Children's Participation in the Media
Some Examples
There are many ways to improve the image of children in media contents and to facilitate children's right to express themselves through the media. One way is to offer children the chance to participate in the media -- in the programmes, films, texts, on the Internet, etc. -- and to give them the opportunity to be active in the media production process. This section contains a few practical examples -- by no means exhaustive -- of how this can be done. The Clearinghouse is interested in collecting and publishing comments and articles on positive and practical experiences of active child participation in the media world-wide. We hope that the following examples will inspire persons and organisations engaged in other projects related to children's media participation to contact us about them. We also hope that the examples will encourage new initiatives.
UNICEF Media Activities for Children
In recent years, UNICEF has developed ways of approaching children directly to solicit their opinions and engage them in discussion on development issues. A number of initiatives, outlined below, have involved the participation of children from industrialized and developing countries in meaningful dialogue and activities that enhance their awareness of global issues and increase their capacity to take action in appropriate ways. These initiatives strongly encourage child participation and challenge children to take an active part in exploring and discussing issues that affect their future.
World Wide Web
In 1995, the Voices of Youth (VOY) site on the World Wide Web was launched at the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) in Copenhagen, where it was an immediate success. It introduces children to child rights issues, and encourages them to express their views. Children from all over the world responded to the invitation to come forward with questions for government delegates attending the Summit.
After the Summit, we decided to continue VOY as a worldwide forum for children to express their views and dialogue on issues of development, peace and justice, and in particular those issues affecting their own lives. VOY is a good example of how today's technology can be used to bring young people together in a meaningful dialogue about issues that concern them. Indeed, the VOY website has just been chosen as one of "Seven Super Sites of the Month" by Kids' Space, a children's web magazine with readers in 124 countries, which chooses web sites that inspire children to learn and discover the world. For further information, contact Voices of Youth online at voy@unicef.org or Web site, http://www.unicef.org/voy
CD-ROM
My City is an interactive animated CD-ROM game jointly funded by UNICEF and the Canadian government. The players, who Children's Participation in the Media become mayors of their city for a day, encounter a series of social and cultural issues based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As mayors, they must decide how to respond to each of these issues. They are given a budget at the start of their tenure, and a popularity meter indicates the success or otherwise of their policies with the voting public. The aim is for the mayor to stay in office without losing resources and popularity as she/he responds to the issues presented. The game encourages awareness and discussion of problems encountered by youth around the world, and encourages them to act on similar problems in their own communities.
Broadcasting
Participation in the International Children's Day of Broadcasting has grown from around 50 broadcasters in 1992 to over 2,000 in 1996. More remarkable than the numbers however, is the extent to which broadcasters throughout the world have become involved in the Day, and have taken its message to heart. An increasing number of broadcasters are devoting an entire day or week to children. Many participating broadcasters have trained children to produce their own programmes, and make documentaries on violations of children's rights.
Another interesting aspect of the Day is the selection of a theme of special concern each year. Through the theme in 1996 of violence in the media, we were able to draw attention to the International Children's Television Charter, which rejects "gratuitous scenes of violence and sex", and is specifically aligned with the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
1994 saw the creation of a special International Emmy award to honour the broadcaster whose participation in the Day is judged the most outstanding.
In 1997 the International Children's Day of Broadcasting was celebrated on Sunday, December 14. For further information, contact the ICDB website at http://www. unicef.org/icdb
Multi-media
In November 1997, UNICEF launched the Meena Communication Initiative, a new regional effort whose goal is to change the lives of girls in South Asia, a region where discrimination is rife. The protagonist is Meena, a ten-year-old girl who must overcome a series of obstacles in her quest to exercise her rights. As she does so, the series explores the implications of girls' development for the community as a whole.
The project takes the form of a multimedia package comprising a 12-episode animated film series, a 15-part radio series on the BBC's Urdu, Bengali, Hindi and Nepali World Services, documentaries, comic books, posters, folk media and various other materials. Meena will not only be carried on TV and radio, but the concept will also be integrated into school curricula throughout South Asia, and special kits will be made available to non-profit organizations working on behalf of girls in the region.
