Swiss Press Council faults newspaper for Dr Ngozi sexist coverage
World Trade Organisation Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during an interview with AFP. She has commended the Swiss Press Council for censuring the newspaper that made discriminatory remarks about her.
What you need to know:
- Swiss Press Council, which investigated the paper’s choice of words found it to have a gender prejudice towards the Harvard trained economist.
- Aargauer Zeitung's foreign editor-in-chief Samuel Schumacher, said in February 26, apology letter that the headline was “inappropriate and unsuitable.
Swiss Press Council has faulted Aargauer Zeitung for its sexist coverage of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, last February when she was confirmed Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The self-regulatory media ethics organisation, which investigated the paper’s choice of words found it to have a gender prejudice towards the Harvard trained economist.
It had sought to establish whether its headline, which branded Dr Iweala as “This grandmother will become the new boss of WTO” was grounded on either gender or racial discrimination, or both.
The council, however, in its ruling on Tuesday exonerated the paper from racist charges but upheld those on gender discrimination.
“It is obvious that if this had been about a male former finance and foreign minister in a country of 200 million people, the headline 'a grandfather becomes the WTO director-general' would be inconceivable,” said the council as quoted by AFP.
"Therefore, the council deems the headline discriminatory on the basis of gender."
Dr Iweala commended the Council for censuring the newspaper.
Gender bias
“I welcome the ruling of the Swiss Press Council calling out the gender bias and sexism of Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung for its headline ‘Grandmother becomes boss of WTO’ upon my appointment,” she tweeted.
“It is right to call out sexism, racism or both when you see it!”
CH Media, which owns Aargauer Zeitung from which the sister newspapers Luzerner Zeitung and St Galler Tagblatt and their online editions, picked the story, had earlier apologised for the discriminatory coverage following a global outcry, especially from eminent women leaders.
The media company’s foreign editor-in-chief Samuel Schumacher, said in February 26, apology letter that the headline was “inappropriate and unsuitable.”
UN senior African group (Unsag) including UN Women, Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; UNAids chief Winnie Byanyima and UN Economic Commission for Africa, Executive Secretary Vera Songwe, had bitterly expressed their outrage.
They said the coverage was “offensive, sexist and racist in a world where both public and private sector leadership is dominated by ageing Caucasian men, who are revered for the experience and skills they bring and have never been characterised by their lineage and offspring”.
