The Division of Mass Communication and World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), a non-governmental organization, will co-sponsor a paneled discussion on the most recent findings of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) this Monday.

The GMMP studies the representation of women in the media and is coordinated by the WACC.

According to the GMMP’s website, the organization is the largest advocacy initiative in the world working to change the perception of women in the media.

The panel will be comprised of Marilyn Greenwald, Sarah Macharia, Heidi Evans, and June Nicholson.

Greenwald is a professor at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, Macharia is a staffer at WACC, Evans is a reporter for the NY Daily News, and Nicholson is professor and director in the School of Mass Communication at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Judith Cramer, the director of the Journalism Program at St. John’s will moderate the discussion and Professor Mark Prendergast will handle the opening and closing remarks.

Dr. Cramer said the purpose of the event is to inspire students to view news and reporting in a different way.

“The purpose of the event is to get students to view the news through a different lens,” she said.

“We don’t realize that there are groups that are not being included in the process of relaying the news.”

According to a preliminary report released by the GMMP, “it matters who is left out and what is not covered” rather than only who is included.

Findings highlight that women are underrepresented in news coverage as opposed to men, suggesting that

media-content center’s on a male-perspective of the world.

These findings come from a sample of 42 countries from various continents such as Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean Region, Pacific Islands and Europe, according to the Highlights of Preliminary Findings report released on the GMMP’s website.

“The impact of our backgrounds and who we are as people is reflected in news coverage. This impact, in turn, shapes events,” Dr. Cramer said.

“My hope is that Journalism majors will incorporate what they hear into their thinking when deciding what news is.”

The event is open to the public and will be held in the D’Angelo Center, room 416 from 6 to 9 p.m.