Social Media give Haiti Victims a voice

The Guardian reports on the importance of social media in disaster situations:

With many of the official lines of communication down, user-generated content played an important role yesterday in spreading news about the Haiti earthquake. Social media partly made up for the lack of information from the affected area on what had happened and what was most needed.

Twitterfeeds gave an impressive picture of the ongoing earthquake, and the Guardian's live blog on the rescue mission used social media as well as information from other news organisations. The BBC also covered the event combining tweets from the area with the work of its reporter Matthew Price in Port-au-Prince.

However, the news organisation with the most material on the quake at present looks to be CNN. It has seven reporters on the ground – but is still significantly enriching their work with social media.

68 Journalists killed in 2009

At least 68 journalists worldwide were killed for their work in 2009, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) annual census.

The highest ever number recorded by the yearly report, the number of deaths in 2009 rose steeply after 31 media workers, including 29 journalists, were killed in the Philippines last month.

Other fatalities were the result of neglect or mistreatment during imprisonment for work-related charges and revenge attacks carried out by the subjects of investigative stories."This has been a year of unprecedented devastation for the world's media, but the violence also confirms long-term trends," says Joel Simon, CPJ executive director.

The new figures represent a 60 per cent rise in the death toll from the 42 deaths recorded in 2008. All but two of the victims in 2009 were local journalists and nine were freelancers, according to the census.

WACC calls media to action on International Migrants Day

On International Migrants Day, 18 December, WACC is calling on communication organizations and networks to take action to ensure that migrants, refugees and displaced people’s voices are heard. It urges media professionals to ensure that migrants and their needs are represented and reported in a fair and balanced manner consistent with their right to speak and be heard.

Broadcasters and Climate Change

Broadcasters from around the world have joined forces to combat climate change, acknowledging their essential role as opinion influencers and urging the industry to set quantifiable targets for a reduced carbon footprint.

Participants representing around 1000 broadcasters agreed upon the "The Paris Declaration on Broadcast Media and Climate Change," which will strengthen regional and international collaboration, and encourage production and dissemination of audiovisual content to give a voice to marginalized populations affected by climate change.

Delegates at the first ever UNESCO Broadcast Media and Climate Change conference in Paris (France) on 4-5 September came together to consider a global consensus on climate change, and to facilitate the use of materials between developing and developed country broadcasters.

Youth Engagaing with the World

UNESCO has once again joined hands with its long-standing partner, the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media based at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, to publish the 2009 Yearbook Youth Engaging with the World: Media, Communication and Social Change.

The Yearbook contains a series of articles, written by qualified scholars from different regions of the world, on the impact of media and communication on young people as driving forces of social change. Noting the increasing exposure of young people to media and ICT, the publication highlights the importance of media and information literacy as a prerequisite for their empowerment. It seeks to explore theoretical assumptions as well as empirical evidence of media and information literacy in action. The book also analyzes the many ways in which the youth use these tools for entertainment and informational purposes, for social networking and mobilisation, and for knowledge sharing.


Click here to obtain the book from the Clearinghouse.

Internet censorship at the UN Internet Governance Forum

Video of Ronald Delbert at the Internet Governance Forum in Egypt explaining the reach of internet censorship. Ironically UN security demanded the removal of a poster promoting a book (to which he had contributed) by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) entitled Access Controlled. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8361849.stm

Human Rights and Catholic Community Radio in Africa

At the African Synod of Bishops in Rome the following intervention was made by
H. Exc. Mons. George Cosmas Zumaire LUNGU, Bishop of Chipata, President of the Episcopal Conference (ZAMBIA)

We have seen justice and peace commissions established in almost all our parishes and even in some Small Christian Communities (SCC). These commissions are making a huge difference in helping our Christians to make informed interventions in social matters. In part, because of the work of these justice and peace commissions, the Catholic Church, in Zambia, is considered by Catholics and non-Catholics as an institution that is credible and consistent in the promotion of human rights.

We have also been blessed in the area of social communications where we now have Catholic Community Radio stations in all but one of our ten dioceses. The radio stations are playing a big role in our evangelizing mission, such as the promotion of good governance and civic education. Rural communities, where illiteracy is very high, are now finding their voice, freely articulating their faith on radio on matters of justice in their own communities. Most of our radio stations also routinely make space for non-Catholics.

However, we are not complacent. We are aware that we have numerous challenges. For instance, like other countries blessed with mineral resources, we have multinational corporations in our country who have shown very little interest in promoting the welfare of our people, especially in the extractive industries like the mining sector. This sector is impacting negatively on the environment. For this reason Zambia is hosting a big international meeting on the impact of extractive industries on poor countries soon after this Synod concludes.

Furthermore, we are greatly challenged by the impact of poverty on the environment. For example, poverty is leading to wanton destruction of forests through charcoal burning and unsustainable cultivation methods. As a Church we need to come up with ways of mitigating this situation. I wish to urge, therefore, that this Synod makes a clear and strong statement on our concerns regarding issues of environmental justice as a contribution to the upcoming Copenhagen Conference on the Environment.