Report Media for Children1.pdf - AIBD

time webcast. About 300 journalists from
Brazil and abroad covered the Rio event.
A number of regional meetings and
summits were also held in different parts of
the world since 1995 and these have helped
take the movement forward. As the
technological revolution has progressed, so
has the range of media taken into account
by the summits and related forums. The
presence and role of children in the
movement and at these meetings have also
expanded over the years.
According to Ms. Edgar, the
World Summits on Media for
Children are meant to get likeminded
people from across the
globe together to bridge
divides and work together
towards the following goals:
“the hardest
thing is not
to agree on
what should
be done but
on how to do
it together”
To achieve a greater
understanding of
developments in children’s
media around the world.
• To raise the status of children’s
programming.
• To draw to the attention of key
players in broadcasting to the
importance of issues relating to
children.
• To agree on a charter of guiding
principles for children’s media.
• To ensure that the provision of
programmes for children will be
guaranteed as the communications
revolution proceeds.
• To ensure the provision of
opportunities for quality children’s
programming in the future.
She ended by reminding participants that
“the hardest thing is not to agree on what
should be done but on how to do it
together” and calling for the formulation of
a charter of guiding principles on how to
create and foster quality media for children.
Ms. Firdoze Bulbulia, Chair of the Fifth
World Summit on Media for Children
(FWSMC), then outlined her hopes and
plans for the Summit scheduled to be held
in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 25 to
28 March 2007, around the theme, “Media
as a tool for global peace and democracy.”
She described the many different levels of
preparatory work leading up to the event,
including pre-summits and round-tables
held over the past two years and to be held
over the next few months in several
countries and regions,
encompassing almost all the
inhabited continents. Of special
interest were the meeting held in
March 2006 in Egypt, which
brought together nearly 100
delegates from North African and
Arab countries, and a meeting to
be held in June 2006 in Mali in an
attempt to actively engage
Francophone African countries in
the process leading up to the FWSMC.
Ms. Bulbulia also stressed the importance
of reaching out to diverse partners in the
effort to secure quality programming for
children and ensure children’s participation
in shaping and producing programmes. For
example, with South Africa due to host the
2010 Football/Soccer World Cup, FIFA has
agreed to host a session during the Summit
on producing sports content for children
and to be involved in training children to
cover football/soccer as young journalists.
Similarly, efforts are on to engage MTV in
a dialogue aimed at improving mutual
understanding on attractive but responsible
programming for children that balances the
need for fun and entertainment with issues
of ethics and diversity. In addition, the
support of broadcast organizations and
unions is being sought – and found – so that
children’s media will come to be seen by
professionals and decision-makers as just as