Journalists discussed the media's role in preventing domestic violence at a one-day training programme held in China Daily's Beijing office on Saturday.
The programme was sponsored by the Women's Media Watch Network, a non-governmental organization based in Beijing.
Topics covered included gender awareness, domestic violence and the role the Chinese media should play in research into, intervention in and the prevention of domestic violence.
Journalists came from China Women's Daily, China Daily and China Central Television and there were also freelances. Other participants came from the State Council Information Office.
Professor Rong Weiyi and Zhao Ying from Beijing Public Security University, two senior scholars on gender issues, chaired the event.
The participants exchanged ideas through group discussions and brainstorming.
The participants agreed that gender issues were not appropriately presented by almost all of the Chinese media, including newspapers, other publications, TV programmes and movies.
Most of the media have failed to report on the increasing number of cases of domestic violence. The programme participants demanded that the situation be improved as soon as possible.
They exchanged ideas on how concepts of gender influence the relationship between men and women.
They also exchanged ideas and experiences about reporting on domestic violence through analysis and discussion of some typical cases.
Some participants said that they had never attended such a training programme before and said it could help them improve their work and also be useful in their personal lives.
A survey conducted by the Beijing Hongfeng Women's Psychological Consultation Centre found that the number of women seeking the centre's help against domestic violence increased by 37 per cent in March 2002 compared with the same period in 2001.
(China Daily June 17, 2002)
