CMS (Content Management System) will be edited quickly to post on the newspaper page. The hotter the event or issue, the faster and more timely the display time must be to attract readers. This is one of the reasons why many articles lack gender sensitivity if reporters exploit the articles out of habit, using common working skills without paying attention to the specificity of the topic. Gender stereotypes are unintentionally promoted, leading to gender discrimination.
Second, reporters, editors, and journalists themselves are also members of the social community. They also have a sense of gender equality. Most of them also consider gender inequality in society as a natural phenomenon, in accordance with the law.
In a survey conducted by Oxfam on 430 journalists in Vietnam in 2014, 72.5% of them believed that Vietnam needs to continue to improve the situation of gender equality. And their own views on awareness and behavior in terms of gender equality helped prove this when 67.4% of journalists believed that women should prioritize building and caring for their families, and according to 66.9% of journalists, for men, career development is the number one priority. In addition, the study showed that from the perspective of gender equality, the home environment of journalists still maintains the division of responsibilities according to traditional gender concepts. That is, women have the main role in taking care of children (61.6% of journalists chose "agree" or "strongly agree") and doing housework (59.5% of journalists chose "agree" or "strongly agree"). It is not that journalists do not recognize the injustice in such a division of roles, but for them, “the whole society is like that” or “I can’t do anything else” is a fairly common attitude, moreover, 71.8% of journalists believe that women do those jobs better than men. Obviously, although journalists are well aware that men and women need to be treated equally, without discrimination both in the family and in society, in reality, gender stereotypes still dominate journalists’ family activities. The image of men doing housework has never been a norm in Vietnamese society. The division of housework according to traditional gender roles has formed and reinforced gender stereotypes, making these stereotypes so normal that they are difficult to see, let alone take specific actions to change them. [58, 36-37].
This large-scale study also showed that: “Family environmental factors have a great influence on journalists' gender stereotypes”, and “Journalists have views,
personal perceptions with many gender stereotypes. During their work, many journalists also show gender stereotypes towards their sources. The family environment of journalists with traditional gender roles has a negative impact on the level of gender stereotypes of journalists towards their sources” [58, 40 - 41].
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Oxfarm's research is just one of many bases to prove that: Human perception is a product of the socialization process. Besides many factors affecting the news production process such as editorial regulations, readers, news sources, journalistic ideals, etc., the factor of individual journalist's perception has the most direct impact on the quality of news, especially news related to issues with strong traditional cultural elements such as gender stereotypes. In other words, living in a society deeply influenced by traditional Confucian concepts, journalists are also subject to social stereotypes. Those stereotypes are deeply ingrained in thinking and lifestyle, becoming internal, natural thoughts and perceptions that are difficult to change in a day or two. As journalist Nguyen Van Hai - Editorial Secretary of Tuoi Tre Online newspaper explained, the reason for the gender bias in news content is mainly because journalists " have not yet fully realized " and " unintentionally or unintentionally act according to long-standing behavioral and thinking habits, including behaviors and thoughts that are prejudiced towards gender issues" (PVS No. 03).
Third, the team of reporters and journalists do not have the conditions and do not have the need to update their knowledge and skills in the media world.
As mentioned above, traditional gender roles still exist in the minds of journalists, which influences them in the process of exploiting sources of information, causing journalists to view gender roles through their own “lens”, and gender stereotypes are “normalized”. The situation of gender stereotypes therefore still appears so naturally that it is difficult to recognize.
In that context, training, providing knowledge and practicing skills in exploiting and processing gender-sensitive information for the team of reporters and editors of BMĐT has not been implemented systematically and regularly, mainly implemented periodically and integrated into other content, which is one of the important causes of gender bias in news content. Journalist Do Quy Doan summarized from his experience in many years of managing press activities: "It seems that BMĐT still communicates about gender in a "happen or not" way, just reflecting life as it is."