In Africa, UNICEF has launched Sara, a similar multi-media communication package aimed at providing a role-model for adolescent girls in East and Southern Africa.
The package includes an animated television series, a radio series, comic books, story books, audio cassettes and posters. Sara, the heroine, embarks on a series of adventures and faces important decisions, such as whether or not to stay in school, how to deal with difficult adults, and how to protect herself from the HIV/ AIDS virus. The episodes teach girls essential life skills such as effective communication, negotiation and problem-solving. The series will be carried in at least 15 countries in the region.
Children's news
In 1996, UNICEF also teamed up with the Children's Express, a news service run by children for audiences of all ages, to visit Bangladesh where they filed stories on child labour issues.
The Children's Express members conducted a training workshop with three Bangladeshi children, who subsequently worked as reporters during the project. Together, the group interviewed child rights activists, child labour experts and other children in Dhaka.
The Bangladeshi children returned to New York with the rest of the group to work together on additional stories concerning child labour issues in America, and made media appearances to coincide with the International Children's Day of Broadcasting. The trip was a sequel to the Children's Express/ UNICEF visit to Bosnia and Croatia in 1995, which focused on the issue of children affected by armed conflict.
Reporting on children's issues
At the World Congress against commercial sexual exploitation of children in 1996, one area of concern that was identified is how the media report cases of child abuse and children's issues generally. UNICEF is working with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to encourage the media to develop international guidelines and codes of conduct for reporting on children's issues. In a series of consultations with media from all over the world, UNICEF will collaborate with the IFJ and the Committee on the Rights of the Child to prepare and adopt final draft guidelines for media reporting on children's issues.
These are just a few of UNICEF's planned media and multi-media activities for children.
Morten Giersing
Director
Division of Communication
UNICEF (H-9F)
New York, New York 10017
USA
Children's Express, UK/USA
Imagine a youth club whose focus is journalism rather than football. A place where inner-city kids are given the chance to tackle issues like: why teachers can turn a blind eye to drugs, why suicide is the second biggest cause of young deaths or why Ecstasy is something to die for.
Children's Express began life in the back room of a brownstone house in New York City in 1975. It was the home of Bob Clampitt, a former Wall Street lawyer and business entrepreneur, and a man who passionately believed that what children thought and said did matter. It was his dream to create a vehicle for children to report the news. As a first step he set up a magazine called Children's Express. But what began as a publication 'by children for children' in the living room of his house in Greenwich Village, very soon evolved into a news service that provided newspaper columns, articles, radio and television programmes across the United States.
Since then CE has gone on to be nominated for a Pulitzer Price, has won Emmy and Peabody Awards for its television coverage, published five books and held bi-annual symposia on young people and the media -- in the course of which the organisation has developed an enviable reputation as an objective source of youth views. There are now five bureaux in the States: Washington (the Foundation headquarters), New York, Indianapolis, Marquette and Oakland.
By children for everyone
Having heard about Children's Express, a group of journalists and TV producers ran a two-week pilot scheme in London in August 1994. Notices were put up in schools around the city, and 30 children were selected from 100 applicants. The main criterion was enthusiasm. Four teen editors from the New York bureau trained the London children and the final product was a double page spread in The Guardian in October 1994. Stephanie Williams, a journalist of 20 years, who helped run the pilot, was overwhelmed by how the young people worked and was struck by the fact that they were providing what was lacking in the media: the youth angle -- 'by children for everyone'. She decided that these kids could not be let down and started raising money to set up a London bureau. Children's Express UK celebrated its second anniversary in May this year.
Operating as a news agency
Children's Express reporters and editors research and report stories on subjects of their choice. They also accept commissions from newspapers and magazines. The organisation operates like a news agency by placing their stories in local, national and regional newspapers and magazines. CE's aim is to give young people the power and means to express themselves publicly on vital issues that affect them, and in the process to raise their self-esteem and develop their potential.
