Shari Graydon, Yasmin Jiwani, and Jennifer Richardson

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Partnering with Media for Change: Disrupting Harmful Narratives on Gender Based Violence (GBV)

This Webinar was presented and recorded on July 18, 2023.

Media plays a powerful role in sharing information that can perpetuate or challenge harmful narratives around gender-based violence (GBV). In this Webinar, panelists explore how GBV is commonly represented in Canadian media, including myths around GBV and femicide, and how the GBV sector can collaborate with media to improve GBV media coverage.

Panelists started by exploring the intersections of race and gender in media narratives of violence and how that it impacts marginalized groups including racialized, Indigenous, and gender-oppressed survivors.

After, panelists shared what engagement with the media may look like from the initial request to the interview to broadcasting with concrete strategies and tips on media engagement.

Webinar Recording

 

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Learning Objectives

After participating in this Webinar, participants will better be able to:

  • Understand how forms of GBV are represented in Canadian media
  • Recognize the role of race and gender in media portrayals of violence against marginalized survivors
  • Enhance cultural competence and awareness of diversity and inclusion when working with media

Speakers

Shari-Graydon-Frame.pngShari Graydon has spent 30 years using media to draw attention to issues she knows and cares about. As a print and broadcast columnist, best-selling author and award-winning women's advocate, she now motivates and trains others to do the same. Shari previously served as the press secretary to a BC premier, wrote speeches for cabinet ministers and the Governor General,and was president of two national women's organizations. Her advocacy work has been recognized with the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons' Case, and awards from Women of Influence and the Top 100 Most Powerful Women. Informed Opinions, the charitable non-profit initiative she created in 2010, is working to amplify women's voices to make Canada more democratic. The organization has supported thousands of subject matter experts in sharing their knowledge in engaging and persuasive ways, and its database featuring women sources across sectors and fields is now a go-to resource for Canadian journalists. Current projects include the #ToxicHush campaign to end online hate targeting women with intersectional identities, and #BalanceOfPower, aimed at accelerating gender parity in Canadian politics.

Yasmin-Jiwani-Frame.pngYasmin Jiwani is a full Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. She is the author of Discourses of Denial: Mediations of Race, Gender and Violence, as well as lead editor of Girlhood: Redefining the Limits, and co-editor of Faces of Violence in the Lives of Girls. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of journals and anthologies. Her research interests include mediations of race, gender and violence in the press, as well as representations of women of colour in popular media. She was the Concordia University Research Chair in Intersectionality, Violence and Resistance (2017-2022).

Jennifer-Richardson.pngJennifer Richardson is considered an expert in her field with extensive knowledge of human trafficking in Canada, with over twenty-four years working in the anti-human trafficking sector. She is known for her research on sexual exploitation and her innovation in leading partnerships across sectors. Her experience includes overseeing the development and implementation of Ontario’s Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy, leading the first jointly operated child welfare/law enforcement child sex trafficking program in Canada; attending Human Trafficking Tri-Laterals with Canada, USA and Mexico. Jennifer’s lived experience positions her to uniquely understands the barriers and challenges that face victims of human trafficking as she too was a victim of HT for many years. Currently, Jennifer is the Senior Director of Strategy and Communications with the Ontario’s Native Women’s Association.

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