Mexico. The Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, presented the Monitoring on the Presence and Representation of Disability in Radio and Television News, in which it was found that the media analyzed maintain a dignified and respectful treatment towards the issue and people with disabilities.
On the other hand, most of the notes observed treated disability as a condition and not as a disease, which is positive, since it contributes to eradicating stigmatization around this population sector, however, most of the notes referred to disability in a general way, without specifying its different types, when international recommendations suggest that this topic be made known in all its diversity.
Among other findings, the monitoring revealed that most of the journalistic coverage on the issue of disability occurred within the framework of the celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities; while in the week in which there were no dates alluding to the subject, only one note on disability was found in all the media analyzed.
On the other hand, in some pieces the use of inappropriate terms to refer to this population was detected, which puts the condition before the person.
Finally, it highlights that the results of the monitoring warn of an area of opportunity for the media to have greater spaces for the treatment of the issue of disability from its different aspects, and to give voice to people in this condition. This will allow to provide greater visibility to this group, to favor the knowledge and awareness of society.
For this study, the broadcasts of 21 news programs – 13 television and 8 radio – were analyzed and, in order to contrast the coverage and treatment of the issue of disability, two observation periods were selected: the first corresponded to the transmissions of the week of December 2 to 6, 2019, on the International Day of Disability (3 December) and; the second period, from June 1 to 5, 2020, a week in which there was no anniversary related to this topic.
The Report of Results of the Monitoring on the Presence and Treatment of Disability in Radio and Television News , can be consulted by clicking here.