Children's Express targets children aged 8 to 18 from inner city areas, working with them after school, on Saturdays and during the holidays. The programme operates in two tiers. Younger children, aged 8 to 13, are the reporters, and are trained by the older children, aged 14 to 18, who also take responsibility for editing and overseeing the editorial activities. The ideal story team is five: three reporters and two editors. Every aspect of the story from interview, roundtable discussion to the debriefing afterwards, is tape-recorded. Not only does this mean that the programme is open to all, regardless of academic ability, but it guarantees accuracy and encourages literacy, organisation and writing well. In particular, it reinforces numerous aspects of the National Curriculum. It also increases children's self-confidence, develops curiosity and teaches them responsibility and citizenship.
From idea to publishing
The young people at Children's Express take an extraordinary degree of ownership into the process, from the initial story idea right through to seeing their names on the published article. But it is the process which is of the utmost importance. Publication is not a certainty; it is the cherry on the cake. The children run the reporters' board and the editors' board, determine which stories to follow, initiate research and interviews and work together in teams to realise their aims. They organise and run monthly meetings, quarterly training sessions in-house, and trainings for pilot schemes (two so far: one in Kent in February 1996 which did not develop into a bureau, and one in Newcastle in February 1997 which did), presentations and workshops. They are directly involved in the management of the programme: groups of kids sit on panels to interview shortlisted adult staff; they contribute to the on-going monitoring and evaluation of the programme; a team of young people have been instrumental in selecting the winners of a design competition which CE is running with students at the London College of Printing; their management proposals are put before the trustees on a regular basis.
Through CE, kids meet adults that they would normally never meet, discover things are not always what they seem and find out that if they do not take responsibility no one else will. They learn to see issues from someone else's point of view and to be persistent and assiduous. They also learn that many people are worse off than they are. The London bureau's first big scoop was published in May 1995 in The Independent -- an investigation on how easy it is for under-age children to buy Lottery tickets. CE covered the 1995 Labour Party Conference for Channel Four's 'First Edition' and investigated over-crowded classrooms for their 'Hands Up' programme. Since then, apart from producing a regular monthly piece for the Times Educational Supplement, they have covered the European Youth Parliament in Brussels for The Observer in May 1996, the BAFTA Children's Television Awards and the Childline Conference, produced a special edition of the Architects' Journal in October 1996 and made presentations at conferences run by Demos, BT Forum and Save the Children. CE members have also recently produced their first pre-recorded packages for radio which were commissioned by BBC Radio 5 Live, and 'fact-voice' presentations have been prepared for Liberty Radio and Radio 4.
Increasing demand
In the last two years, over 195 young people have been trained by CE teen editors and further recruitment is planned to roll out over the coming months. To date, Children's Express has worked on over 175 stories and published over 100 articles in the national press. They have reached over 50 million people through newspapers, on radio and television, and demand for their pieces is steadily increasing. Also during this period, CE has participated in seven television and six radio broadcasts, and has spoken at three conferences and covered seven others. In February 1997, Children's Express opened its first regional bureau, in partnership with the Save the Children Fund, on the Cowgate Estate in Newcastle. Here the focus is on a specific community where the children have virtually nothing on offer: no sports or leisure provision, no shops, no entertainment, no youth clubs, a school which is under threat of closing, and children with major literacy problems who are frequently excluded from school and who live in very difficult family situations. The pressure from the community and media is huge. Children are literally breaking into the building to be included in the programme.
Our aim is to open a further two bureaux in the UK by the year 2000 and then a further five. In this way it is our intention to improve the future prospects of thousands of children as well as to become Britain's first national news service producing news by young people.
Rowena Young
London Bureau Chief
Children's Express
Exmouth House, 3-11 Pine Street
London ECIR OJH, UK
Tel: +44 171 8332577
Fax: +44 171 278 7722
Participatory Techniques in Nepal [1]
This project combines participatory techniques for evaluation as well as for learning to use mass media. The sites are the Nagubahal and Guchibahal areas of the municipality of Lalitpur, Nepal. It combines the use of video, magazine and street drama. Under the Nepal/UK Partnership Scheme of The British Embassy in Nepal, funding for this project was provided to the DECORE Consultancy group to initiate the work and evaluate the results of the project, using participatory communication.
