Regional Programs: Training
Child Rights .
Public Health (in particular HIV/AIDS) . Environment
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Regional Training Courses
19.
Jamaica, June 1994
Theme(s) HIV/AIDS production course.
Length 2 weeks full-time.
Target Group
Senior media practitioners in the leading media houses (radio, TV and print) from those Caribbean countries which are hit hardest by the disease (HIV/AIDS), and which had not been represented in the first production course (1993).
Objectives
To raise awareness among Jamaican and Caribbean journalists of their role in providing information to the public on AIDS/HIV and related health issues.
To increase their knowledge of the facts on AIDS and STDs.
To sensitize them to the necessity of giving the Caribbean people in-depth coverage of scientific research in order to foster broader public debate on critical health issues, such as AIDS/HIV.
To train in responsible reporting on AIDS/HIV issues and to improve media coverage of these topics.
Context
The 1993 and 1994 production courses are part of a project to improve the coverage of AIDS/HIV topics by Caribbean media. Content analysis research on three countries has been done by CARIMAC.
Participants
13 from 11 countries: 5 print, 4 radio, 4 TV.
Female/ Male Ratio: 9/4.
Working Methodology and Activities
Production workshop with lecture-style presentations by 9 resource persons, some small groups activities during the first three days. Production during the following five days, including regular meetings with resource persons from each medium. Final two days were to review products and evaluation.
Activities were implemented along the lines of the 1993 HIV/AIDS Production course. Additionally, there was a person with AIDS in the workshop and this session proved to be essential: it provided material for a number of final products.
Documentation Used
Large amount: Panos dossier "The Hidden Cost of AIDS", examples public awareness material, ILPES Proyecto La Sala, statistics, KAP studies, transcripts of talks, newspaper clippings, journal articles, description of first libel suit, listing of videos and posters, CAREC AIDS Window, Panos briefing, WorldAIDS, WHO Guide, discussion papers, etc.
Results
A committed and informed group of Caribbean health journalists.
Media productions, to be taken home by the participants for publication/ broadcasting.
Development of professional working contacts between journalists and sources of information.
Follow-up stories in the media in the various countries.
A Panos media fellowship was awarded.
Evaluation by Participants
Two-thirds of the participants indicated that they found the workshop useful, one-third that it was very useful. All of the participants felt that their objectives in attending the course were met.
Pre- and post-tests were administered, like in the first production workshop.
About sixth months after the workshop, a survey was done to gauge the short-term impact of the workshop. This included request for copies of clippings and programmes.
Lessons Learned and Recommendations
The awarding media fellowship may have helped to raise standard of productions and should be part fo future Panos production workshops.
Practical activities should be combined with lecture-style presentations. There should be room for more discussion about possible issues and angles for coverage by media (presenters could be routinely asked to highlight issues on which they think journalists might focus).
A next training activity should specifically target the media managers.
The idea for a journalist handbook on HIV/AIDS should be pursued.
19. Kingston, Jamaica, 18 June - 2 July 1994. CARIMAC/CAREC/Panos
Regional Production Course: Responsible reporting on
HIV/AIDS.
This workshop was a follow up to the 1993 workshop
on Responsible Reporting on HIV/AIDS, which was also
jointly planned and facilitated by the Caribbean Institute
of Mass Communications (CARIMAC), the Caribbean Epidemiology
Centre (CAREC), and Panos. The workshop was modelled
after the previous year's, with nine resource persons
from various disciplines and background. The evaluation
of course one had indicated gaps, which were filled,
such as a presentation on the economic impacts of HIV
in the region.
Fourteen participants were invited, but one had to
cancel at the last minute, which was too late for a
replacement. With the exception of Jamaica and Barbados,
the participants came from countries other than those
which were represented at the first workshop. Participants
came from leading media houses or production units.
In some instances (very small countries), Government
Information Services were invited. Senior TV journalists
were scarce and it was decided to set up one TV team
of 4 people instead of the initially planned two teams
(of 3 each).
The completed products were reviewed by a panel of
lecturers, experts and journalists during the final
two days of the course. Overall judgement was on content,
style and techniques. It was commonly agreed that all
participants had applied their recently acquired knowledge
and insight into HIV/AIDS into good productions. Participants
went home with publishable and broadcastable products.
A new feature was the awarding of a Panos Fellowship
to Judith Lewis of the Jamaica Herald for the best production
coming out of the workshop. The fellowship entailed
access to a travel budget of US$1,000 for international/regional
research on HIV/AIDS resulting in media products.
The participation of one HIV-infected person as resource
person and interviewee was very important. In the context
of a hostile and aggressive public opinion on the issue,
this commitment was very exceptional. While facilitators
were able to encourage more journalist participation
in the discussions than during the first course, the
dynamic of resource persons having debates among themselves
persisted, though to a much lesser extent than during
the previous one.
This workshop is the sixth journalists training workshop
on HIV/AIDS that was held in the Caribbean and a number
of reporters have been exposed to the issue. However,
it was pointed out repeatedly that lack of commitment
by managers and editors to the issues is one of the
major obstacles to increased reporting on HIV/AIDS.
Therefore, the next training activity on HIV/AIDS in
the Caribbean should specifically target media managers.
This activity could be a one day meeting, and possibly
dovetailing with another meeting of media managers,
such as the CBU meetings.
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