Television

• That is the hallmark of a dictatorship, not a democracy.” As well as restrictions on media access to Gaza, particular broadcasters face other restrictions.
• At the start of April Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had proclaimed he would “act immediately to stop” Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera’s operations inside Israel.
• Israel’s parliament passed a bill allowing it to close Al Jazeera’s office in Israel, block its website and ban local channels from using its coverage.
• The CPJ said on April 20 that at least 97 journalists and media workers were among the more than 34,000 people killed since the war began.

Access to Gaza

• However, journalists’ organisations and the correspondents themselves have been lobbying for access to Gaza for months now.
• The BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen, also speaking in Perugia, confirmed that it had been a really difficult story to cover, principally, “because the main meat of it – which is what’s happening in Gaza, we can’t get close to”.
• This has given journalists access to the West Bank and enabled coverage of settler violence against the local Palestinian population, but not to Gaza.
• CNN’s Clarissa Ward was the first foreign journalist who made it into Gaza without the army, and she did this by accompanying an aid convoy supported by the United Arab Emirates in December 2023.

Israeli media coverage

• Within Israel, the media are mostly publishing the IDF version of events unchallenged.
• According to Israeli journalist and activist Anat Saragusti: “Hebrew-speaking Israelis watching television news are not exposed at all to what’s going on in Gaza.
• In the same article, cultural commentator and academic David Gurevitz claimed the numbers of Palestinians killed remains an abstract concept for many Israelis: “The Israeli audience isn’t capable of accommodating two kinds of pain together, seeing and identifying with the human victim of the other side as such, and the media follow suit.” This argument was backed up this month by Israeli journalist Yossi Klein who wrote: “The most taboo number in Israel is 34,000.

Professor Colleen Murrell receives funding from Ireland's regulator Coimisiún na Meán to research and write the annual Reuters Digital News Report Ireland.

• It’s still not clear how Juste Pour Rire / Just for Laughs (JPR/JFL) went from one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world to bankruptcy.
• On April 12, La Presse reported the festival lost $800,000 in an email phishing scheme in 2023.
• The company also applied for protection from creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

From burst to bust

JPR was founded by businessman Gilbert Rozon in 1983 as a two-day French-language comedy event in Montréal. In 1985, Rozon was joined by promoter Andrew Nulman who brought the event to anglophone audiences and co-founded the company’s bilingual iteration. JPR/JFL is a behemoth in Canadian comedy and tourism. The flagship festival still took place in Montréal but expanded nationally and globally.

Conflicts around sexual assault, harassment

• In recent years, JFL has contended with a series of high-profile conflicts.
• At the height of #MeToo in 2017, Rozon stepped down as president after being named in numerous sexual assault allegations.
• This also brought back to light Rozon’s previous 1998 sexual assault charge that he plead guilty to.
• : Sexual misconduct and the pursuit of justice

  Mausner said Rozon’s stepping down was a “a surface-level solution for a systemic problem” and called the festival an “accessory to sexual assaults.” Following the earlier assault allegations, the organization implemented an
  anti-harassment policy and brought in new investment partners.

Royalties issues, pandemic challenges

• The channel, which once played exclusively Canadian content, would now primarily feature classic JPR/JFL recordings, meaning a substantial reduction in royalties for Canadian comedians.
• Intense public pushback from comedians led JPR/JFL to walk back their proposal and commit to playing 100 per cent Canadian content.
• The pandemic hit live festivals hard, but JPR/JFL did receive significant monetary assistance from government sources.

Blockbuster festivals, broke comedians

• Canadian comedians often think of performing at JPR/JFL as a massive career goal.
• But for years, JPR/JFL has been taken to task for their prioritization of American comedians.
• Even if JPR/JFL survives restructuring, comic Sam Sferrazza says this likely will mean “bringing in more bankable American talent paid for by Canadian taxpayers and artistic institutions.” Canadian funding agencies tend to favour blockbuster events like JPR/JFL but in the world of art grants, stand-up comedians are at a disadvantage.

Boosting international exposure

• But what if we created an environment where they not only wanted to stay but could stay.
• One option is boosting Canada’s comedic digital content internationally.

Funding for local comedians and festivals

• Another option is putting more funding directly into the pockets of individual Canadian comedians, producers, and (smaller) festivals, strengthening the comedy industry nationwide.
• We need to be asking comedians what they need to succeed and recognizing their work as both artists and contributors to Canadian culture.

Madison Trusolino has received funding for her research from SSHRC, OGS and the Jackman Humanities Institute.

• The women’s Final Four garnered higher television ratings than the men’s Final Four.
• And more than 90,000 fans attended the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup final in Pasadena, California.
• Many fans, journalists and scholars are wondering if this is the dawn of a new era of women’s sports, with more coverage, increased viewership, heightened interest and bigger investments continuing in the future.

The long eclipse of women’s sports

• We’re in the middle of collecting data for the eighth time, the results of which will be published in 2025.
• Hundreds of studies on the routine coverage of sports have similarly found that media coverage of women’s sports rarely exceeds 10% of total sports coverage.
• This is a recurring pattern across media platforms – print, TV, radio, social – in English-speaking countries.

Leapfrogging the gatekeepers

• Podcasts like “Hear Her Sports,” “The Gist of It,” “Tea with A & Phee” and “Attacking Third” directly appeal to women’s sports fans.
• They can simply directly engage with them on social media, producing and pushing content that bypasses traditional media gatekeepers.

Leveraging feminism

• But my colleague Dunja Antunovic and I observed an important shift in sports media starting in the mid-2010s: the mobilization of feminism and principles of equality to promote and sell women’s sports.
• In one chapter of our latest book, “Serving Equality: Feminism, Media, and Women’s Sports,” we focus on how women’s sports leagues and teams, as well as their corporate sponsors, have used the imagery, language and slogans of feminism and social justice movements to sell merchandise and tickets.
• The video accompanying the campaign interspersed scenes of WNBA games with scenes from the 2017 Women’s March on Washington.

Being the change they want to see

• While corporations and leagues deserve credit for highlighting the value of women’s sports, it’s also important to acknowledge how female athletes themselves have been driving change.
• The activism of women athletes through the years has also created visibility for women’s sports.
• In March 2019, the U.S. women’s national team players sued the U.S. Soccer Federation for gender discrimination.
• Last year was the first year since the 1980s that the women’s tournament was broadcast on network television.

Cheryl Cooky has received funding and support from the Women's Sports Foundation. She consults on gender equality issues in sports and has partnered with Gatorade, Nike and Buick.

• Your Family Entertainment AG (YFE) is pleased to announce the successful extension of its contract with leading telecommunications provider Salzburg AG for the broadcast of the popular children's and family channel Fix&Foxi TV until December 31st, 2028.
• This agreement reinforces the ongoing commitment of both companies to provide high quality and educational entertainment for children and families in the region.
• Since its launch, Fix&Foxi TV has gained a loyal viewership with its diverse program offering, ranging from animated series to educational shows.
• It encourages us in our efforts to reach families and especially children with positive, inspiring content," said Bernd Wendeln, CEO & COO of Your Family Entertainment AG.