The idea behind the project is based on Thurnberg's Spiral of Interaction model (Windahl et al. 1992 p. 79) which says that when the communication function is fulfilled in a community, other functions are set in motion -- a spiral of increased identity, community, knowledge and action, enabling the group/community to reach its goals. This project shows how a participatory communication approach can help realise development goals.
DECORE worked with young people from different urban communities in Nepal. They let the young people express in their own terms the need of their communities and after attending communication classes arranged by DECORE these young participants were enabled to address local issues and problems through communication production. In one case, participants chose to address the issue of drug addiction and related social problems and express their ideas through the medium of video. Other participants chose to address the issue of conflicts in family relations through the medium of street drama.
DECORE has also carried out a participatory evaluation of the project to determine the extent to which the project as a whole has achieved its general objectives of attempting to test an existing theory, that is, whether participatory actions spirally lead to other community activities -- by discerning the attitudes and perceptions about the project and its activities among the participants themselves, their parents/relatives, community members, the persons and agencies involved in the project, or those who have a stake in it. Generally speaking the feedback has been positive.
Communication starts interactions
One main result of the project is that communication (interpersonal or mediatised) starts a 'spiral' of other interactions that can be oriented to forming a group attitude, or catalysing group action, or even merely ensuring the delivery of complete and relevant information. The project also makes heavy use of participatory communication techniques.
As a basic methodology of participatory communication, both the project and its evaluation techniques are replicable in other societies. Project managers and personnel will have to be extra sensitive to appreciate what can be adopted and what must be 'created' in the new contexts.
Ms Josefina O. Dhungana
Executive Director
DECORE
Development Communication and Research Consultancy Group
P.O. Box 4343, Kathmandu, NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 221 459
Note
1. Presentation of the project at the International Forum of Researchers, Youth and Media -- Tomorrow, April 21-25 1997, in Paris, France, organised by GRREM (Group de Recherche sur la Relation Enfants/Medias), as related in Carlos A. Arnaldo and Helle Jensen, Helping Young People Learn Media: a preliminary compilation of best practices. Paris: UNESCO, 1997, pp. 14-15.
Reference
Windahi, Sven, and Signitzer, Benno H., with Olson, Jean T. (1992) Using Communication Theory. An introduction to Planned Communication. London, Sage Publications.
Implementation of the UN CRC and the Role of Radio
In Salt River, South Africa, the Children's Resource Centre has set up a children's radio production group that regularly makes recordings for transmission on local community radio stations. In Senegal, Radio Gune-Yi is a radio show produced by young people broadcast weekly on the national radio airwaves. A similar children's radio show is produced and transmitted nationally in Guatemala. In North America the White Mountain Apache Tribe broadcasts its own youth magazine and in Australia another indigenous radio station also involves young people in production. What they all share is an interest in issues such as the environment, peace and basic human rights. What they all have in common is a recognition of the way radio can action at least two of those rights -- the freedom to hold and express an opinion and the right to access to the media.
Of all media -- print, television and the Internet -- radio excels in actioning and delivering those rights codified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. With an outreach that currently exceeds television by a ratio of ten to one in developing countries (500 million radio receivers to 50 million TV sets), low-cost operational requirements, an oral mode not dependent on literacy that can reflect indigenous culture, and also with an easily-mastered, simple technology, radio plays a key role in delivery of news and information, health messages, education provision and in the representation of diverse multi-cultural social groups. Radio drama (in the soap-opera edutainment format) now plays a crucial part in awareness-raising and conflict resolution in Afghanistan and Bosnia Herzegovina.
Communicators of tomorrow
In an increasing number of countries radio is now offering children and young people the opportunity of access and the chance to participate. For them, radio production training gives experience in teamwork and communication as well as a sense of community and citizenship. It is an effective vehicle for learning what the Convention on the Rights of the Child means to themselves and to others. An involvement in radio can also be a fast-track to understanding the responsibilities that are linked to rights.
