r e s p o n s i b l e j o u r n a l i s m i n p r e v e n t i o n o f e l e c t i o n v i o l e n c e i n a f r i c a participants listening to dr. wango television, posters, entertainment programmes, media maybe guided by propaganda to appeals to emotion, not intellect; that is, the mindset of its reporting in most cases. common media for transmitting propaganda messages include: news and news reports, government reports, historical revision, books, leaflets, radio programmes, announcements, leaflet, advertisements, newsletters, press briefings, movies, appeals, via a web site and hot line. some journalists and media houses have formed a perception about people due to their socialization and generally they use the reports to confirm their biases. perception is the sensory experience of the world around us. confirmation bias, also called confirmatory bias or ‘my-side bias’, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms one's pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. it is equivalent to cognitive bias. the media perpetuates social prejudice, injustice and inequality. 1.5.1 how does media report on violence against women? violence against women is any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental (psychological) harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in the public or private life. gender-based violence (gbv) is violence that is directed at individuals on the basis of their gender. in some reports like in a video on gender, media and violence “tough guise: violence, media & the crisis in masculinity”. it shows how media reinforces patriarchal ideas promoting violence against women. this is done in various subtle ways: it often provides images of male (masculinity) that are defined by power, violence, and control and of female (femininity) as defined by love and weakness. women have become more vulnerable to violence and dependent on men. 1.5.2 key points in context - media, gender and election violence and future programming gbv is always occurring in war / conflict media and ngos are often reporting on peace processes while girls and women anguish in acute suffering. this does not show the peaceful side where the same people are trying to bring peace in the midst of violence. the media can be proactive in changing perceptions about people in a society by using words and terms that do not label, discriminate or portray anyone as superior or inferior to another, or a people negatively, as unacceptable or a lesser group of people. communication should be deliberate rather than 32