Sexuality in Media: Emerging Issues in Africa - Africa Regional ...

Sexuality in the Media: Emerging Issues in Africa
During the month of March, sexuality issues published as features by the
Parents magazine accounted for 90%.
The Insyder Magazine
Sexuality issues in The Insyder magazine were reported either as features (12),
letters to the editor (8) or commentaries (8). In the features category sexuality
education and HIV/AIDS received the highest number of articles as shown in
the table below.
Table 12: Positioning of sexuality issues in the Insyder Magazine (Jan-Feb and
May-June 2004* Issues)
Sexuality issues
Sexuality And Sexual
Education
HIV/AIDS
Reproductive Health
And Rights
Sexual Orientation And
Identity
Sexual Violence
Child Marriage
Total
News Feature Letter Advertisement Commentary
0 5 6 5
0
0 6 1 2
0
0 0 1 1
0
0 1 0 0
0
0 0 0 0 0
0
0
*March-April magazine data not available.
The reason why there were no news articles is because this is a teen bi-monthly
magazine and thus most of the articles are features rather than news.
The Daily Nation
Daily/Sunday Nation published 17 articles on the front pages, another 20 were
in the second pages while 23 others were published on page three. During the
same period, the newspaper had 11 articles on sexuality published at the back
page.
Summary and Conclusions
• This study finds that HIV/AIDS, sexuality and sexuality education,
reproductive health and rights and sexual violence received the highest press
coverage during the six-month period. On the other hand, sexual orientation
and identity and child marriage by far received the least press coverage. For
example, The Parents magazine did not have any articles on sexual
orientation and child marriage, while The Insyder had only one article on
0
0 12 8 8
0
0
0
Coverage Of Sexuality Issues in the Print Media in Kenya
sexual orientation and identity and none on child marriage. However, despite
this, coverage of sexuality issues in the print was very limited compared to
other issues that were given prominence in the newspapers.
• Most of the feature articles on sexuality issues were placed in the pull out
magazines in the newspapers where they are placed together with articles that
report on fashions trends, fiction and laughter. Although these magazines are
widely read, there is need to give sexuality concerns more serious coverage.
• There was very little opinion and advocacy articles on sexuality issues.
• Most of the sexuality issues were covered only when they qualified as news
(tragedies or scandals) and thus took position in the main pages of the press.
In conclusion, therefore, while looking at sexuality in the media, it is important
to understand the environment in which the media operates. Kenya is a very
conservative country where discussion of sexuality is taboo. This in effect
impacts the editorial policies of many media houses making them also
conservative and moralistic to conform to societal expectations. In such
context, media would be reluctant to report on sexuality issues fearing that the
audience may not like what they report or for fear of litigation.
It is also important to remember that the existence of a media house is dependent
on the revenue generated. In this regard, majority of what is covered/reported
should be able to attract revenue in various ways including advertisement.
Recommendations
In light of the findings, the following recommendations are made.
• There is need to increase levels of knowledge on the importance of
sexuality issues and sexuality education so that they are covered, not just
when they qualify as scandals and tragedies, but also for purposes of
educating the public. This calls for increased engagement between the
media fraternity and key actors in the field of sexuality.
• Training of those responsible for policy making is important in order to
educate them on the importance of sexuality. This training should include
those responsible for editorial polices in media houses in order to increase
coverage and promote sexuality education through the media.
• Sexuality issues should be linked to major issues in the society, for example
poverty, gender empowerment, and legislation among others since these
affect sexuality in various ways. In this way, coverage of sexuality concerns
would be more acceptable even to those with a moralistic background.
• There is need for a study on the knowledge and attitudes towards
sexuality among people in the media. This is because coverage of
sexuality is determined by their knowledge about sexuality issues.