Learning these skills builds confidence and self-esteem. It also demystifies and builds capacity for the communicators of tomorrow. Already the Internet is making it possible for those in countries beyond the perimeters of the developed world to have access. RealAudio is the key. News and information can be downloaded by online radio stations and sent on in the form of radio signal to stations that don't have computers. They in turn can radio back their own news and information to the "mother" station and have it uploaded to the Internet as RealAudio and made available to other stations around the world.
One World Online (http://www. oneworld.org/news/) is the organisation that is running the pilot project. Current plans include an online children's and youth radio news and information exchange. 1998 will see many youth radio groups in different parts of the world connect on the OneWorld website in an innovative development that will make children's views and voices accessible to all the world's radio broadcasters and go even further towards implementing those articles of the Convention that protect rights to hold and express an opinion and have access to the media.
Sarah McNeill
UNLIMITED Productions
P.O. Box 2041, Hove BN3 2EW
East Sussex, U.K.
e-mail: sarahmcneill@dial.pipex.com
Tel/Fax: + 44 I 273 724 948
Note
Established in 1994 as a consultancy specialising in radio production management and media project co-ordination, UNLIMITED Productions brings practical experience to new ventures in the field of human rights, child rights, radio in development and youth broadcasting.
Radio Gune-Yi, Senegal
Gune-Yi, meaning 'youth' in the Wolof language, is a production team which makes a 50 minute long weekly programme broadcast by children for children. The programme is aired on Senegalese national radio on AM and FM frequencies every Saturday at midday. It is funded by Plan International, has an expatriate advisor, Mimi Brazeau, and ties in with a popular young people's newspaper and Plan's child-sponsorship programme in Senegal. Its raison d'etre is that while 60 per cent of the population are children, only 15 per cent of programmes on the radio are child oriented. The team has five core staff and the show costs $70,000 a year.
The programme is recorded in villages around the country. Its format includes news; a guest of the week; "What do you want to know?" feature; "Grandma tell me a story"; "Young Reporter" feature with a child reporting on his or her village; "Did you know" describing issues affecting young people including health and the rights of the child; "Listen, I've got something to say," a young person's message addressed to parents, teachers or politicians; "Have you read?" suggestions on African and other authors. There are also exchanges between young people in Senegal and abroad, debates on controversial issues such as girls' education and child labour, recipes, everyday tips, and jokes.
Education by example
The programme intends to education by example, through a process of self-discovery and confidence building for children. Promotion of the child is also done through always having girl as well as boy presenters. A female sociologist goes to each venue before the recording and does a socio-economic and cultural survey of the area, to identify the pertinent issues effecting young people.
There are indications that about 500,000 children and as many adults listen every week. The national station gives the programme free airtime, and refers to it as one of its "flagship" projects. The press is supportive, as are phone calls and letters. The production team sees increasing confidence amongst girls, school attendance has increased, and some listeners' clubs have formed spontaneously.
Entertainment and high quality
Mary Meyers, development communications consultant, who has completed the first media monitoring survey commissioned by the ICHR (International Centre for Humanitarian Reporting) Radio Partnership as part of its ODA (Britain's Overseas Development Agency) funded Creative Radio Initiative, believes the success of the programme is due to its entertainment value and high quality. "There is no doubt", she concludes, "that Gune-Yi's format and ethos of allowing the young to speak for themselves and to grow in confidence as a result, is a great example for other radio stations in Africa and beyond".
Source
Message on May 15, 1997, from Gordon M. Adam, Deputy Editor of Crosslines Global Report, The Independent Newsjournal on Humanitarian Action, Development and World Trends, to the Creative-Radio Mailing List (radio@xlines.tiac.net).
Radio to Reach Young People in Denmark [1]
Polaroid is a catchy name that describes an attitude as well as a programme on radio that has caught the attention of a lot of young folk in Denmark. This documentary programme reflects upon young people's lives in the 1990s and seeks to lead listeners into the lives of others, to advise, to suggest, to learn. The programme has an open telephone line so that listeners can call Polaroid and participate actively on the spot and influence the debate and the development of the programme.
