CTA’s 14th Brussels Briefing: woman bites dog or why media matter for rural development

At the Brussels Briefing # 14, organised by CTA on 12 October, a lively discussion on media and rural development took place. The debate was fed by contributions of a variety of panelists and a large crowd of participants from ACP countries. Why is there so little reporting done on regular media on issues concerning farmers and rural communities? Why do the media treat the food crisis as an urban issue? Can journalists partner with farmers, politicians, policy advocates and researchers in promoting rural development? What is the role of the new media and do ICTs contribute?

To prepare for this session the organiser CTA hosted a 4 weeks e-discussion. Susana Thorp from WREN gave a brief summary of the outcomes. First and foremost, Mrs. Thorp emphasized that participants hope that discussion actually leads to action. The e-debate focused on constraints faced by media on – conflicting - expectations of various stakeholders on new media and ICTs, and on support for enhancing media activities and building capacities. A summary of the e-debate is available here.

It was interesting to observe that at this Brussels Briefing the majority of panelist and quite a number of participants were female. Mrs. Tumi Makgabo, lead discussant and former CNN anchor stressed that in the world of media women have more barriers to overcome than men. But together with Mrs. Violet Otindo of K24TV in Kenya, winner of the CNN African Journalist Award, and all the other women participating in this debate she showed it can be done.

How do women overcome these barriers? Violet Otindo mentioned the importance of mentoring, but she said it should be used with care. For a journalist mentoring involves risks because it exposes you to political and commercial interests. Lack of resources and equipment are the major barrier according to her. She remarked that when you have no resources, everything takes more time. As a journalist you have to work smart and time management skills are essential. She feels that more recognition for the work of local African journalists is important, the big media houses should make more use of local journalists. Also support initiatives involving training and awards can be helpful.

Tumi Makgabo defined herself as a feminist with three-inch heels. You have to counter the way media portray women as a victim by acting like the opposite. She wants women to have a voice and she feels she can contribute more working as an independent journalist from Africa. She also illustrated how women seek to balance professional and private goals by telling how for her living in Africa as opposed to Atlanta serves both. As for the professional goals: Mrs. Makgabo stressed that with the new technologies Africans can tell stories about Africa: “we can tell our stories from any place now”.

In his keynote address CTA’s director Hansjörg Neun observed that media tend to report on the extraordinary – a man biting a dog is news, the reverse is not. Much of the messages on rural development do not seem to qualify as news. The first panel was lead by Tumi Makgabo of South Africa, a former anchor of CNN Inside Africa, now African Broadcasting and Media, and director of the African Women Development Fund. She introduced the panelists: Mr. Jean-Philippe Rapp who founded in 1985 the International North-South Media Forum, Mrs. Brave Nsidale, Ambassador of Malawi, Mr. Ignatius Jean, Representative of IICA and former minister of Agriculture of St. Lucia, Mr. Thozi Gwanya, Director General of the Department of Land Reform in South Africa and Mrs. Krishendaye Rampershad, media consultant based in Trinidad.

Ms. Rampershad emphasized that it is important to differentiate: are we talking high tech corporate media or low tech community based. She felt the latter to be very powerful in serving development objectives. To those wishing to communicate messages to rural populations Ms. Rampershad had a clear advice: talk normal! Extension people have to be communicators and not talk science. Mr. Gwanya felt that media systematically ignored rural people and their interests. Mr. Jean of IICA observed that technical people in agriculture and media may not understand or like each other but they do need each other. In the Carribean Mr. Jean has observed that ICTs and the participatory information sharing they enable, have dismantled monopolies. He also emphasized that new partnerships emerge; in the oral, musical community of the Carribean the power of songs and the influence of musicians can support our communication for agriculture. Jean-Philippe Rapp commented on Hansjörg Neun’s example but he argued that the current food insecurity and plague of hunger is indeed a case of “man bites dog” and considered quite newsworthy. He observed a sincere interest among media for agriculture, but there is also a shift, he noted: media look for testimonies, there is less interest for the stories of the experts.

After the contributions of the panelists Ms. Makgabo opened the debate and the floor. She challenged the panelists: if people continue to buy tabloids that pay no attention to issues and needs of rural people, who are we to question these priorities? Ms. Rampershad emphasized that you may see this disconnection in public and corporate media, but in community driven media agendas are set differently. Mr. Rapp emphasized that agriculture is not a difficult or grateful subject but you need to tell the story with passion and in original, authentic language.

