Commonwealth Broadcasting Association

Putting gender on the media agenda in South Asia

As part of our work with gender and media, we are running training for South Asian journalists – which parallels the course we are providing in Tanzania this December. Mainstreaming Gender in the Media aims to forge stronger links between media organisations and NGOs working for female equality. The workshop will be held in India’s capital from 16 to 20 February 2015, and will be attended by female and male journalists and NGO staff from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

Training is tailored to regional and national contexts. In countries where men outnumber women (due to infanticide and gendercide), it is difficult to address such issues – and the media has a key role in educating and effecting changes in attitude. Widely covered cases including the Delhi gang rape in 2012 – and its legacy – will be discussed in the training.

The workshop will devote a day to a seminar on how media can be used to address women’s issues, and two days will focus on skills for gender-sensitive programming and producing and sharing content to educate the public on gender topics. The training will also include a one-day field visit to development projects local to Delhi. Discussions throughout will centre on gender representation, content guidelines, international best practice on the reporting of women’s and children’s issues, local law and regulations on gender, and the role of media in social change.

Mainstreaming Gender in the Media will be led by Kate Butler and Tinku Ray from the UK and India respectively – both highly experienced public service broadcasters.

Funded by Unesco’s International Programme for the Development of Communication

Image: A One Billion Rising event in Delhi in 2013, one of hundreds of demonstrations for a global campaign to end violence against women. Credit: Anoo Bhuyan/Creative Commons

Developing women’s voices in East African media

The CBA is to run a programme addressing gender issues in the media, in Tanzania this December. Strengthening the Representation and Portrayal of Women in the Media in East Africa runs from 8-12 December, and participants will include female and male journalists and NGO workers from Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

The project aims to reduce gender stereotyping and bring about changes in social attitudes and equality through enabling greater participation of women in the media. It recognises the role that mainstream media has in maintaining narrow roles and portrayal of women, but how the media, and particularly public media, can be harnessed to combat this. The programme is designed to kickstart further work aimed at improving the position of women working in the media and the portrayal of women by the media.

The training will see participants discuss topics such as women’s participation at a policy and political levels, violence against women and children and how it is reported, how reporting contrasts around the world and key issues affecting women in East Africa. The discussion and debate will feed into practical work – generating ideas for new content that is gender-sensitive and gender-specific for existing programmes and publications. Participants will receive training in interviewing, camera work, radio broadcasting, photojournalism and writing for print and online.

The course is also designed to build ongoing relationships between mainstream broadcasters and local women’s organisations. Media organisations and NGOs will be involved in the planning, production, monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Funded by Unesco and hosted by CBA member, the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation

Image: participants at our successful women’s media workshop in Malawi in 2012

Broadcast moves

The latest high-level appointments and departures in public radio and television

Continue reading →

Posted on October 12, 2014 | Posted in Latest

Tagged ABC, Africa, African Media Initiative, AIR, AMI, appointments, Australia, BBC, BBC Global News Ltd, BBC Worldwide, Broadcasting appointment, Cameroon, CBU, COO, CyBC, Cyprus, Deutsche Welle, Director General, DW, FRCN, Georgia, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, India, KBS, Korea, Korean Broadcasting System, Macau, Maori Television, Maori TV, Mozambique, National Public Radio, NBC, New Zealand, Nigeria, NPR, NTA, Pakistan, Peter Cavanagh, Preet Dhupar, Radio NZ, Radio Pakistan, Ren TV, RNZ, Russia, Rustavi 2, SABC, South African Broadcasting Corporation, South Korea, TDM, USA, Zambia, ZNBC |

African media association leads way with 50% female board

The leadership of the Southern African Broadcasting Association (Saba) has blazed a trail for gender equality in African media with the inauguration of a 50 per cent female board. Continue reading →

Posted on September 12, 2014 | Posted in Latest

Tagged Saba, Southern Africa |

What shape will children’s media take in the digital era?

