Report Media for Children1.pdf - AIBD

In the inaugural session, chaired by Moneeza Hashmi of HUM TV (Pakistan),
Patricia Edgar, president of the World Summit Foundation for Children and
Adolescents (Australia), provided us with a capsule history of the media for
children movement kick-started by the 1 st World Summit held in Melbourne
16 years ago. Firdoze Bulbulia, chair of next year's World Summit, then
outlined her hopes and plans for the Summit and described the many different
levels of preparatory work leading up to the event -- of which yesterday's
meeting was an important part.
Finally, Gaye Phillips of UNICEF spoke about the need for responsible
journalism to protect children's interests and rights, as well as about the new
challenges that need to be met in the digital media age.
The workshop continued through the day with five working sessions. The
themes explored in these sessions were: trends in children's broadcasting; the
challenges of developing innovative and creative programme content for
children and of financing such quality programming; the need for programmes
about children, particularly those focusing on the needs and concerns of
children living in difficult and often dangerous circumstances; and the
importance of child participation in research for and production of programmes
for and about children. Unfortunately, there is not enough time to mention all
the speakers and to summarise their varied presentations.
Over 60 participants from different professional backgrounds stayed through
the day-long workshop and actively engaged in the lively discussions. Among
the issues that came up in these discussions and will be taken on board in
preparations for the Johannesburg summit were the following:
1. The importance of paying more attention to radio, print and, possibly,
hybrid media to meet the needs, interests and concerns of the diverse
populations of this region.
2. The need for more research on different aspects of media by, for and
about children in this region.
3. The need to examine issues relating to media policy and regulation to
promote media by, for and about children here
4. The importance of child participation and involvement -- both in
creating and producing their own media, and in providing inputs and
feedback on child-related content in the so-called mainstream media.
5. The relevance of co-productions and content exchanges within the region
and across the world.
6. And, finally, the exciting prospect of a World Summit on Media for
Children hosted by Asia in the near future.”
Ammu Joseph