In the ensuing debate the focus was on the relations between the various stakeholders. There is often antagonism between politicians and media but participants also commented on how scientists are suspicious of journalists and vice versa. You can remove that suspicion by talking about the differences and the different roles, looking for common ground. Specific, deliberate and focused education initiatives may help to bridge the gap between what media (thinks it) needs and what the industry needs and what both sides can do.

Ms. Protz, the coordinator of CARIMAC, noted that few agriculture ministries actually do have a communication strategy. She observed that the media coverage of the climate change issue was not lead by journalists but by communities, the corporate and public media enlisted later in the process. Maureen Agena of the Women of Uganda Network questioned the role of (urban) journalists: how do you report on something you are not involved in? WOUGNET works with citizen journalists, women reporting on their own problems. Other participants questioned whether these citizen journalists had the skills and ethics to communicate responsibly.

More information on this briefing and earlier editions are available on the website of the Brussels Development Briefings and - in French - Briefings sur le Développement à Bruxelles

To get regular updates subscribe to the Euforic English language newsfeed for the Brussels Briefings or to the French language newsfeed at Briefings à Bruxelles

More on EU cooperation with ACP countries is available in the corresponding Euforic newsfeed on EU-ACP cooperation. Euforic also has a newsfeed on information, knowledge and communication. Visit the CTA website for more on agriculture and rural development in ACP countries.

Next Brussels Development Briefing on rural development and the media

The next Brussels Development Briefing will be held on 12th October 2009 (14h30 – 18h30) on the role of the media in rural development.

We will discuss the need to mainstream media in development and increase donor’s attention to media as well as the challenges the journalists and media specialists face when addressing agricultural and rural development issues in their work. We will try to find more on how media can better serve rural communities in ACP countries. This Briefing will be part of the 25th Anniversary events of CTA and we will have with us prominent policy-makers and media specialists sharing with us their experience and views on these issues.

For the programme and registration form, please check http://brusselsbriefings.net/.

Earlier Brussels Briefings looked at
'Upgrading to compete in a globalised world: What opportunities and challenges for SMEs in agriculture in ACP countries?','The Role of Livestock for ACP countries: challenges and opportunities ahead', ' Meeting Food Safety Standards: Implications for ACP agricultural exports', 'Fighting against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU): Impacts and challenges for ACP countries', 'Land access and rural development: New challenges, new opportunities', 'How does international migration affect ACP rural development?', 'Rising food prices: an opportunity for change?', 'New drivers, new players in ACP rural development', 'Does Fair Trade contribute to sustainable development?', 'The climate challenge for ACP agriculture', 'Aid for Trade', 'Advancing African Agriculture' and 'Challenges to rural development in ACP countries.'

Sign up for the Brussels Briefing newsfeed; see also the Euforic newsfeed on rural development and media

Communicating Europe's development efforts, to or with citizens?

At yesterday's seminar in Paris, one of the workshops was on ways that European aid is being addressed and communicated.

Nathalie Lhayani from euractiv.fr shared some journalistic perspectives from this network/agency on the issue “how to create a public space [on Europe and solidarity issues] so democratic life can come alive and citizens can participate in it.” She explained how euractiv works through a network of partners in different EU countries where the members help to ‘localize’ European issues into national frameworks. She saw the role of euractiv as a sort of agency that reaches citizens via other intermediary channels, like civil society, mainstream media, employers, etc. In her experience, the best way to put European issues on the agenda is not to give them a European focus, but to place information on Europe inside other sectoral contexts or issues.

Agnès Philippart from CONCORD reflected on the challenges of tracking and placing European development news into the media. While complimenting the European Commission for its recently renewed communication activities, she concluded that there is not enough ‘cooperation in communication’ with information scattered across numerous locations. After three hectic days in the recently-ended European Development Days, she concluded: “Europe is not sexy when you sell it under a European label” – reinforcing Natahlie’s take home message. Note: One effort CONCORD has launched is to foster a ‘communication network’ among its national platforms and networks – see a blog set up at its recent meeting in Brussels.

Euforic’s Peter Ballantyne updated participants on ways that emerging ‘social media’ are empowering citizen to citizen communication. He argued that while the ‘European’ development community and its activities need to be better communicated, and can use many innovative tools to better connect with citizens, the real revolution is perhaps at the level of citizens and citizens’ groups who are already meeting and discussing online – and sharing actions – on many aspects of development and solidarity.