Polaroid aims particularly at 13-29-year-olds, although there is a slight bias to give more attention to 15-25 year-olds. The typical young listener of this radio programme has dreams about travelling around the world as a back-packer, he/she is a student, a so-called non-skilled worker trying just to earn some money, or he/she is young and unemployed receiving 'unemployment' money from the government. He/she has an attitude towards how the world ought to be organised but he/she would never dream of joining a political party or organisation. Polaroid addresses itself to young people who have an attitude towards themselves and the world they live in.
A voice for young people
Polaroid's objective is to influence the agenda setting for the debate about young peoples lives. The programme focuses on problems that have consequences for young people and gives voice to those who want to have a say on the subject. With its content, its debates and participating listeners, Polaroid aims at portraying young people's reality and to help those get back on the track that might have fallen by the wayside.
Danmarks Radio is a national public service radio and TV station. The radio has three programmes: P1, P2 and P3. Polaroid broadcasts on P1 every Tuesday from 2100h to 2400h. The people behind the production and the live programme of Polaroid are themselves young people of approximately the same age as their target group.
The tradition since 1973 has been that Danmarks Radio aims to ensure time for independent and 'free' voices. Polaroid also interacts with Go, a daily radio music programme broadcast from 1900h to 2100h for young people on P3 (known as the more entertaining programme) in the sense that just before Polaroid broadcasts on P1 on Tuesdays, Go mentions the content and the debate of 'this Tuesday's Polaroid' and plays spots from interviews that reflect the theme of the night. In this way Polaroid which is a serious, documentary and journalistic programme, is announced in the more entertaining music programme Go, which in effect brings Go's listeners to Polaroid.
Urgent issues
Among the kinds of issues Polaroid deals with is, for example, that the conflict between two groups of so-called Rockers -- Hells Angels and Bandidos -- has made public night-clubs and cafes unsafe places for young people to go to at night. Another example of Polaroid's debates is youth and unemployment. The programme goes behind postulates and myths such as: 'A young person can get a pistol in 3/4 of an hour', 'Young second generation immigrants are never allowed access to night clubs', 'You can buy anabolic steroids in any fitness or workout centre', 'A 15 year-old girl can easily buy alcohol in a bar at 4 o'clock in the morning', 'It is easy to obtain personal information about somebody with the help from a hacker'.
Polaroid also produces radio documentaries outside Denmark. Examples of subjects have been: Elections in England and the lack of participation from young people in politics; 'Rock the vote' project with rock groups such as 'Oasis' and 'Blur' who try to motivate the young people to participate; Why have young people lost belief in politics? How the young with their passivity indirectly influence the political future for Great Britain; Hip Hop band killings in USA; How young blacks from Ghettos are inspired by their idols to lead gang wars; Young Jewish men born and brought up in Denmark join the Israeli army to fight for their religious country. These documentaries are always followed up by a debate. Professionals are interviewed and listeners can call in and participate in the debate.
A special feature of Polaroid is the Diary. Polaroid arranges with someone who is facing a big change in his or her life, or has overcome a crisis or lived through a conflict with somebody, to talk about this experience. This is done outside the studio, on a tape recorder. The same procedure is used to 'illustrate' contrasts among young people in Denmark. For example, a young man in prison exchanges his life with an upper class young girl. He moves into her house and uses her car, and she goes to prison. Both are equipped with a tape recorder to reflect their views on the 'new' life.
Social awareness most important
The young people behind the production do not necessarily have to be professional journalists. It is more important that they have a social awareness. It is important, too, both for the form and the content of the programme that the producers are familiar with the subject matter and are ready to deal with the problems they will face. The fact that the producers and the hosts of the programme are also young, means that there is an understanding of and an almost 'automatic' sensitivity towards the problems, as well as towards the young persons who are reporting on their life situation in the documentaries. Style and content of the programme will automatically address the young listeners because there is a mutual understanding between the senders and the receivers of the messages in Polaroid.
