Monitoring Men: An Analysis of the Representation of Men in the Media

Men in the Media was a joint monitoring project undertaken by the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication and the Media Monitoring Project (MMP). The monitoring project aimed to analyse both the quantity and quality of the coverage afforded to the campaign, and instances of gender-based violence, and woman and child abuse in the South African media.

Previous MMP research has shown that gender-based violence and violence against women and children is often represented within the media in a simplistic fashion. Coverage tends to reinforce the victimisation that the women and children have already experienced during the instance of abuse. Previous research has also shown that gender-based violence and woman and child abuse receives significantly more media coverage during the annual 16 Days of Activism Campaign: No Violence Against Women and Children, with a sharp decline in coverage once the period is over.

The MMP monitored 14 different print and broadcast media over a two-week period between May 29 and June 11 2005. The data produced consists of just less than 1300 items, and 1900 sources. The research was based in a human rights framework. One of the aims of this study was a comparison in media coverage of gender-based violence and woman and child abuse over the last seven years. The research anticipated some changes in the representation of women and children within news items that focused on gender-based violence and abuse.


The MMP undertook the project on the assumption that addressing the representation of men in the media is not only compatible with, but also integral to an analysis of the representation of women in the media, and the concurrent struggle for gender equality.


“Three of the most prominent stories that were covered during the period were controversial court cases. The first was the end of the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, where judgement was handed down and the future of Deputy President Jacob Zuma was questioned. The second focused on the jury deliberations and the handing down of a “not guilty” verdict in the Michael Jackson child molestation case. The third court case to make the news during this period was the Mail & Guardian gagging order, where a national weekly newspaper was prevented from publishing details of what was dubbed the “Oilgate” scandal, involving PetroSA, Imvume and the alleged use of taxpayers’ money to fund the ANC election campaign.”

The MMP project concluded that, in supporting and promoting the rights of women, one is also supporting and promoting the rights of men.