Women In Media PNG creating safe spaces for women media workers

In 2022 Secretary to the Media Council of Papua New Guinea and prominent PNG Journalist, Belinda Kora learnt of the success of a women-only grouping of journalists. The group, created by women journalists in Fiji, was supposed to provide support for women media professionals, and one that gave them a safe space to speak openly about the issues they were facing, whether while doing their work, or while with family.

Consultation

Using the inspiration she got from Women In Media Fiji, and with the support of her Media Council of PNG Executives, and industry partners, Belinda led a nationwide consultation process in 2023 to find out if women in the media space in PNG, wanted such a network.

At a first ever Media Council of PNG and Community Coalition Against Corruption (CACC) national conference in Lae, Belinda and women editors on the MCPNG Management Council met with women journalists based out of Lae.

In a closed-door session, amidst some very honest and raw conversation with the Lae-based women media personnel, Belinda's resolve to establish Women In Media PNG was founded.

This first conversation convinced her that WIM-PNG was needed to respond to some very confronting challenges facing women in the media sector today.

One Year On

Since that first initial meeting in Lae, Women In Media has grown to a grouping of 215 women media personnel including mainstream women media workers, women in public relations, and women media freelancers.

And while their numbers have grown, their mission remains the same: To provide a save place where women media workers can feel and see growth and development while being comfortable and safe in their workplaces, and to experience more than just collecting stories.

This growth, Belinda says, needs to see more networking, mentoring, counselling, and more training to build on their individual skill sets.

"There are many things which women media workers go through, that they do not speak about to others. We want to create a safe space so that they can speak about their challenges, and we can all work on finding solutions for them. For us," Belinda saiys.

Confronting

The challenges facing women media workers in Papua New Guinea, are very real.

This year alone has seen calls from WIM-PNG members for better working conditions, better organization policies to deal with online bullying, sexual harassment, and more importantly, the need for more training in the area of security when covering stories in risky areas or situations.

"We have been very lucky to have several media partners come on board to support WIM-PNG. Our first huge training was made possible by Internews, and it centered around imparting skills and knowledge about self-awareness and security training on how to respond in different controlled, and uncontrolled situations.

"Our women journalists found this very practical and skills they considered to be life long skills, and ones they could find useful in their line of work." Belinda says beaming with pride.

Internews successfully rolled out four of these security trainings with the help and coordination of the WIM-PNG core group, and the MCPNG.

While the Internews security trainings were incredibly well-received by all journalists who attended them, there was much work still to be done if Belinda and a group of senior women journalists who put their hand up to help, wanted to get serious about WIM-PNG.

Foundation

A strategy meeting and then with further support from Internews, WIM PNG began planning its future.

Their mission was based on recent research which confirmed that women experience significant inequalities while trying to do their jobs. The research was a 2018 Media Development Initiative (MDI) piece of work which found a great gender disparity in decision-making bodies and personnel in six of the main media outlets surveyed.

It found that there were six main recurring barriers to career progression for women journalists.

These were: Gender Inequality, family commitments, unsupportive partners, domestic violence, few mentoring opportunities, and a general lack of confidence among women media workers.

In addition to these, was the alarming concern raised about a workplace culture that was tolerating sexual and other forms of harassment. These findings led to the formulation of a Mission Statement which aims to strengthen media professionalism by supporting media women to lead, learn, and activate change from within.

Under this carved out mission, WIM PNG expects to support through: Leadership and Career Innovation, Fair and Safe Workplaces, and Media Professionalism and Communication for Change.

Empowerment

While the formation of the WIM-PNG and its future plans were materializing, the group's rapid growth had seen increased support from foundation partners like MDI under the ABC International Development (ABCID) program, Internews, and The Asia Foundation.

These evolved into opportunities for selected WIM-PNG members to attend and be part of WIM-Australia events and conferences, and other Pacific-related media events like the Pacific Islands New Association's (PINA) 7th Pacific Media Summit in Niue.

"We successfully managed to get a partner in Internews to come on board to host four major security training programs which covered 85 media personnel being trained. Internews also funded our first WIM-PNG strategy workshop this year.

"One of our WIM-PNG members, Marjorie Finkeo co-facilitated an Environment Journalism Network training on climate change, and another member, Kerebi David co-facilitated one of the security training workshops.

"We were also very happy to see another EJN training on reporting on soil conditions in collaboration with NARI. This was coordinated by our WIM-PNG Representative in Lae, Gloria Bauai," Belinda said.

By far the most significant training has been that funded by MDI for several senior women editors and producers to attend a 6-week training program under the Senior Executive Womens Leadership program of the Business Coalition for Women.

"So far six of our women media workers have graduated under this important program. With the help of our partners, we managed to send members to WIM Australia and Niue for PINA. This has been most rewarding for our members like the MCPNG Treasurer, Genesis Ketan, Lyanne Togiba of NBC, and Marjorie Finkeo, Carmella Gware of Digicel Media, and Priscilla Waikaidi of NBC Alotau."

Future Planning

Belinda and the core leadership group of WIM-PNG have already begun the process of charting the course into the future for their growing membership.

For the next three years at least, WIM-PNG will remain as a thriving chapter of the Media Council of PNG.

If growing focus from partners and donors is any indication of their importance in the media landscape of PNG, WIM-PNG will become a major force into determining how women media personnel are treated, and acknowledged in a developing sector like media in PNG. 

ENDS...//