Media, Power and Punishment: Women Journalists and Filmmakers Speak Out at NWMI Meet

Underscoring the precarious state of media, writer and former journalist K.R. Meera said on Saturday that information has been weaponised in an era where truth is increasingly difficult to discern.

Delivering the keynote address on ‘Media at the Crossroads: Independence vs Influence’ at the 20th annual national meeting of the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), she called for a radical shift in journalistic conscience.

Speaking to a gathering of women media professionals, Ms. Meera noted that democracy was failing in many parts of the world owing to extreme polarisation and a collapse of public trust.

“Journalism is meant for women,” she remarked, praising the courage of women reporters who challenged power without compromise. She urged journalists to evaluate their work through a moral lens, asking whether their reporting served the poor or their predators.

Pointing to the “cancer culture” of social media, she highlighted how PR-driven narratives influenced perspectives.

A panel discussion on ‘After Speaking Up: What Justice Looks Like for Women in Cinema,’ moderated by journalist K.K. Shahina, saw film editor and curator Bina Paul comment that the power structure in the Malayalam film industry was very punitive to women who spoke up. Those who did so had to pay a high price in terms of their work and reputation.

Ms. Paul said it traditionally had been such a “boys’ club” that any questioning of it had been met with an immense amount of stonewalling.

Both Ms. Paul and actor Rima Kallingal who are part of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) shared their immense belief about the support they would get and the change they would be able to bring in the film industry but had seen that enthusiasm dwindle over the years.

Some changes such as internal committees had been realised, but the system was not kind to women who complained, Ms. Kallingal observed. “I really don’t think these systems care if the women get justice,” she said.

However, she did see a change in the way such cases were reported in the media. Women in media had a huge part in the transformation, she said.

Former journalist and film producer Miriam Joseph said the WCC decided to focus not only on sexual harassment but also other issues faced by women in the film industry such as lack of work, lack of payment, lack of credit, the number of working hours since the industry was completely unregulated.

The evening session also saw the release of a docu-fiction ‘Media Woman: Ammu Joseph’s Passionate Journey’ by Shiny Jacob Benjamin. It has been produced by the Kerala Media Academy.