FIGHTING COVID-19 IN COTE D IVOIRE : WOMEN IN THE MEDIA FACE THE CHALLENGES OF THE FIELD

On March 11, 2020, Cote d Ivoire recorded its first case of COVID-19. The uproar followed. People rushed to social media, the only public spaces accessible to everyone without fear of being close to others and thus without fear of contracting the virus. Immediately, almost all internet users became broadcasters of information about the new Coronavirus. Press releases, testimonies from relatives of patients, and others circulated across the web. It must be noted that in this clamor, the messages shared were not specific to any gender or profession. Women, men, children, the elderly, workers, the unemployed, urban and rural populations received the same messages. In Cote dIvoire, women in the media, mainly female journalists and photographers, wanted to contribute to this widespread awareness. They wanted to specify their messages by targeting women, who, according to them, are at the heart of the social structure in Africa. How did they go about it? Through documentary research and semi-structured individual interviews, the aim will be to highlight the strategies and actions used by them in pursuing their objectives.Roman Jakobsons communication model and agenda-setting theory will help to show how women in the media move from being message receivers to message senders.