Politicians’ communication strategies develop in line with “media logics”, i.e. practices and conventions that determine the way media function. Research has shown how media and political logics interact and try to prevail over one another, leaving political actors to adapt to media techniques, and vice versa, leaving the media pushed to shape their newsworthiness in line with the orientation of the political elite. Feminist media research has pointed that media systems are not “gender neutral”. Rather, they seem to be dominated by the persistence of patriarchical journalistic routines that naturalize androcentric professional and organizational structures of media. Traditional gendered norms in media persistently relate masculinities to the sphere of the political elites, journalistic neutrality and objectivity while femininities are dimmed to the sphere of human interest, health, care and consumption where female journalistic ethos presupposes empathy and care as professional values for women journalists. I aim to explore in the talk the (in)capacity of the media to properly respond to populist anti-genderism: how, if at all, the media, witnessing re-traditionalization of gender roles in their own structures can respond critically to populist anti-feminist agendas?
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 35911261The argument proceeds from the thesis that gender-sensitive policy has positive effects on work environment and individual workers and, on the contrary, that gender-insensitivity of policies perpetuates gender-blindness in specific industries. A further thesis is that the profitable orientation of the current stage of “cognitive capitalism”, introducing the temporary nature of work contracts, long working hours, the demand for unconditional commitment to work, etc., favours women’s work. The paper analyses at the example of media industry how the increased number of women in the media systems corresponds to the imagination of the work “as life”, thereby reproducing gender inequalities. Attention is paid to demitologising work in the media as “de-gendered” work, critically reflecting on the imperative of “entrepreneurial subjectivity” characterised by meritocratic ideals and denial of inequality. The theoretical argument is supported empirically, with interviews conducted with media workers at television stations in Slovenia.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 35582045The lecture deals with the question of the role of television consumption in the organization of class distinctions, and it shows how cultural capital operates in the field of popular culture. Contrary to a part of recent literature which emphasizes a weak or non-existent connection between class positions and patterns of television consumption, the author uses the Slovenian sample to show that class and education differentiate television preferences significantly although only in some segments of television repertoire. Moreover, the importance of studying television preferences in connection with other fields of cultural consumption is emphasized, including the question of gender differences.
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 34202973In recent decades, the study of gender and media has focused on research about the position of women working in the media industry (recruitment, promotion opportunities, the problem of the “glass ceiling” or “sticky ladder”) and the representation of women in various genres. Trends show that more women than men complete journalism and media studies (83% in Slovenia). In journalism, the number of women is increasing; in Slovenia, this number represents more than half of all employees, while top executive positions are still held by men. The number of women is increasing by lowering the operating position. At the middle, operational management level (editing) the gender ratio in Slovenia is almost equal (EIGE 2014). Gender differentiation is typical in media representations, which reinforce the reproduction of traditional gender roles. In this paper, we analyse the changes in journalism in Slovenia from a gender perspective. We proceed from the standpoint that, in order to understand the changes in journalism, we must consider gendered institutions, power relations and decision-making positions. In the first part, we discuss gender differentiation in the media at the point of gender equality policies and mapping of gendered media system’s features. In the second part, we research perceptions of top management in three broadcasting companies about the issues of gender representation in the media and gender differentiation of employees in the media industry.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 1207661At the International conference Gender Differentiation and Media Industries organized by the Peace Institute and the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana, June 14-15, 2018 the participants discussed gender inequalities in the media, at the intersection of media politics, production, representation and consumption. 30 speakers from 12 countries analyzed media policies and identified their effects on the gender differentiation of journalistic work. They highlighted inequalities in the field of media distribution, analyzed audiences and discussed framing of femininity and masculinity in media text and image. Abstracts are available at http://www.mirovni-institut.si/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/text-for-booklet-June-Final.pdf
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 295275264