Regional Programs: Training
Child Rights .
Public Health (in particular HIV/AIDS) . Environment
. Gender and Social Justice . Archive
Regional Training Courses
14.
Barbados, November 1992
Theme(s) Outcomes of UNCED and the NGO Forum in Rio, within the context of the sustainable development of the Caribbean.
Length 3 days.
Target Group
Caribbean media practitioners (mid-level), representing all media.
Objectives
To provide participants with: a greater appreciation of the vital role of the media in promoting sustainable development; increased awareness of major environmental issues; techniques and guidelines to facilitate the incorporation of environmental stories in print, broadcast and other forms of media productions.
To identify a core of Caribbean journalists who will contribute regularly to Caribbean fact sheets on environment and development; and establish networking and interaction among them, through a series of team exercises.
Context
In collaboration with CCA, seminar was first planned for 15 journalists to take place immediately preceding the CCA Annual General Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago (August 1992), or immediately following the TV managers seminar in Jamaica (July 1992, see above).
Participants
10 participants from 6 countries: 5 from print, 3 govt. info service reporters (one TV and 2 print) and 2 radio reporters.
Female/ Male Ratio: 5/5.
Working Methodology and Activities
Lecture-style presentations and panel discussions were combined with participatory exercises that required the journalists to work in small groups (one and a half day). The participatory exercises were a very important and integral element of the presentations. A half-day field trip was conducted to a site proposed for golf course development. Subsequently half a day was spent preparing stories that would combine environmental with developmental information. The final half-day was devoted to presenting and critiquing the articles produced and (orally and written) evaluating the seminar.
Presentations were conducted by representatives of CAMWORK, CARICOM, PAHO, UWI Women in Development, and the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, CARIMAC and CANA.
Documentation Used
Elaborate announcement was distributed in advance. Further papers were distributed during the workshop.
Results
Several articles were published: e.g. Desiree Fillip of the Daily Nation wrote on "Journalists get lessons on environment" (11/17/92); Dawn Morgan in the Barbados Report wrote about Pesticides (11/19/92).
The creation of the Caribbean Environmental Reporters Network (CERN) was a very significant result of the workshop. CERN became based at the CCA offices.
Evaluation by Participants
All ten participants rated the seminar "very useful". Many participants felt, however, that the amount of information covered was almost overwhelming and the seminar should either have had fewer sessions or lasted longer. Many would have liked to have examined specific issues or case studies in more depth. There was insufficient time for researching and writing stories.
Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Introduction of a senior journalist as a resource person throughout the seminar is very useful, because journalists are keen on improving their skills. Also the participatory exercises were great success (although "writing by committee" was difficult).
Introductions by NGO representatives were found very useful. CCA
and PANOS therefore, should focus on facilitating NGO/media encounters
in future meetings of CERN and others.
14. St. Michael, Barbados, 16-18 November 1992. CCA/Panos
Regional seminar for journalists on the "Role of the
Journalist in the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean".
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) and the Global NGO Forum, both held in June
1992, received very little media coverage in the region.
Reasons for this limited coverage include: a lack of
understanding on the part of journalists of its global,
regional and national significance; and a lack of information
from governments and NGOs flowing to the media about
these events. These two reasons are interrelated since
even the information on UNCED that had been sent to
journalists has been of little use, due to their lack
of capacity to understand and analyze it. Only half
of the journalists participating in this seminar had
some prior understanding of "the UNCED process".
The participants displayed a high level of commitment
and enthusiasm. They had quite varying levels of knowledge
of environment and development issues. For some of the
participants, this was a first exposure to "environmental"
reporting. All understood though the need to look at
social, cultural, ecological and developmental issues
in a holistic and interconnected way.
The attendance was lower than expected, and turnout
by Barbadian journalists was disappointingly low. Prior
to the seminar, fourteen journalists and three NGO participants
had confirmed their attendance. Although NGOs had not
been targeted for this seminar, several NGO representatives
had requested the CCA to attend the meeting, and this
was approved. However, all of the NGO representatives
and four of the confirmed journalists did not show up.
A central tenet throughout the seminar was the participatory
exercises. Three exercises were used and they worked
very well. The first exercise was designed to test the
ability of participants to make connections of environment
and development issues. Participants were divided into
groups of three and given fifteen minutes to identify
the potential social and environmental impacts of an
economic/developmental activity: the construction of
a hotel on a reclaimed mangrove swamp.
The second participatory exercise was designed to
help the journalists explore different approaches to
reporting on environment and development. The participants
self-selected into groups of 3 and were asked to outline
a story based on the hypothetical situation presented
in the first exercise. The groups had to provide rationales
for the chosen approaches and angles. The plenary was
then encouraged to brainstorm other ways in which the
stories could have been presented for maximum impact.
The third exercise was an oral evaluation which consisted
of asking the participants to complete the following
sentences:
The most significant thing to me in this programme
was_________________.
What I intend to do (apply) on the job as a result
of this course is _________________.
I now see or understand that__________________.
Participants were encouraged to co-author articles
with journalists from islands other than their own.
This was done to further encourage the establishment
of collegial relations among journalists of the region,
as well as for the very practical reason that only few
computers and typewriters were available to the participants.
While no session of this seminar was designed to look
solely at the obstacles that working journalists face
in reporting on environmental issues, this topic arose
on a number of ocassions during the discussions. The
participants stressed the difficulty of getting certain
issues past their editors and producers. Another constraint
to reporting on environment and development issues that
journalists identified was the limited access to regional
information. The control of the media by governments
and lack of finances was mentioned also.
The enthusiasm of participants resulted in the formation
of a Caribbean network of environmental journalists,
with as goal to: (1) raise public awareness of environment
and development issues in the Caribbean; (2) enhance
the flow of information about regional and international
development issues among Caribbean journalists to facilitate
a higher standard of reporting; and (3) joint media
productions on environment and development. The Caribbean
Conservation Association (CCA) has agreed to provide
the logistical support necessary for the functioning
of the network.
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