DCI TO UNRAVEL TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX ISSUES IN NEW MEDIA

By Nthateng Mhlambiso (Managing Editor – Behind the Mask)

As one of the biggest journalism events, the Highway Africa Conference (Digital citizen Indaba) takes off at Rhodes University in Grahamstown on 6-8 September, it is not only gratifying but also empowering to see that this event has opened a platform for dialogue around marginalised groups in relation to the media, particularly digital media.

I will be a speaker in a panel about Gender, Civil Society and Digital Media and am delighted to share experiences of Behind the Mask on how the media reports on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues (LGBTI), whether digital media is opening up space for marginalised groups such as transgender and intersex people’s voices to be heard and whether the right to sexual orientation is recognised in new media.

Some of the issues that I will touch on, in my presentation, are the misrepresentation of LGBTI people in the media, through Behind the Mask’s experiences, also substantiated by a research called OUT in the media conducted by Community Media for Development (CMFD) for Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) as well as the gender and Media Diversity Journal and many other researches.

Although the findings are partly displeasing, and as it is our mission at Behind the Mask to create dialogue around LGBTI people’s issues, this opportunity is vital to raise awareness, particularly to journalists, who hold the power to set the agenda and shape society’s way of thinking.

I will also dwell on new media tools that have proved to be effective in terms of the diversity of voices heard in new media.

Sector specific media are making inroads regarding covering issues that are not or less covered by mainstream media, in my presentation I will share the experiences of Behind the Mask in relation to mainstream media and what can be done to ensure mainstream media take up of the issues.

New media indeed comes as partly a solution to some of the gaps left by traditional media.

One of the beneficial differences about digital media is its flexibility which allows ordinary people to create their own media. Its openness and connectedness makes it easy to get diverse voices and opinions on issues covered, from multiple media.

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people whose news received little coverage or no coverage at all in the past, blogs have given this group a platform to express their issues free of censorship.

They are also able to hold the media accountable on bad reporting or commend them on the good, by posting comments immediately.

This in turn helps journalists to get quotable comments for their articles and contacts of these voluntary sources.

The list is endless on how digital media has transformed the journalism profession.

Let us empower each other, facilitate positive change in civil society and improve the attitudes of the media towards marginalised people without of course, compromising regulations and the principles of this profession.

See you there!