One World Media: Using the international development
London is a global news hub but coverage of international events is still focused on celebrities and sport. One World Media, a London-based charity, aims to tackle this.
In Scoop, author Evelyn Waugh’s satire of the newspaper industry, he says “News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read.” And although he wrote the novel in 1938, his point still applies.
The best selling newspaper in the UK is The Sun, which sells nearly 3million copies, and the most viewed newspaper website is the Daily Mail. Both focus on soaps, celebrities and sport.
The media should have a more positive influence.
But some sections of the media are fighting back. One World Media is a charity who promote positive representations of the developing world in the media.
This, they hope, will play a role in promoting democracy and fair government, improving living standards and conditions, as well as understanding of the developing world.
To do this they work with established journalists (mainly through a major award cermony) and up-and-coming hacks. 2011 saw the second annual One World Media Week.
One event, New Talent Day, had experienced journalists give advice to aspiring ones. Dominique Young, a commissioning editor at Al Jazeera told the audience that the commissioning editors “don't look at issues per se, we look at the wider stories within this".
Nadine Ghouri, a successful freelance journalist emphasised that getting commissioned is “All about access and a strong central character". Another golden piece of advice from Nadine. “A TV listings guide uses 150 characters; your pitch must be that short so the editor can see how it will play”.
The flagship event is the annual awards to celebrate coverage of the developing world. This year, the awards were presented by newsreader Jon Snow (below) with the Minister of State at our Department for International Development in attendance - they get some big names along.
Winners included Lindsey Hilsum, who was named Journalist of the Year; the team behind the documentary Blood, Sweat and Luxuries, and Press Award winner Real Life Inside Helmand, by the Guardian's Jonathan Steele.
They don't just reward the UK's journalists. The Special Award winnerwas the radio programme ShujaazFM, a Nairobi-based multimedia project reaching out to youth across Kenya through twitter, comic books and radio drama.
Reading these articles or watching and listening to these programmes, it's clear that there are challenging, exciting stories to be reported and that can make a big difference to how the UK perceives the developing world.
But while this is great news for the sector, there's still a lot to do. As I write this, the front page headline in today's best selling newspaper, the News of the World: "Kate's sis proves she's top of the bots after surge in women asking for 'Pippa' bum-shaping ops."
There's still a lot of work to do.
Related content:
In Scoop, author Evelyn Waugh’s satire of the newspaper industry, he says “News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read.” And although he wrote the novel in 1938, his point still applies.
The best selling newspaper in the UK is The Sun, which sells nearly 3million copies, and the most viewed newspaper website is the Daily Mail. Both focus on soaps, celebrities and sport.
The media should have a more positive influence.
One World Media is fighting back
But some sections of the media are fighting back. One World Media is a charity who promote positive representations of the developing world in the media.
This, they hope, will play a role in promoting democracy and fair government, improving living standards and conditions, as well as understanding of the developing world.
To do this they work with established journalists (mainly through a major award cermony) and up-and-coming hacks. 2011 saw the second annual One World Media Week.
Advice for aspiring journos
One event, New Talent Day, had experienced journalists give advice to aspiring ones. Dominique Young, a commissioning editor at Al Jazeera told the audience that the commissioning editors “don't look at issues per se, we look at the wider stories within this".
Nadine Ghouri, a successful freelance journalist emphasised that getting commissioned is “All about access and a strong central character". Another golden piece of advice from Nadine. “A TV listings guide uses 150 characters; your pitch must be that short so the editor can see how it will play”.
And awards for experienced hacks...
The flagship event is the annual awards to celebrate coverage of the developing world. This year, the awards were presented by newsreader Jon Snow (below) with the Minister of State at our Department for International Development in attendance - they get some big names along.
Winners included Lindsey Hilsum, who was named Journalist of the Year; the team behind the documentary Blood, Sweat and Luxuries, and Press Award winner Real Life Inside Helmand, by the Guardian's Jonathan Steele.They don't just reward the UK's journalists. The Special Award winnerwas the radio programme ShujaazFM, a Nairobi-based multimedia project reaching out to youth across Kenya through twitter, comic books and radio drama.
Reading these articles or watching and listening to these programmes, it's clear that there are challenging, exciting stories to be reported and that can make a big difference to how the UK perceives the developing world.
But while this is great news for the sector, there's still a lot to do. As I write this, the front page headline in today's best selling newspaper, the News of the World: "Kate's sis proves she's top of the bots after surge in women asking for 'Pippa' bum-shaping ops."
There's still a lot of work to do.
Photos:
Banner image: Sorana Stanescu
Body: Hannah Maule-Ffinch
Banner image: Sorana Stanescu
Body: Hannah Maule-Ffinch
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Fri, 20.05.2011
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