SECTOR 2 If they are not being portrayed in a negative way, women are often used to “decorate” newspaper and magazine pages. The photos of women that wind up in the newspaper appear to be attractive. In the meantime, powerful stories about women and their contribution to improving the health sector, the economy or even the business sector, receive minimal media attention. Some of the panellists placed the blame on women themselves. Most are not proactive and willing to approach the media like men. It is difficult to find a woman who would easily accept to be interviewed or host a news conference. “Men want to be in the media. They want their stories to be told, but women do not.” The gender angle in stories is often ignored and when there is gender consideration in favour of women the story is highly sensationalised. In recent months there have been an increasing number of stories of women beating up their husbands being reported by the media because of the sensational feature of the story. But there are some good practices. Pulse Magazine runs a section called Sisterto-Sister that showcases successful women. The Kenyan Woman focuses solely on women’s issues. In the national newspapers, it is also increasingly possible to see women and women-related stories on newspaper cover pages. However at women’s conference the editor of the Nation acknowledged that several pages in the newspaper are dedicated to stories about men and they usually focus on squabbles and this space should go to women instead. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.4 (2005 = n/a, 2007 = n/a, 2009 = 2.2) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER KENYA 2012 35