“Meet the Coordinators,” a new blog series launching today on WACC’s Who Makes The News website gives a look at the people, organizations, and contexts behind the data as the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) moves towards its 7th edition.

The GMMP, the largest and longest longitudinal study on gender in the world’s media, marks its 30th anniversary in 2025. From its very beginning in 1995, WACC’s flagship initiative has put the spotlight on media monitoring as critical tool to advance gender equality, says GMMP Global Coordinator Sarah Macharia in her interview to kick off the blog series.

“This transnational project spanning over 100 nations has made an unmatched contribution of knowledge about the pervasiveness and persistence of bias, stereotyping, and discrimination based on gender identity,” Macharia notes.

The global coordinator says the GMMP is like a corrective lens, making visible areas where intervention is needed. GMMP findings continue to strengthen civil society advocacy in the media industry and governance policy fora, and to drive initiatives advancing gender justice in and through the media, she adds.

“Meet the Coordinators” aims to give a glimpse into the GMMP network, present in more than 100 countries. Macharia says the interviews will enable people to discover “who we are and what motivates us” as well how national coordinating and other organizations are using GMMP findings to move the needle on gender equality in the news.

The media landscape has changed over the 30 years since the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the 4th UN World Conference on Women recognized the need to monitor media, and the first GMMP was held. But, Macharia observes, “the concerns that drove inception of the GMMP three decades ago remain rife.”

As the GMMP moves towards the 7th edition of media monitoring in 2025, the global coordinator says that the network is re-strategizing, confirming continuing and orienting new coordinators, and adapting its methodology to the networked media technologies of the current era.

Training on the updated methodology and tools will be held in preparation for monitoring in the first half of 2025, according to Macharia. “Get involved with a GMMP team near you.”

Photo: GMMP Global Coordinator Sarah Macharia. Gregg Brekke Media