Bulletin No 2, 29 November 1999
PressWise in at the start of the Oslo Challenge
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Norwegian Government and UNICEF launched the Oslo Challenge on 20 November, calling on governments, media professionals and children’s organisations to devote more attention to the role the media plays in the life of the world’s children.
PressWise played an active part in the process leading up the Challenge and in the two day workshop which has set priorities for the next decade – which include increasing awareness about children’s rights among media professionals, improving media literacy programmes, and developing more imaginative methods of participation by children in media processes.
Children, Violence and the Media
EC backs new PressWise/IFJ training project
Contracts have now been signed between PressWise and the EC to develop training materials for journalist/trainers around the theme of children and violence. Working with the Ethics Council of the NUJ and through the IFJ in France, Spain and the Czech Republic, PressWise hope to develop a pack of training materials which can be used in colleges and as part of in-service training. The one year pilot project, funded under the DAPHNE Initiative, will attempt to increase awareness of the experience of traumatised children, and to encourage journalists themselves to examine the impact of covering violence upon themselves.
Radiocracy (25-27 November)
PressWise has been represented at the international radio conference in Cardiff by Sarah McNeill, former BBC children’s radio producer, who is now developing training materials for PressWise courses as part of our work on coverage of children affected by conflict.
Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and the Media
Project co-ordinator Nick Cater has been in Brussels expanding PressWise contacts with refugee organisations across Europe, and discussions are underway with Diversity-Online to promote ways of assisting refugee groups to obtain fairer coverage in the media, and helping journalists gather more accurate information.
Also
PressWise is currently assisting in a number of complaints about stories in the News of the World, the Sunday Times, and several local newspapers.
PressWise Director Mike Jempson addresses journalism students at London’s City University on Tues 30 November.