LEGAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION THROUGH

Internews is working with Geo TV to produce a prime-time television series focusing on human rights, rule of law and legal education.

Internews is helping produce a 15-part television series in association with Geo TV, Pakistan’s biggest and most popular private TV channel. Geo TV is the country’s most daring station, willing to take editorial risks and to ask questions never before posed on Pakistani television.

The Urdu-language program is the first of its kind in Pakistan, with its focus on rule of law and human rights issues. The project is a joint endeavor of Internews and Geo TV, with shared responsibilities and costs.


The program series:
highlights stories that affect the lives of people in Pakistan, rather than official press releases
stresses facts, understanding, and analysis over propaganda
functions as a vehicle to train TV reporters in impartial, balanced journalism
produces stories on a regular basis about legal and human rights at present rarely covered on Pakistani TV


While TV channels in Pakistan like Geo have been engaged in interesting and refreshing studio-based debates, no station has been producing in-depth stories about people in their own communities because they lack the technical expertise and the experience to shoot longer-format television stories.
Internews has trained Geo TV staff to produce a program for which cameramen shoot proper sequences and reporters write to pictures and use character development as part of their stories.
The project has trained professional staff at Geo TV in the principles of impartial journalism and the techniques of magazine format production.





Training Focus


The training consisted of the following:


Practical sessions where journalists, camera people and tape editors produced news stories with guidance from international trainers
Field production, narrative film technique, journalistic ethics, investigative and research techniques, interviewing, and studio production skills


Internews held two formal training sessions at its Islamabad office for Geo using outside production and journalism specialists, and will mentor and monitor the program throughout the project.
The program is 30 minutes in length and has a TV news magazine format, including a mix of field reporting, documentary, interviews, studio discussions, and commentary.


Internews contribution:


Training for Geo TV staff via intensive production and journalism seminars and ongoing consultation
Production consultants advise on program design, program content, journalistic technique, and video production technique
Funding to cover salaries of some key staff
Funding for field production, travel, and communications


Geo TV contribution:


Airtime
Production and administration staff
TV production equipment
Studio space and equipment
Administrative support and resources

Top

Evaluation Plan, Outputs and Outcomes


Using the data and analysis from this project, the following anticipated outputs and outcomes will be measured:


Output:


A total of 15 editions of a 30-minute prime-time program focusing on human rights and rule of law televised on Pakistan’s most popular television channel.


Anticipated Outcomes:


Improved skills of Pakistani TV journalists and producers in field reporting and in-depth TV journalism
More open discussion and awareness of formerly taboo subjects
Improved public understanding of rule of law and human rights issues
Improved capacity of TV to focus on rights and rule of law issues

Background
Internews is implementing a $1.3m media development program funded by DRL and spread over October 2005-March-2007 (18 months) across Pakistan to train journalists to cover critical human rights, rule of law, and election issues facing the country through practical training, support for innovative TV and radio programming, and a legal resource center to provide expert advice and small grants.
The project will also expand the capacity of independent media in Pakistan through expert advice and advocacy in media law and regulation, and monitoring of freedom of expression issues by Internews and its local broadcast and university partners. Proposed activities will accomplish the following:
Help Pakistan 's most courageous broadcaster – Geo TV – to create Pakistan 's first-ever TV program focused on rule of law, human rights, and legal education;
Train journalists in legal and political reporting to improve journalistic coverage and public knowledge on political and legal issues, with a focus on coverage of elections, courts, and the legislative process;
Train journalists at nongovernmental radio stations in human rights, rule of law issues, investigative journalism, and supporting local programming on those topics;
Support the women's production studio and program, Meri Awaz Suno (Hear My Voice), to produce radio programming on socio-economic and women's issues;
Train journalists and journalism students from Tribal Areas to produce radio news programs, together with Peshawar University;
Create a resource center that supports rule of law reporting with expertise and small grants, and serves as a monitor and source of expertise on media rights and media development.
The project supports the following DRL goals in Pakistan :
1) Build capacity of independent media through a focus on investigative journalism;
2) Promote rule of law through support for human rights and legal aid activities and clinics with civil society organizations, including media, political parties, and rights organizations; and
3) Strengthen freedom of expression by monitoring media freedoms and their violations.

source:http://www.internews.org.pk/

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Women in the media

AT the South Asian Women in Media’s (SAWM) first regional conference in Lahore (Oct 10-11) the keynote speaker Nandita Das spoke of her many-layered identities – both given and acquired – and how she had to negotiate between these.

The activist-actress-filmmaker-writer advised her audience to avoid stereotypical gender portrayals that associate particular roles or social attributes with people on the basis of gender.

Correct. In keeping with this line of thinking, a ‘woman journalist’ should think of herself first and foremost as a journalist without linking the two identities. This appeared to be a contradiction in terms at the conference where the participants were trying to balance their two hats – of being women (the given identity that cannot be changed) and of being journalists (the acquired identity that they retained as a matter of choice). With the focus on gender sensitisation, equal pay, professional training for women journalists and so on, the emphasis seemed to be heavily on the gender dimension.