There is no long-term orientation or plan. The Ministry of Information and Communications has a set of indicators on gender in the media , but its application to press agencies is not effective"; "Training on gender knowledge for staff and reporters is still ineffective. Material and spiritual guarantees for journalists working on gender equality are not really good" (PVS No. 01).
Fourth, the majority of the BMĐT public still maintains the habit of accepting familiar stories that are consistent with "common sense".
Public demand is one of the important factors determining the information exploitation trend of the Internet. Nowadays, the generation of "smart public" sometimes puts pressure on the press, forcing the press to change its communication methods and content. For the Internet, the pressure on the number of readers, likes, shares, responses to articles... is very large. According to our initial observations and records, the Internet public still maintains quite traditional thinking, viewpoints, and attitudes in receiving and processing information, especially for stories about love, marriage - family, about the private lives of famous people... This is clearly shown in the comments of readers under each news article. At the same time, the Confession column on VnExpress newspaper is a place to post articles and stories by readers, written by readers themselves and sent to the editorial office. The author’s viewpoint in these articles partly clearly shows the habit of accepting “common sense”, easily sympathizing with traditional stories in assessing the characteristics, positions, and roles of men and women in social relationships and life. We hope to have the conditions and opportunities to research this issue more deeply in the following works.
To attract readers, BMĐT seems to be “pleasing” its own audience, exploiting content areas and aspects of life that readers are interested in, perceiving and evaluating issues based on perspectives that readers can easily sympathize with and accept. It is from this habit that ĐKG has the opportunity to maintain and exist in the news content on BMĐT.
3.2. Solutions from the current situation of gender bias in online newspapers.
3.2.1. Solutions in how to build news content
3.2.1.1. How to reflect male and female characteristics and personalities in news
According to our survey results and qualitative analysis in chapter 3, the way of describing characteristics (appearance, personality/qualities) of men and women is still based on familiar traditional motifs, causing pressure and hindering development opportunities.
development of each gender. In particular, BMĐT maintains gender inequality in the way it describes the appearance and personality of celebrities by focusing too much on the formal elements (sexy, fashionable) and paying little attention to their spiritual life (life views, inner life, efforts to overcome difficulties, love for the profession, etc.); focusing on prying into the private lives and "exposing" the love affairs of celebrities to attract headlines and views, unintentionally reinforcing and promoting gender inequality in readers' perception.
Therefore, to limit and eventually eliminate gender stereotypes in news content, BMĐT needs to pay attention to the following points:
- Aim for a balanced ratio when describing the appearance of men and women in news articles on BMĐT. Paying too much attention to appearance when building the image of female characters will put pressure on them, maintaining an obsessive mentality and an inferiority complex about appearance. Is “Ugly women don’t get gifts” a concept born from the pressure on appearance brought about by the effects of the media?
Limit the use of motif keywords when describing the appearance of each gender. The ideal beautiful woman does not necessarily have to have white skin, long hair, big eyes, a delicate face, a soft, balanced body, or be sexy... Attractive men do not necessarily have to be strong or scholarly, with a high forehead, wide mouth, tanned skin, or a square face... Similarly, the physical defects of one gender do not necessarily have to be described by comparing them with the default characteristics of the other gender. "Like a man", "like a woman" is a way of thinking that is imposed and full of prejudice. Describing appearance based on available motifs not only reduces the creativity of language but also hinders the acceptance of the diversity and differences of each individual in life, creating pressure for each gender, especially women in life.
- When selecting and describing the personalities and qualities of men and women in news content, BMĐT needs to pay attention to limiting the application of traditional personality stereotypes for each gender. The pervasive effect of media messages will contribute to tying women to the framework of traditional qualities such as gentleness, tact, altruism, sacrifice, "keeping the fire" or assuming their personality flaws such as weakness, resignation, gold-digging, gossiping, flirting...; similarly, men will be under pressure to be strong, generous, have a reputation, a career, not allowed to be "effeminate", stingy, unambitious...