While communicating ‘to’ citizens is an important part of a ‘responsible’ Europe; communication by and among citizens, as the new social media increasingly allows, is a vital way that citizens can become more responsible for the impacts of their own actions, and mobilizing to take actions.

He concluded that the challenges for communicators of a responsible ‘Europe’ include:

• Realizing that citizens (and ‘experts’) increasingly communicate and share among themselves. The question is ‘how do we join them?’
• Finding ways for social actors like NGO’s to create opportunities – and issues – around which conversations can take place, on the issues we care about. This is something like trying to create very infectious ‘viruses’ that citizens will discuss and spread, and act upon.
• Ensuring that information and content is open and friendly to social and web 2.0 enabled, so it can ‘flow’ across platforms, across organisations, and across communities. The information needs passports to travel and blue cards to migrate.
• Going where the communities, citizens and users (already) are; using their tools, engaging on their terms, learning to ‘let go’ and to give up control.

Reflecting on the day’s discussions, in the train from Paris to The Hague, some final thoughts include:

• Several times, people argued that the citizens need to be thought of as development ‘players’ and actors not as beneficiaries or consumers. Yet we still talked much in the media session on ‘getting’ Europe into media that will reach citizens.

• As social media gain momentum, we will have increasing need for intermediary services, such as journalists and other platforms, to help guide and inform citizens and discussions. Lots more information and choice can be empowering, it also has the potential to lead to greater confusion.

• It is as important that we have awareness and education of what the citizens and their countries are doing in development – not just what ‘Europe’ (the EU) is doing. There seems to be growing divide between very dynamic action-oriented local initiatives and what are perceived to be rather static public/national/Europe efforts.

• Which begs the question: Who is the ‘Europe’ that needs to be communicated in and with the media? Is it the ‘Brussels’ communities and their concerns and policies that need to reach citizens, and which often seems to be unexciting to journalists and citizens alike? Or is it the activities of citizens who comprise Europe, who are increasingly the ones taking actions and engaging in cooperation, and who may actually have the stories that journalists and politicians seek? In both cases, and both are needed, the communication opportunities will be different.

by Peter Ballantyne

See euforic newsfeeds on public support for development; french development cooperation, EU cooperation; and information and communication

European Development Days: A rough guide

The European Development Days (EDD08) are underway in Strasbourg with over 55 events crammed into 3 days, a development village of 116 stands and over 1000 participants. Tracking everything that is happening is a little difficult, but here is your quick guide (or try the full programme).

The key themes fall into six areas:

• Media and Development
• Decentralised cooperation
• Development cooperation new issues
• Local governance
• Millenium Development goals
• Youth and education

Bernard Petit introduces the concept and the background to the meeting.

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As part of the events on Media and Development the Lorenzo Natali Grand Prize for 2008 was awarded to Larisse Houssou, a journalist from Benin, for his article on Darfur entitled "Trained to kill...".

Media and development has been a key part of the whole meeting with numerous teams reporting on the event, both European broadcasters such as TV5monde and African journalists supported by CTA.

A series of parallel panel discussions have focussed on the role of the media and development and Tumi Makgabo an indepent producer, who worked with Inside Africa for CNN had some interesting insights to share.

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Decentralised cooperation discussions and events have covered the twinning of towns from Europe with those in developing countries. Mayors from around the world exchanged experience of local development activities through international networks. The development village contains stands from a number of regions in europe with development activities around the world. The President of the mayoral association of francophone africa and a Mayor from Cameroon tell more on euforic.blip.tv.

New issues for development cooperation came to the fore as the plenary focussed on the impact of the global financial crisis. The challenges were matched by the opportunities for development apparent on the myriad of stands from organisation working with development who all had a story to tell of succesful results or promising projects. Some euforic members give their examples.

Local governance and the role of new actors, was tackled in a parallel session organised by EDC2010 with discussions on the role of new countries working in Africa dominating the debate.

Progress towards the Millenium Development Goals was reviewed in the session "Where do we stand and where do we need to go?"
Engaging youth in the event has been more a part of the event than in previous years, with a young reporters team from Plan International covering the event and YARD Young Ambassadors for Rural Development.

You can hear more from Plan International and the Global Donor Platform about this project on euforic.blip.tv.

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