Media Literacy Ex 1: Gender in the Media

Media Literacy Exercise 1: Gender in the Media

Story: A Sunni woman claims she was raped by several Iraqi police

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle; (story originally aired on Al-Jazeera)

Days of coverage: 4 (February 21st-24th)

Story titles:

Day 1: “Televised account of rape stokes sectarian rancor” (from NYT)

Day 2: “2^nd Chlorine attack kills 3 in Baghdad” (from the Washington Post; story imbedded)

Day 3: “New set of rape allegations leveled against Iraqi forces” (from SF Chronicle staff)

Day 4: “U.S. detains son of close Shiite ally” (from L.A. Times; story imbedded)

Why is this story important? This is the first ever case of official sexual assault accusations against Iraqi security forces that has reached the mainstream media.

Issues:

· Women live heavily veiled lives in Muslim societies, and the public discussion of sexuality, let alone rape, is taboo. Has Al-Jazeera, which engages in Western-style journalism in a Middle Eastern context (and with Middle Eastern money), forcibly broken that taboo? Is this an example of Western values making (weaving, forcing?) their way into a culture, a culture of which large segments are in fact fighting that Westernization? What kind of standards/justifications did Al-Jazeera use to produce this story? Does it reflect an internalization of Western values/standards?

Larger implications (mentioned and not mentioned):

mentioned:

· The accusations further erode the average Iraqi citizen’s faith in the police (seen as militias whose sectarian (Shia/Sunni) loyalties preclude loyalty to the Iraqi ‘nation’)

· The accusations incite further sectarian hatred/distrust/violence.

· That Iraq is not yet ready for the U.S. military to withdraw, for if it did, the current situation would deteriorate, leading to further atrocities. (provides justification to keep U.S. military in Iraq)

· That Iraq doesn’t yet have the ability to be a sovereign nation.

not mentioned:

· What is the significance of rape appearing in the mainstream media there? Will this open a kind of floodgate? Will stories like this become more commonplace in the near future? (On Day 3, a second story of rape was reported…) What will be the effect of this on Iraqi and Muslim society? Will it have an effect on women’s roles there?

· To what extent should the media be involved in breaking a taboo? Is this ‘democracy’ in action?

The issue is portrayed as an internal issue, one in which the U.S. military is taking a ‘hands-off’ approach and leaving it to Iraqi politicians to handle. (The prime minister denies the rape allegations and cleared the assailants in the first case; called the woman who made the claims a liar). By portraying this as an internal issue, the focus is taken off of the fact that the U.S. is responsible for creating the conditions in which these human rights violations can now occur. (This tactic is also being used by the mainstream media in their portrayal of what is now happening in Palestine…)