Ana Sofia Pereira, Post-Doc Fellow of the research project FEMglocal - Glocal Feminist Movements: Interactions and Contradictions (financed by the Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, through national funds - PTDC/COM-CSS/4049/2021), was invited to participate in a session of the curricular unit “Journalism’s Contemporary Debates” at Lusófona University – Porto University Center, on March 29th. The session was organized by Carla Cerqueira (FEMglocal’s PI), and was joined by Célia Taborda (FEMglolcal’s Co-PI) and her second-year History of Social and Political Movements class.
The main topic of discussion was the role of journalism in publicizing and mediatizing feminist movements that had a Portuguese expression, with a particular focus on the #MeToo movement. Traditional media, such as the newspapers Expresso and Público, were analyzed for their coverage of the #MeToo movement.
The students raised important questions about the expression of #MeToo in Portugal, how the media has contributed to the visibility or invisibility of the movement's agendas, and the relevance of assessing how feminisms are represented by the media in a national context. The session was a thought-provoking and insightful opportunity for reflection and debate on pressing contemporary themes.
Ultimately, the session stressed the importance of critical scrutiny of media representations of feminist movements, as well as the vital role that journalism plays in shaping public debate on these topics.