I have never felt happy with this approach as I tend to agree with Nandita Das that women should not allow themselves to be pushed out of the mainstream and be segregated in a narrow area assigned to them by society. If women hold up half the sky, as the Chinese say, should not their share of the burden be equal so that they are not relegated to a subordinate role?

Rehana Hakim, the editor of Newsline and the retiring president of SAWM, displayed the sagacity that women are required to demonstrate when negotiating their way between paradoxical positions. She made it clear that SAWM was not created to win special privileges for women journalists but to facilitate the mainstreaming of women in the media by providing them with enhanced training and skills.

It is important to understand that one cannot demand equality on the one hand and insist on a special status on the other. You cannot demand induction into decision-making positions on the one hand and expect to be mollycoddled at the same time. The need is to mobilise women and provide them with equal opportunities for intensive training, thus empowering them with professional skills so that they can stand in the mainstream.

We must understand the pitfalls of an approach that seeks to make gender the touchstone in judging the role, performance, responsibility and privileges of journalists. The truth of this assertion struck me even more two days later when Uks, a research, resource and publication centre on women and media, held its national conference on ‘More women in news and views: how to make it happen’. Once again the status of women journalists came under scrutiny.

With Tasneem Ahmar at the helm, Uks has conducted useful research on content analysis of the mainstream media since 1997. According to Ahmar, over the years she has discerned an improvement in the style of coverage of women’s issues. Yet the quantum of coverage is not enough. To rectify this, Uks suggests the increased participation of women in the media and the gender sensitisation of all journalists, both men and women, vis-à-vis women-related issues.

Uks has been holding workshops to train media persons, and investigating the working conditions of women in newspaper offices and the electronic media. Although inclusive in its approach – Uks got some male media practitioners to participate in its Karachi conference – it has not made enough of an impact.

Uks realises that the need is to expose all media persons to gender-sensitisation, training, awareness-raising and so on. But its approach to content analysis needs to be looked into. How to write a story in which women figure and how to include them in opinion-gathering on any issue is something Uks has rightly focused on. But how does one determine the issues that are relevant to women? For instance doesn’t the transport system or the schools have a bearing on the lives of women?

It is important for the forums that provide a platform for women in media not to lose sight of the ultimate goal of mainstreaming women. This is the only way media women can go beyond a token role and make their impact felt. Hence Safma’s secretary general, Imtiaz Alam, did not offer the perfect solution when he described the basic objective of SAWM as the provision of a gender-exclusive platform for women in media across South Asia for discussion and resolution of their professional problems. He promised not to interfere with its working.

Admitting that Safma which had provided representation to women in media was preponderantly male in composition and ‘male-dominated’, Mr Alam said that SAWM was created as a separate organisation on this count. Would it not have been better if an effort had been made to work for improvement of women journalists’ working conditions from Safma’s platform?

The draft of the Memorandum of Association of SAWM circulated before the conference contained as one of its goals, ‘Plan and work for the mainstreaming of women working in the media’. But the draft read out by Sharmini Boyle of Sri Lanka, who was later elected the president, dropped this objective. One hopes that this omission was an oversight that will be corrected when the memorandum is finalised.

With the number of women in the media growing and so many of them in key positions they should refuse to be segregated. When my generation entered the profession, there were too few of us to even think of forming associations and gender-based professional bodies. We would link up with women’s organisations when the need was felt. Otherwise we negotiated (to use Nandita’s term) our way around the shoals without surrendering the mainstream.

With the impressive numbers around, there is no reason why they should not do the same. Their strength lies in focusing on better training and professional commitment opportunities which are more accessible today than before. Most of them are already committed to their work, the other element in the making of success.

source: www.dawn.com

Pakistan Media Project Aims to Change Attitudes about Women

An innovative initiative has worked for the past five years help the media in Pakistan examine the way women are portrayed and develop more balanced and positive approaches reports the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The project has trained 400 media professionals, helping them develop ways to present women in Pakistan in a new light in programmes aired by the Pakistan Television Corporation and ensure that all the corporation's productions are sensitive to the issue of gender and avoid reinforcing biases against women.

The media in Pakistan often portray both women and men in ways that reinforce prejudices, researchers have found. Women are frequently presented as weak, dependent and uninformed, while men are usually portrayed as aggressive, manipulative and insensitive.

The project has established a system to monitor how women are portrayed on television. It commissions TV productions on gender issues, has helped integrated gender issues into television training curricula and has brought together media professionals to examine and address issues concerning gender and media. The initiative is also helping organize regional and international film festivals dealing with gender themes.

"Ingrained attitudes towards women can only be changed by a persistent nationwide effort," said Onder Yucer, UNDP Resident Representative. "The mass media, especially television, is the ideal arena for this because of its obvious influence on people's prejudices and social behavior."

A workshop in Lahore earlier this month on gender and creativity for drama production brought together 25 television producers and writers from all over the country.

With support from the British Council and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, UNDP invited acclaimed screenwriter Haseena Moin to work with participants to prepare a script for a television drama dealing with gender-based violence and victimization of women. Pakistan Television will produce the drama for broadcast.