- When describing the appearance, personality, and qualities of celebrities in entertainment news, it is necessary to pay more attention to positive expressions than to "look for the needle in the haystack", to scrutinize and expose the ways of dressing, applying makeup, or stories about love and personal life. In particular, the revealing and sexy elements of female stars need to be exploited in moderation to avoid negative effects, affecting the tastes of the public, especially the young. Absolutely avoid excessive criticism, disparaging tone or imposing the views of a group of people to judge and convict celebrities, mainly women, in incidents related to clothing, makeup, or in stories of broken relationships and personal troubles.
3.2.1.2. How to reflect the position and capacity of men and women in the news
The way the position, role, and capacity of men and women in family and social relationships are described on the E-M is a manifestation of gender inequality. In this way, the erroneous and unfair views on gender that have existed for centuries continue to be supported and spread through the E-M through media messages.
BMĐT needs to increase news articles describing men and women in diverse roles and positions with a more open perspective on gender. In family relationships, a wife being better than her husband is not the cause of broken happiness; smart and beautiful women do not have difficulty getting married, but men need to make more efforts to be lucky enough to win the hearts of those superior women; adultery or aggressive behavior, sexual harassment should be condemned, not sympathized with or excused; in three-way relationships or emotional breakdowns, the responsibility of each side should be considered fairly, do not blame women; women do not have the mission to learn how to please their husbands and take care of the "home", this is a job that requires the efforts of both sides... In social relationships, it is necessary to limit the expression of the difference in status between men and women. The image of women appearing in leadership roles should be expressed more openly, they need to be recognized and encouraged to demonstrate their personal abilities instead of being tied to the standard of “being good at both public affairs and housework”. Articles about prostitution, sexual harassment, rape and sexual abuse on BMĐT need to be exploited from a more humane and gender-sensitive perspective, avoiding the promotion of traditional concepts that are harmful and disadvantageous to women such as: being liberal in sexual matters is bad for women but is “natural” for men; women are sexually harassed because they are not discreet, do not know how to keep their limits; “being a flower for people to pick, being a girl for people to tease”…
3.2.2. Solutions on the form of presenting news articles on electronic newspapers
3.2.2.1. Category/ Frequency/ Genre of news publication
The presence of women needs to be expanded to other sections on BMĐT such as Politics , Economics , and Current Affairs to enhance the status of women instead of focusing only on the Culture , Entertainment , Family , and Confessions sections as it is now. These sections are often entertaining in nature, focusing on providing “hot” information to satisfy readers’ curiosity, so they do not go into in-depth analysis and interpretation. In addition, the areas mentioned in the articles of these sections are often fashion, beauty, aesthetics, art, entertainment, married life, family... This further reinforces the majority’s notion that women are not suitable to be sources of information on important issues such as politics, economics, and diplomacy. They are only suitable to be the rear, the “firekeeper” of the kitchen and house so that their men can rest assured to be the “pillar”, regardless of whether he is capable and has the desire to be the “pillar” or not. To limit gender inequality, it is necessary to change the perspective of journalists when selecting and exploiting news sources. Liberating women from the kitchen space, bringing them to new spaces - where wives, mothers, and sisters have the opportunity to express and develop their personal qualities and abilities like men, and are free to seek and realize all dreams without being constrained by old, harsh thinking is one of the first steps that the media needs to take towards true gender equality.
Each BMĐT page needs to have a separate section for gender communication, and it is essential to maintain a section manager or a person in charge of gender communication issues. The presence of sections, subsections, and pages with a separate person in charge of gender and gender communication acts as a “gatekeeper” to help BMĐT avoid the risks of gender bias in news content, while reminding each journalist, each production and publishing department of the necessary caution in the process of searching, selecting, exploiting, and processing information sources.
