Copyright 1995 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 16-Aug-95 ***
Title: WOMEN-MEDIA: Hillary holds U.S. media hostage on Beijing
conference
by Yvette Collymore
WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (IPS) - When some 10,000 of the world's
journalists converge on a women's conference in Beijing next
month, most mainstream U.S. media establishments may not be there.
Unless one woman decides to go.
But will she or won't she? The media asks the question almost
daily as newspapers suspend decision on whether the Fourth World
Conference on Women is a meeting worth covering. If First Lady
Hillary Clinton does go, many will consider the conference a news
event.
U.S. officials' lips are sealed on the Clinton question. There
is too much at stake as Washington walks a tightrope in its
relations with a country that is potentially the largest market
for U.S. goods and services and the world's greatest sinner. While
the administration knows China is good for U.S. business, it must
at all times hold the stance of a stern parent, issuing warnings
about human rights abuses and other depredations.
But the White House decision on whether to send Hillary Clinton
to Beijing is especially difficult now, what with bilateral ties
at a six-year low. The latest problem is the Beijing government's
detention of Chinese-American human rights campaigner, Harry Wu.
Some argue that
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swings back and forth on the decision,
media outlets are also dangling. They are waiting for the White
House to decide whether they go to a conference of some 50,000
people from around the world. That conference will set a global
agenda to bring equality between women and men.
''If Hillary Clinton does go, there'll be greater coverage of
the conference,'' says Wendy Koch of the Hearst chain, which owns
12 newspapers across the United States. Koch told other
journalists Tuesday that the question of Clinton's attendance will
remain the top story of the conference until the decision is made.
Mary Leornard of the influential Boston Globe agrees. ''Major
news organisations are holding back'' for word on whether Clinton
will attend the conference, she says. ''Our White House
correspondent will go to China if she goes and I suspect that
others newspapers'' will make the same decision.
Both reporters spoke at a roundtable here Tuesday sponsored by
the Freedom Forum, a foundation funded by the Gannett newspaper
chain.
Positions like these have prompted many to criticise U.S. media
coverage of world events. Some observers were especially critical
of coverage of the 1993 U.N. population and development conference
in Cairo, when coverage focussed almost exclusively on the
conflict between U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the Vatican on
issues such as family planning and abortion.
''That kind of Washington-driven coverage of world events is
typical of the U.S. press,'' observes Laura Flanders, the women's
desk coordinator at the media watchdog, Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting (FAIR).
The coverage on the Beijing conference, she says, has been
''male-driven, politics-driven.'' She says the coverage has
focussed on diplomacy issues and China's human rights record, with
very little coverage on the plan of action'' which countries will
adopt to improve women's well-being.
A New York-based consulting firm is advising its media clients
to avoid looking at the Beijing conference from a purely U.S. and
western perspective.
''Which stories out of the Beijing conference will keep women
reading, watching and listening? The big ones are obvious: How
will the concerns of women from the industrialised nations mesh
with the issues that dominate the agenda of women from the Third
World,'' says the Woodhull Report, put out by Woodhull and
Associates.
But in coverage of the conference, U.S. media has highlighted
the arguments of ultra-right-wing groups and politicians in the
U.S. Congress who say the conference amounts to a conspiracy of
abortion-supporting feminists and lesbians in a country whose
values are inimical to Christian traditions.
Flanders suggests that the groundswell of media coverage from
other countries will force U.S. mainstream media to Beijing,
whether or not Hillary Clinton goes.
Cable News Network (CNN) says it will go, Hillary or no
Hillary. The ubiquitous network is sending 25 people to report
daily on the Sep. 4-15 conference and parallel gathering of non-
governmental organisations (NGOs).
''This is an important story for us,'' CNN anchor Judy Woodruff
told the rountable participants.
Other media organisations are clear: no Hillary, no story.
''We're hoping for conflict,'' said Mary Leonard of the Boston
Globe. ''We're hoping Mrs. Clinton goes. We want this story on the
front page. If Mrs. Clinton talks about Harry Wu, it will be a
front-page story.''
Leonard said the Boston Globe plans to send its Tokyo
correspondent in any event. The correspondent, she said, ''sees
this as a major opportunity to get into Beijing.''
One freelance reporter blasts the ridiculous requests reporters
get when news organisations decide to attend international
conferences.
Freelancer Peggy Simpson, who writes for publications like
Business Central Europe and the Warsaw Business Journal, covered a
previous women's conference in Mexico City. She says a frivolous
interest in the views of one movie star killed a story she was
lining up on Cuban women.
''I received a call telling me to forget (the Cuban women), but
go to Burt Reynolds and Liza Minelli and ask Burt Reynolds what he
thought about bra-burners,'' she laughed. ''I did go ask Burt
Reynolds what he thought about bra-burners. He thought I was an
idiot.''(END/IPS/YJC/JL/95)
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Aug 22 14:59:55 1995
via Charon-4.0A-VROOM with IPX id 100.950822160826.320;
From: "Jackie Van Brocklin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: UTA Libraries
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
STUDIES IN WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Al Rushanan TAL (904)487-1855" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 16:08:20 CST
Subject: Re: Beijing Conference
Well, of COURSE I have an opinion! 1st of all - knee-jerk - if the
Republicans WANT it, we don't, etc., etc.
But seriously, folks, that is the very reason she (Hillary) SHOULD go!
It is true - if she were there, there would be more media spotlight
which will definitely help our cause. IMHO, it's now or never to
bring this international discussion to a head. If we try and wait til
one is held in an "ecofem-friendly" area - we may not even be alive to
observe it!
Think about it - we may be pleasantly surprised - why IS China hosting
this anyway? Most groups disagreeing with a cause stay away from a
national, let alone an INTERNATIONAL conference on the subject! I am
the last person to be an optimist, but we *might* be able to change
1 or 2 minds........ (Isn't that about all we can count on anyway?)
Jackie
*******************"If it's broke - FIX IT!"**********************
