007, GEMSA a fait son entrée dans les deux pays francophones de la Communauté pour le Développement de l’Afrique Australe, Á  savoir Madagascar et la République Démocratique du Congo. GEM SUMMIT NEWS accorde la parole Á  Ialfine Papisy-Tracoulat et Á  Dorothée Swedi, respectivement présidentes des chapitres malgache et congolais, qui expliquent ce que cette affiliation représente pour elles.
Le texte complet…

Youth voices at the Summit  
by  Purity Zamagugu Zwane
This year’s youngest GEM Summit delegates are claiming their space at the forefront of decision-making. Participants in a media literacy course organised by Gender Links in , 18-year-olds Sharonice Busch, speaker of the Namibian Children’s Parliament, and Willem Veiko, Executive Junior Council, will launch their magazine “GEMSA YouthÀ during the Summit.
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Critical citizens, responsive media?
By Colleen Lowe Morna
Among the many Women’s Day celebrations this weekend, the South African Gender and Media (SAGEM) Network will be toasting its victory in getting a Steers advertisement pulled off the air by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The  advert had a half naked woman with dots on her body juxtaposed with a hamburger. A green cursor moving from one body part to th e next pin pointed which “pieceÀ would be preferred on the woman’s body.  
Read more..

Read all the articles by clicking on the links below

Editorial
by Deborah Walter

GEM  Summit 2008   focuses  on the all important media consumer. Under the theme, “Whose news, whose views? Critical citizens, responsive media,À the next two days highlights how citizens are becoming more critical of, and engaged with, the media that reflects and shapes their world, and how media is being influenced because of these voices.
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Vox pops
by Perpetual Sichikwenkwe
Close to two hundred people are travelling to the third GEM Summit? Why is it important for them to come ? Hear what delegates from had to say.
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Photos: Trevor Davies

Editors: Deborah Walter,  Pat Made