Based on a study conducted in 19 TV news formats over a period from 1January 2002 to 30 September 2003, the report suggests that the situation is so problematic that the news formats in the US, British, German and South African media do not even remotely reflect the real power distribution in their respective parliaments, governments and universities.

What seems to be the prime concern is the effect this type of news selection will have on the perception of development, inside and outside of these countries.

Quite unlike the claims made by the US and German media, despite the half of the heads of political parties being female at the time of analysis, the share of coverage of women is only 12 per cent, even lower than in other countries. "Hillary Clinton would probably not be amused by these results, "says the report.

On the contrary, the BBC and ITN in England, despite the government team and the heads of parties being male, could boast of better coverage of women.

What was surprising was that the report revealed is that Queen Elizabeth II figured in the top 10 list of the most covered women, not only in TV news in the UK, but also in the US and in Germany, alongside power riders US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.