A powerful medium
Young people with a desire to 'make radio' and with an urge to say something or tell a story to somebody, usually need only a basic introduction to making radio, to basic interview techniques, how to edit and how to prepare oneself as the host of the programme. That is enough for them to be able to produce a radio documentary programme and to be left with the responsibility of deciding the content of their programme and the broadcasting of it. The success of this programme also means that radio is still a powerful medium among the young in Denmark.
Michaela Krogh
Polaroid, Danmarks Radio
Rosenorns alle 22
2000 Frederiksberg C, DENMARK
Fax: +45-35-205 488
Note
I. Project as related in Carlos A. Arnaldo and Helle Jensen, Helping Young People Learn Media: a preliminary compilation of best practices. Paris: UNESCO, 1997, pp. 17-19.
French Pupils Produce Radio Programmes [1]
Ocean represents an approach using informatics to produce sound programmes for radio or cassette listening. Hypermedia radio uses narratives, music or sounds digitally stored on a computer. A simple programme gives access to the files and allows the 'editor' to match files, mix, add, remove or otherwise edit and eventually 'mount' his/her sound programme. This involves not only some basic skills in radio production but also in multimedia informatics (hypermedia) by means of computer. The project aims to encourage media education in schools, using hypermedia radio as pedagogical tool for educators and teachers, but also for students.
The Ocean project works with school children from 9-11 years old. Classes produce a 13-20 minutes' radio programme with music mix every day. Because of hypermedia technology, it is possible today to perform quality editing of a radio programme -- all sound cuts are digital. Artistry, of course, will depend on the ability of the children and of the guidance given by their monitor. The project has shown that the children, knowing they are 'on the air' with an audience listening, make an effort to structure their narration and to express themselves clearly. Thus it is also an exercise in written and oral presentation, and in this way one pedagogical objective is achieved.
Great enthusiasm and originality
The children have generally participated with great enthusiasm and originality. Like any project which is based on free expression it demands great investment (patience and time!) from the teacher, but the results often recoup well the effort invested.
Experiments in 1996-97 showed that children from 9-10 years were able to make a ten-minutes quality programme during a two and a half hours' work session. The children are completely autonomous in the use of the technology and the teacher/educator follows up as needed.
Pascal Jablonka
Responsible for Educational Informatics
Institut Universitaire Formation des Maitres (IUFM)
10, Rue Molitor
75016 Paris, FRANCE
E-mail: jablonka@paris.iufm.fr
Note
I. Presentation of the project at the International Forum of Researchers. Youth and Media -- Tomorrow, April 21-25, 1997, in Paris, France, organised by GRREM (Group de Recherche sur la Relation Enfants/Medias), as related in Carlos A. Arnaldo and Helle Jensen, Helping Young People Learn Media: a preliminary compilation of best practices, Paris: UNESCO, 1997, p, 16.
Introducing Children to Journalism and Media, Argentina [1]
This project is managed by a media specialist working through public schools in the region of Buenos Aires, interested in or wishing to offer media education for children and young people by facilitating their access to work with and reflect upon media. The project favours especially less well endowed schools in difficult and poor areas. When all these schools have been covered by courses and media exercises, the project will be ready to service other schools, including private sector schools, and in other regions.
The objective is to introduce a new media pedagogy in the public schools and thus create an atmosphere of curiosity, participation, and passion for knowledge, all with the possibility of expression through various media -- photography, newspapers, radio programmes, video and television. The project thus seeks to teach children that participation is possible, that nobody is unreachable even though it seems that they are far away, that their voices are worth listening to and thinking about.
The Co-ordination Centre works closely together with The General Directorate of Education of The City Council of Buenos Aires under the Secretary of Education. This co-operation has made it possible for the Centre to operate in 200 public schools in The Federal Capital of Buenos Aires, reaching in 1995 4,622 school children working on media projects.
Using media in learning situations
The Centre makes use of an important pedagogical innovation: a drastic change from the traditional pedagogical model to one based on student initiative and hands-on output. The Centre insists that the school as a social institution in today's information society needs to rethink it's role but at the same time recognises that the school provides a fundamental space for the development and education of the individual. The project attempts to meet that need by a process that introduces media in learning situations.
