Trans Media Watch (TMW) is a British charity founded in 2009 to improve media coverage of

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

and

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bin ...

issues. By improving media coverage, TMW strives to "foster social acceptance and civil recognition for trans persons", and to prevent the "material consequences" of misrepresentation. TMW also publishes recommendations for trans people interacting with the media.

Founding

One impetus of the charity's creation was a 2009 episode of the comedy series ''

Moving Wallpaper ''Moving Wallpaper'' is a British satirical comedy-drama television series set in a TV production unit. It ran on ITV for two series in 2008–09. The subject of the first series was the production of a soap called ''Echo Beach'', each episode ...

'' which featured

transphobic Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

jokes. One of the co-founders of TMW is Josephine Shaw, a longtime activist for trans rights.

Research

In April 2010, TMW published 'How Transgender People Experience the Media', which describes the findings of a study conducted between November 2009 and February 2010 to learn how transgender people in the UK feel about the media portrays them. The research concluded that humiliating and demeaning characterisations of trans people in the media play a significant role in encouraging societal prejudice and abuse towards the community.

Memorandum of understanding

In March 2011, UK broadcaster

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

became the inaugural signatory of TMW's memorandum of understanding (MoU), a document which calls for better media representation of trans people. In May 2011, Women in Journalism became a signatory, acknowledging the killing of eminent

human rights lawyer International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

and

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

Sonia Burgess, and its subsequent prejudicial media coverage, as stimulus to do so. ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' newspaper also took notice of TMW due to Burgess' death, saying there is a "need for sensitivity and respect" when dealing with transgender stories. Paris Lees, a British transgender journalist, worked with Trans Media Watch to persuade the broadcaster to commit to removing all transphobic material from their content. She was working for Channel 4 at the time and was instrumental in getting the broadcaster to be a signatory. At the MoU launch, held at Channel 4's London headquarters,

Lynne Featherstone Lynne Choona Featherstone, Baroness Featherstone, (''née'' Ryness; born 20 December 1951) is a British politician, businesswoman and Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. Prior to entering politics, Featherstone was a successful bu ...

, the junior Minister for Equality, said "Congratulations to Trans Media Watch for this brilliant initiative and to Channel 4 for being the first (hopefully of many) broadcasters to sign up." The signing was criticised by Channel 4’s disability editorial manager, Alison Walsh. Her concern was that the memorandum, which calls for positive, well-informed representation of transgender people in the media, was a form of media censorship. The chair of Trans Media Watch, Jennie Kermode responded by affirming that the purpose of the memorandum is to provide a balanced and accurate coverage, and was not to discourage honest or challenging portrayals of transgender people.

Leveson inquiry

In December 2011, Trans Media Watch made a submission to the Leveson Inquiry into the "culture, practice and ethics of the press," in which it described the "unethical and often horrific and humiliating treatment of transgender and intersex people by the British press." In February 2012, a TMW representative gave evidence in person.

Other activities

In 2012, Trans Media Watch hosted a journalism and broadcasting conference at the

University of London Union Student Central was a students' facility of the University of London. It was previously the students' union of the federal University of London, known as the University of London Union (commonly referred to as ULU, pron. 'yoo-loo'), which was clo ...

. The event, called Trans Media Watch European Conference 2012, took place on 7 October 2012, and was open to non-professionals so that transgender and

people could learn about the British and European media. In May 2015, Trans Media Watch filed a complaint with the

Independent Press Standards Organisation The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) is the regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK. It was established on 8 September 2014 after the windup of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which had been the main ind ...

(IPSO), for discriminatory remarks and violations of privacy published by '' The Sun'' in 2014. The complaint was a response to disparaging remarks made by journalist

Rod Liddle Roderick E. Liddle (born 1 April 1960) is an English journalist and an associate editor of ''The Spectator''. He was an editor of BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme. His published works include ''Too Beautiful for You'' (2003), ''Love Will Destr ...

at the expense of

Emily Brothers Emily Andrea Melanie Brothers (born 1964, Merseyside) is a British Labour politician who stood in the Sutton and Cheam constituency in the 2015 General Election. She is the first openly transgender Labour Party candidate to run for Westminster ...

, a transgender politician who was standing for election as a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the Sutton and Cheam constituency. After a process of adjudication, the IPSO upheld the complaint, and ruled that Mr Liddle and ''The Sun'' were in breach of the Editors' Code of Practice. The TMW did not represent Ms Brothers in their complaint, but raised the issue as a "representative group" affected by Mr Liddle's implications.

Trans Media Action

In September 2011, Trans Media Watch and On Road Media launched the Trans Media Action initiative, with support from the

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...

Founding

Research

Memorandum of understanding

Leveson inquiry

Other activities

Trans Media Action

See also

References

Further reading

External links