The CBA held a special workshop, Children’s Media at the Core of Public Service Media in a Multiplatform Era, at the World Summit on Media for Children in Malaysia. Continue reading →

Posted on September 2, 2014 | Posted in Latest

Caribbean broadcasters supported to attend CBU AGA

The CBA supported three member broadcasters in the Caribbean to participate in the Caribbean Broadcasting Union Annual General Assembly (AGA). Continue reading →

Posted on August 11, 2014 | Posted in Latest

Tagged Caribbean broadcasting, CBU |

Our Ebola briefing to broadcasters

The CBA recognises the critical role of broadcasters in a national or regional crisis. Or a global one – as today the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak to be a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’. Public radio and TV stations everywhere are in a unique position to disseminate vital information, but they also have a chance to build audience trust as citizens seek reliable information to assist in their coping and survival.

We are in continuous contact with our members in West Africa where the outbreak is focused, and have issued an 8-page guide for them and other broadcasters that are potentially affected. It is designed to help broadcasters to develop a clear strategy to ensure that they are able to provide continuous and effective operations during the outbreak, which has so far resulted in at least 1,779 cases and 961 deaths.

The practical guidance draws upon CBA’s experience in providing specialised training for broadcasting during emergencies, such as pandemics, and among other things we emphasise the importance of accurate information, which includes rigorously vetting interviewees and ensuring information is locally relevant (eg bleach might be known by a brand name, which will vary between countries). We also stress the need to identify and build relationships with health and aid organisations working in country to share accurate information.

All broadcast operations depend on their staff, who will be affected in one way or another by the disease outbreak. Measures should be taken to ensure their health and safety, their contact details should be kept up-to-date and sensible rotas drawn up to avoid staff becoming overexhausted.

The outbreak directly affects Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and increasingly Nigeria – all countries have declared states of emergency. Meanwhile two Ebola patients are being treated in the US, and a Spanish priest with the the disease has been airlifted from Liberia to Madrid. A man who was being tested for Ebola in Saudi Arabia after arriving from Sierra Leone this week has died.

Image: the Guinea Red Cross Society raising awareness in the capital, Conakry

Download the briefing (PDF)

The Pan-Pacific Media Training Project opens for applications

CBA has again partnered with the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme and a team of international media tutors to provide a unique documentary training opportunity. The course will be offered free of charge to selected digital filmmakers from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The project, now in its second year, aims to support emerging Pacific talent by providing relevant skills training. The course is also designed to include a legacy element supporting the development of a Pan-Pacific peer group of digital storytellers who will be able to work together and support each other in the long term – bringing the unique visions of Pacific storytellers to the global media stage.

This course is designed to deliver comprehensive experience of digital documentary production including social media skills to increase the visibility and confidence of Pacific digital media-makers.

The programme will begin in Tonga on 21 October 2014 and will offer a 10-day intensive course of training to participants who will learn creative narrative documentary filmmaking via practical and engaging workshops.

Applications close on 31 August 2014

Find out more and apply at panpacifimedia.org >>

Or contact Amy Richardson amy@cba.org.uk

Posted on August 7, 2014 | Posted in Latest

Tagged fiji, Micronesia, Nukuʻalofa, Oceania, pacific broadcasting, pacific media, Pacmas, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu |

Ebola outbreak: West African broadcasters play vital role

As Sierra Leone declares a public health emergency in response to the Ebola outbreak, we have contacted our member broadcasters in West Africa to support them and hear how they are responding to the crisis. Continue reading →

Posted on July 31, 2014 | Posted in Latest

Tagged broadcasting in an emergency, disaster preparedeness, emergency, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, SLBC, training, West Africa |

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Supporting Public Service Broadcasting

Putting gender on the media agenda in South Asia

See also:

Developing women’s voices in East African media

See also:

Broadcast moves

African media association leads way with 50% female board

What shape will children’s media take in the digital era?

Caribbean broadcasters supported to attend CBU AGA

Our Ebola briefing to broadcasters

See also:

The Pan-Pacific Media Training Project opens for applications

Ebola outbreak: West African broadcasters play vital role