In terms of genre, BMĐT needs to increase the publication of news articles on gender and gender equality in the genres of narrative, portrait, reportage, commentary, and editorial. Messages promoting gender equality will become more authentic, have a stronger and deeper influence when there is the participation of many genres with elements of commentary, analysis, explanation, clearly expressing the vision, thoughts, and concepts imbued with humanity.
of the author. Real life is messy but also colorful and full of vitality, choosing what and how to express it to touch the hearts of the public, helping the press to fulfill its mission of orientation and ideological function - this depends entirely on the talent, enthusiasm, and professional qualities of the journalist. With the characteristics of being topical, constantly and quickly updating information about life and society, BMĐT is currently focusing on the news genre because it easily meets the requirements of immediate updates, brevity, succinctness, easy to remember, easy to learn. However, this genre lacks explanation, so it is easy to get caught up in the DKG in small details that journalists and readers themselves find difficult to recognize. In particular, the excessive use of photo news in the entertainment section when showing the lives of celebrities will make it easy for BMĐT to fall into a state of showing off and abusing women's bodies, maintaining and reinforcing false perceptions about performing artists as well as discriminatory attitudes towards young female artists in the process of striving to build their careers.
3.2.2.2. Image
For the type of BMĐT, images are an indispensable element in conveying direct and authentic messages to the public and attracting public attention when receiving news. For gender communication, the skillful selection and use of images can help break the "invisible glass wall" in the majority's perception and thinking about gender equality, and can also strengthen that wall if journalists lack gender sensitivity and the necessary knowledge and skills in this field.
BMĐT needs to pay attention to gender balance in different contexts in photos. It is necessary to increase the image of men in indoor spaces, in the kitchen, in hospitals, schools with the role of caring, nurturing, participating in housework, and at the same time, women should appear more in frames with the context of conferences, seminars, laboratories or office spaces with the position of "decision makers", confident and successful. The same goes for the professional field, the image of women taking on jobs that are considered "the exclusive domain" of men such as pilots, doctors, drivers, leaders should appear more. This, if done regularly, will create a visual communication effect, gradually changing the long-standing concept of the position, role, and capacity of men and women. A photo of a father playing with his child or cooking with his daughter will inspire more strongly than the image of a mother in the
similar roles and contexts. Images of strong, confident women standing in front of a crowd giving speeches, receiving titles and rewards worthy of their efforts, standing shoulder to shoulder with men in leadership and executive positions… will surely spread the message about gender equality in a profound and convincing way.
Equally important, BMĐT needs to strictly control the publication of articles filled with revealing and sexy images of women, especially female stars in the entertainment industry or female characters in sponsored and advertised columns. This further deepens the prejudice against “long-legged” models who always like to use tricks to advance in the industry or find rich sponsors. In reality, many of them are trying every day to assert themselves, are not afraid of hardship, have a healthy lifestyle, a rich spiritual life, have ambitions and dreams… - these positive expressions need to be cherished, valued and captured by reporters. Their images will inspire a more intuitive and vivid image of gender equality than any other message.
3.2.2.3. Language
A journalistic work is not simply a “thing” containing information that a journalist conveys to society, but also reflects the author’s political views, civic stance, professional capacity and aesthetic taste. In the process of creatively creating a journalistic text, the talent of the individual journalist determines the ability to organize and implement the topic, process documents and information, choose details, appropriate structure, appropriate language and tone. Language is a particularly important formal element, inseparable from the content elements of a journalistic work. For that reason, the use of potentially heterogeneous language is the biggest risk that makes a journalistic work become a “host” to convey heterogeneous messages.
Expressions that reinforce gender stereotypes with the implication of looking down on women, depicting women's obscurity, invisibility, and dependence on men such as "what do women know", "just women"... should be eliminated in the language of news articles on BMĐT. Typical phrases with metaphorical meanings, calling women "queens in the kitchen", "interior minister", "home builder", "solid rear"... should not be used frequently to avoid creating a "reverse effect" - seemingly praising and honoring women but actually putting pressure on them, tying them to the duty of taking care of the family, doing housework, sacrificing their own interests and ambitions. In addition, words and phrases that identify