Paris, February 28 {No.2000-16} - Print, audiovisual and Internet media organisations from all over the world have announced they will take part in the operation March 8: Women Make the News, launched by UNESCO for this year's International Women's Day (March 8).

On January 31, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura called on the media to "ensure that women journalists have editorial charge of the news on International Women's Day."

The initiative was designed to draw attention "to the glass ceiling that still limits the number of women journalists who rise to key editorial positions in the media", Mr Matsuura explained in a message sent to the world's media. He pointed out that International Women's Day is also "an opportunity to raise awareness of the situation of women and to seek responses to the obstacles they face."

Massive support has been registered in Bolivia where it appears that all of the country's 800 media - including 30 print media, 600 radio stations, 80 television broadcasters and all its electronic media - are preparing to take part in the March 8: Women Make the News operation. Similarly, all the print and broadcast media of the town of Rio Tercero in Argentina, covering a population of 80,000, will be placed under the editorial responsibility of women, and there are reports that the movement is spreading to other areas in the province of Cordoba. In Central Asia, nine media organisations in Kyrgyzstan have announced they will support the initiative.

Newspapers, news agencies, general and special interest publications, broadcasters, Internet news services, and periodicals - ranging from Nature in the U.K. to Khalg Gazeti newspaper in Azerbaijan and Le Soir daily in Belgium, from CBS News in the U.S. and Radio Orient in France to Le Soleil daily in Senegal - have registered their participation in the operation with a wide range of initiatives. Some have declared they will entrust editorial news responsibility to women, while others will devote particular editorial attention to women's issues.

In Tanzania, Radio Tanzania Dar es Salam, the national radio station, will have women in charge not only of the newsroom, but also of recording and broadcast studios, as well as transmitters and technical services.

In some cases, women already at the helm of their media have offered to support the initiative by stepping aside and giving more junior women colleagues a chance to run the newsroom.

More than 70 media organisations from the five continents have posted information on how they intend to implement the initiative on the Website UNESCO created for the March 8 awareness-raising operation (www.unesco.org/march8). Also through the Net, UNESCO is linking up to worldwoman.net which will offer a special March 8 women's news service from Glasgow, Scotland, and live audio streaming from the women's media festival in Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

At the initiative of Lebanese Member of Parliament Bahia Hariri, Arab women parliamentarians meeting in the capital of Algeria have issued a joint declaration calling on the media in the Arab world to support UNESCO's appeal. The declaration says that UNESCO's initiative shows "confidence in the role of Arab women and the importance of including them in development activities [for the] stability and progress of Arab societies."

Numerous international organisations have lent their support to the initiative and issued messages backing the operation. Messages to that effect have been issued by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the heads of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the European Commission, the International Federation of Journalists, the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Association of Women in Radio and Television.

More complete information about the initiative and an up-to-date list of organisations involved, including the Director-General's appeal, messages of support and a discussion forum, can be found on the March 8 Website.