| Media21 Journalism Workshop on Human Rights |
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| Media | |
| Written by The Editors | |
| Monday, 08 February 2010 | |
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While much energy, focus and funding has been directed toward the Human Rights Council, few donors seem to understand the need to dedicate appropriate resources toward encouraging better coverage of its activites in the public interest and as a means of promoting much-needed accountability. The Human Rights Council often has been criticized for being a talking shop for governments with little impact on on-the-ground realities around the world. The purpose of the Media21 workshops is to help improve credible public outreach of human rights and other related issues in the public interest. An Essential Edge partner, Media21 is a Geneva-based media group that considers itself a reporting facilitator rather than advocate. It seeks to assist local and regional journalists broaden their perspectives on key global themes, such as climate change, access to health, peacebuilding and peacekeeping, water and sanitation...It also seeks to make players more aware of the need for better quality and, above all, more critical and independent reporting of such crucial topics. Media21, which is run by experienced international journalists holds an average 12 workshops a year, the bulk of them in Geneva, but also in locations such as Istanbul, Gdansk, Bonn and Nairobi. These focus on different themes with field trips, depending on subject matter, to places like Ethiopia or Haiti. The field trips provide participants, many of whom would never have the chance to travel or compare notes with journalists from other parts of the world, with first-hand experience of the issues discussed. Both the field reporting and the mingling of journalists with experences to share are regarded as among the most fruitful aspects of the Media21 programme. Media21 now has a worldwide network of over 1,000 editors, reporters and producers. It also works with a diverse - and sometimes conflicting - array of over 150 partner organizations representing UN agencies, NGOs, corporations, academic and media institutions. These include the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Magnum, Frontline World TV, UNDP, World Meteorological Organization, GCSP, Internews, ICRC, Shell and Novartis. Such across-the-board representation is also evident in the panels put together by Media21. Such a broad spectrum of partners is to ensure that participating journalists have access to as many different players as possible. This current human rights workshop has brought together journalists from Madagascar, Iran, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Trainers encourage participants to do their own reporting but benefitting from the widest array of sources possible ranging from press conferences to special events and interviews with ambassadors, human rights groups and other players. While producting articles, radio and television reports for their own media, they also contribute to On Assignment, the independent Media21 online and print magazine on global themes. Journalist grants are provided by different government donors, corporate sponsors and foundations representing all sectors. Media21 would also like to see the UN agencies, NGOs and other players make a greater effort to understand and support the needs of the media if they are serious about being accountable to the public-at-large. This means becoming more actively engaged in helping serious journalists pursue their reporting responsibilities, particularly at a time when quality journalism is being severely undermined by corporate media whose interests are driven more by the need to make money than to inform the public.
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