The project has already led to number of gender-sensitive productions telecast by Pakistan Television. Among them are a daily one-hour special broadcast, Khawateen (Ladies) Time; a long play, Dasht-e-Tanhai Mein (In the deserts of loneliness) telecast on International Women's Day in March; and drama serials entitled Dopatta and Ana.
source:portal.unesco.org

Women in Pakistan media face discrimination

As women in Pakistan's mushrooming electronic media break new barriers, surfacing reports of sexual harassment and unfair pay and profiles is becoming a matter of grave concern. At a recent conference in Lahore, speakers focused on designing measures to combat the situation.

Most members of the Pakistan Association of Television Journalists (ATJ) are under 35 years old, according to Faysal Aziz Khan, 33, the Karachi-based secretary general of the association and reporter for Geo TV.

New challenges for women in media/ Photo credit: Beena Sarwar/IPS ATJ only has some 50 females among its 700 or so members around the country, but nearly half of them are concentrated in the business capital of Karachi. Women are highly visible in the Pakistani media as anchors and talk show hosts on dozens of private radio and television channels in various regional languages, besides English and Urdu.

Women are paid less than their male colleagues for equal work and have to fight harder for the political or other high profile assignmentsMost identify sexual harassment as their biggest concern, according to Zebunnisa Burki, who has been coordinating South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) since the organisation was launched in April this year. National conferences have recently been held in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal.

Harassment and prejudices

"Practically every journalist who is here has a tale to tell," she told IPS at the SAWM- Pakistan conference in Lahore, on Oct. 10-11. "I think our complaints cell will be the most active part of our association."

"Oh dear," responded Khan when IPS asked him to comment. He said he would put it on the agenda of the next ATJ council meeting. There are two women on the 17-member council, including one who was at the Lahore conference.

The second biggest issue that the 50 or so delegates identified at the conference was gender discrimination: they said that women are paid less than their male colleagues for equal work and have to fight harder for the political or other high profile assignments.

"These challenges are quite different from the ones we dealt with when we entered the profession in the 1980s," veteran reporter Mariana Baabar of the daily The News told IPS. "These young women are amazingly confident and bold in taking on these issues. We had to fight our way up also, but most of our male colleagues actively supported and helped us."

"We never even considered that we might be getting paid less than men for the same work," she added. "Nor did we did face any kind of sexual harassment. But maybe the younger generation is more conscious of their rights than we were."

The relatively newer issue of sexual harassment is linked with the age-old problem of gender discrimination, commented Rubina Jamil who heads the 22-year old Punjab-based Working Women’s Organisation (WWO).

Raising voices

WWO is among the civil society organisations which got together a few years ago to form Aasha, the Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (www.aasha.org.pk) in collaboration with the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and Pakistan’s Ministry of Women Development.

"I am so glad they are doing this," a radio journalist in her early twenties told IPS. "I’ve been working since I was 17, and I am sick of producers offering to help me if I go out with them. I want my work to be taken on merit."

Aasha developed a code of conduct for the workplace and a procedure to deal with harassment and discrimination. Geo TV, the largest private television network in Pakistan is among the few media organisations Aasha lists as a ‘progressive employer’.

"It’s not necessary for every case to be a federal issue," commented a television producer who worked with Geo when Aasha started. "Often the tension arises because of the widespread gender segregation in our society - many of these youngsters don’t know how to interact with each other. This leads to misunderstandings that the code helps to clear up."

Another reason for growing sexual harassment may be that, with education, more people are crossing class barriers.

"Women coming into journalism earlier were relatively well-connected and self-confident. Many now come from lower-middle class backgrounds and have less confidence. Men find it easier to take advantage of or intimidate them," observed a senior journalist.

"Women must be trained to refuse unwanted advances clearly rather than trying to be nice about it and making excuses that can be taken at face value."

Aasha recommends that the person feeling harassed should keep notes about the time, date, place, and nature of the harassment.

"This helps establish a pattern and also provides the management with something to work with," said the former Geo producer. "When we had a case of unwanted SMS messages and e-mails going to one young woman, she followed these steps. We were able to resolve the matter internally without embarrassing the people involved or making it public."

''Let me tell you, the challenges that women face here are not that far off from media anywhere in the world," said Saima Mohsin, a senior anchor at the English language Dawn News channel who came to Pakistan a year and a half ago from London, where she has worked with Sky TV, ITV and BBC.

"It has taken years for women in the West to achieve what women in Pakistan have managed in a short time," she added. "Women are making a mark in the media industry here that has catapulted them into visibility everywhere. But are women taken seriously? Not without a fight."

But issues of representation, harassment and discrimination pale into irrelevance for women journalists working in conflict areas, like Farzana Ali of Aaj TV in Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan.

"We have picked up the flesh of our own people with our own hands after a bomb blast," Ali, the petite mother of an eight-year old boy, told conference participants in a chilling reminder of the unprecedented challenges that journalists - male and female - face in an era of unmitigated violence.

source:southasia.oneworld.net