IT has been an absolute honour and a privilege for The National to be part of this year’s Write to End Violence Against Women Awards and Zero Tolerance’s campaign to change the way women are represented in the media.
These awards are vital because the way women are portrayed in our newspapers and online can set cultural norms, and good journalism makes women safer by respecting their humanity, championing their rights and challenging their abusers.
We need all media in Scotland to be powerful supporters of women and write about them in a way that shows respect for their talents, intelligence and ambitions.
The awards for excellence in journalism and the wooden spoon for bad judgement should be a reminder to all editors and writers to constantly scrutinise their standards and take a few moments to think before publishing stories and headlines that are derogatory or sexist.
Zero Tolerance says that all too often you open a paper and see the attention drawn to women’s clothing, their size, their wrinkles. Bad journalism can trivialise and sensationalise violence against women, and it sometimes even eroticises murder and rape.
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We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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