To do this, the project invites teachers and librarians to workshops to learn the production of graphic material, radio or audiovisual material and how to use these as a support or as a 'dynamiser' in the process of learning. The workshops concentrate on planning, communication, investigation, reflection upon the practice and the functions and the tools of each media. Afterwards each participant forms a group with pupils in his/her school. The workshop in the school makes it possible for the pupils to 'experience' journalism and media and to participate in working processes such as media criticism, finding sources, debates, selection of materials and the final editing of the broadcast. The workshop model and the media production thus creates active participation and a gratifying interaction between teachers and pupils.
In nine years, the Centre has organised more than 300 workshops in 200 schools. Over 250 teachers and 6,000 pupils were directly involved. The multiplier factor of this project has been very high over the nine years of the project, and could possibly be higher with additional technical equipment and human resources. The result is that several thousand young people now know how to prepare articles for a newspaper, make a radio programme, shoot a video and mount a television programme.
Silvia Bacher
Professor
The Co-ordination Centre for Journalism, Communication and Education
Bartolome Mitre 1249, Piso 50 , Of. 51
Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
Fax: +54 1 5522206
Note
1. Presentation of the project at the International Forum of Researchers, Youth and Media -- Tomorrow, April 21-25, 1997, in Paris, France, organised by GRREM (Group de Recherche sur la Relation Enfants/Medias), as related in Carlos A. Arnaldo and Helle Jensen, Helping Young People Learn Media: a preliminary compilation of best practices. Paris: UNESCO, 1997, pp. 10-11.
A Pedagogical Kit for Learning About Television, Brazil [1]
This project, the Telespectator's Educational Programme, offers school teachers practical materials to implement media education activities in their courses and thereby provide to young people, 10-16 years old, the opportunity to ask questions and to discuss television and it's messages.
The project is a result of fruitful cooperation between the University of Brazil where the programme has been carried out and the International Centre of the Child (CIE) which has participated in the design of the programme and has supplied the biggest part of the financing. A multidisciplinary team of professors and students from the University of Brazil has been developed over two years. The project has also received support from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Development which has offered initiation grants for the students who participated in the project.
Enthusiasm among the students
The principal pedagogical method is self-activity. The young students read the text material and watch visualised 'lessons' on video, allowing them to reflect upon and to discuss problem matters such as, e.g., violence in the media. They can elaborate on a subject and carry out activities that are proposed in the video and in the text material. Those activities are, e.g., writing poems and creating a theatre play. Experience so far has shown that self-activity works. In general the young students participate with enthusiasm in the proposed activities. One positive experience using this Telespectator self-activity approach has been with poor adolescents from Casa da Liberdade, an institution which receives young street people free of charge and offers them activities to complement their normal school.
The philosophy behind the project is that the integration of television in schools as a subject of study is as necessary as journalistic and literary texts are 'languages'. Apart from being a valuable pedagogical tool, television is another 'language', another means of expression which young students as television viewers should learn how to 'read' critically. This, in brief, is also the aim of the project.
In a first experiment, two hundred examples of the Kit were produced in 1992 at the university and they were sold out quickly. In 1995 a new edition has been prepared and two hundred and fifty new examples have been produced in order to respond to requests from educators. If this is as successful as early tests seem to indicate, the Kit should perhaps be produced in greater quantity, including an instructor's guide.
Maria Luiza Belloni
Rua Infantaria Dezasseis
52 Apto, 5 Dto
1350 Lisboa, PORTUGAL
Fax: +351 48 234 3617
Note
1. Presentation of the project at the International Forum of Researchers, Youth and Media -- Tomorrow, April 2 I -25 1997, in Paris, France, organised by GRREM (Group de Recherche sur la Relation Enfants/Medias), as related in Carlos A. Arnaldo and Helle Jensen, Helping Young People Learn Media: a preliminary compilation of best practices. Paris: UNESCO, 1997, pp. 12-13.