Migration experts, researchers and officials have opined that the journalists can open up new opportunities for female migration by highlighting the success stories of female migrants.
They said such news would be helpful to women aspirants seeking scopes for a better life through migrating abroad with employment.
The observations were made at a webinar on ‘Media Representation of Women Migrant Workers: A Critical Look’ on Saturday.
The Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF), the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), and the Drishti Research Centre (DRC) arranged the event jointly.
Economist Dr Nazneen Ahmed presented findings of a study on the above-mentioned topic at the webinar.
Referring to the study, Dr Nazneen admitted that journalists pick reports for the wellbeing of women workers.
“No doubt, journalists are usually picking reports for the wellbeing of women workers, but it sometimes becomes harmful because of their improper wording or the way of presentation,” she said.
The research studied migration-related news published in widely circulated four national dailies and reports aired on three television channels.
It found some 496 migration-related news articles published from 2015 to 2021 in the newspapers—The Daily Star, The Financial Express, Prothom Alo and Samakal.
“Out of those, 147 articles focused on women, while 21 were positive, 99 were negative, and 26 highlighted both positive and negative aspects,” Dr Nazneen mentioned in the report.
The research analysed migration-related news of three TV channels (Ekattor TV, Channel i, and Somoy News).
The study has found more than 82 per cent of the television reports on female migration were negative.
The study scrutinises how overseas female migrants are characterised and stereotyped in print and electronic media.
According to the study, journalists are often inclined to highlight negative aspects as victims are more vocal, and such negative news attracts the reader's attention.
The study mentioned that women have limited opportunities to participate in the labour force in Bangladesh. The bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia has given a chance to unskilled women to migrate free of cost.
Recognising the presence of some problems in the female migration sector, the report suggested presenting more balanced news.
Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, attended the virtual discussion as the chief guest.
He said media has an important role in the development of the migration sector. “It should give more focus on objective reporting so that the sector gets benefit properly from the news coverage,” he added.
S M Rashidul Islam, general secretary of ERF moderated the programme and it was chaired by Sharmeen Rinvy, president of ERF.
Igor Bosc, chief technical adviser, Work in Freedom, ILO was the special guest, Madame Therese Blanchet, special anthropologist delivered introductory remarks and Dr M Abu Eusuf, professor, Dhaka University and executive director of RAPID welcome remarks.
Chairman of RAPID and director of PRI Dr MA Razzaque, Bangladesh Bureau Chief of AFP Shafiqul Alam, The Financial Express’s journalist Arafat Ara were present as discussants.
