• Commonwealth:
• News:
• News Archive Search:
• Putting Development in the Media Spotlight

Putting Development in the Media Spotlight

24 June 2004

The need for journalists to report more actively on development issues was highlighted at a workshop in New Delhi, India, on 'Reporting Development: The Media and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)', held from 14 to 20 June 2004.

These United Nations goals focus on eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases by 2015. The aim also includes ensuring environmental sustainability, and building a global partnership for development. Journalists and communications specialists from Botswana, India, Namibia, Seychelles and Uganda came together at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in New Delhi to discuss how the media can support efforts to achieve the MDGs.

One focus of the workshop was the media's role in holding governments, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to account on pledges, such as the MDGs, that they have signed up to. Another was to address the practical problems journalists face in reporting on development processes. 

Participants debated and discussed the relevance of the MDGs to their own countries' developmental needs, and examined a range of approaches to reporting effectively on the achievement of development goals. Speakers presented examples of both mainstream and alternative forms of media and journalism. They emphasised the importance and effectiveness of writing 'success stories' as well as documenting problems and failures in development processes.  The workshop was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the IIMC. Funding was provided by the Commonwealth Media Development Fund, with support from the Government of India.  

Dr B P Sanjay, Director of the IIMC, said, "This workshop was in response to the overall concern in many countries, especially the so-called developing countries, about the mass media being completely swamped by commercialism and whether there should be more space devoted to development stories. It was with this objective that we decided to examine the MDG framework and identify ways of involving mass media in the development arena." 

Participants were introduced to reliable sources of information for news-gathering. There was also debate on the term 'development journalism' and its definition. 

Jean Sutherland from 'The Namibian' newspaper said, "I initially did not want to come to the workshop -- it sounded too technical and I wondered how media-related it really was. However, I'm extremely glad I came. The debate has been vibrant, I've made friends with many different people, and what I have gained from the workshop will enrich the news gathering process at my newspaper. Among the other positive aspects is that we will collaborate on exchanging stories which have universal appeal."

Another participant, Jemina Robert, a journalist with Nation Publishing, Seychelles, said, "It was useful and thought-provoking. I've been inspired on how to write a development story with a human face on it. Earlier I wrote more on government policies and political stories. We never got to the ground to see how people were living or what their health was like. I now hope to make a difference in our communities with my writing, and motivate them to do things for themselves." 

The outcomes of the workshop included strategies to market development stories to editors and readers. New approaches to development stories and conceptual frameworks on how issues could be addressed were determined.

"It was a very good workshop overall because of the range of people that participated -- young and senior journalists as well as academics. As a result, we had different perspectives on the role of media in development. Another good thing is that there is going to be some follow-up. We have to go back and write a story on development issues and for those who have never written such a story it might be a crucial start," said Bernard Tabaire from 'The Monitor', Uganda.