April 13, 2009

Empowering Local Media in the Middle East and North Africa

Getting humanitarian news to Gazans during and after the airstrikes...Fostering coverage of women’s issues in Yemen...Teaching young Lebanese to use media to promote tolerance...These are just a few of Internews Network’s innovative media development programs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Ultimately these programs all share one goal: to empower local media to promote peace and build civil society.

In  This Issue:

• Egypt: College Students Learn to Use Media to Address Social Issues
• Gaza: Update − Stations reports on reconstruction, aid in Gaza
• Jordan: Journalists Ages 10-24 Run a Community Radio Station
• Lebanon: Behind the Scenes at Lebanon’s Media Companies
• Lebanon: NGO Aims to Curb Incitement in Online Media
• West Bank: Radio Station Helps Youth Trade Despair for Dreams
• Yemen: Lifting the Voices of Women and Young People
• Middle East and North Africa: Internews Organizes First Regional Forum for Media Development

Egypt: College Students Learn to Use Media to Address Social Issues

Unemployment, sexual harassment and overpopulation are just a few of the issues students are investigating through citizenship clubs set up by Internews Network at several universities in Egypt. The students in the clubs are being trained in media production – newspaper, radio and television – so that they can investigate community issues and publicize their findings. After a series of media workshops, the students selected issues and gathered information and are now working on media productions aimed at offering alternative solutions and determining the best remedy for the selected local community issue. (More)

Gaza: Update − Stations reports on reconstruction, aid in Gaza

Palestinian news network is providing special programming on relief and reconstruction for people recovering from the assault on Gaza early this year. Coverage includes daily security updates, news on water shortages, and health issues in the tent camps for those whose homes were destroyed. During the height of airstrikes into Gaza, three Hebron radio stations began producing and airing special humanitarian programming. Reaching all of Gaza, their broadcasts provided timely information about safety and humanitarian aid at a time when there were few if any other sources of reliable information. (More)

Jordan: Journalists Ages 10-24 Run a Community Radio Station in Amman

Farah Al Nas, a Internews-founded community radio station in Jordan that focuses on women and youth issues, is tackling topics that are usually taboo on the airwaves. Based in Amman, the station recently held a week-long campaign dealing with violence against women that featured the voices of women affected by violence. It was a rare moment to hear women talking openly on the air about their experiences of rape and domestic violence. (More)

Lebanon: Behind the Scenes at Lebanon’s Media Companies

Lebanon is notable in the Arab region for its degree of press freedom and variety of media outlets. Yet for all that, there is surprisingly little attention paid to the business side of Lebanese media companies, according to a new study by Internews Network. The study found that 40% of Lebanese media organizations based in Beirut have never adopted a mission statement, 70% do not have job descriptions, and 29% do not employ a single woman. (More)

Lebanon: NGO Aims to Curb Incitement in Online Media

An article in the Daily Star describes Internews Network's effort to reduce the threat of violence among political opponents in Lebanon with an initiative aimed at advancing human rights and civil peace through the media. In the wake of the May 2008 conflict in Lebanon a group of young civil society activists and researchers embarked on a mission to show the role that media played during the violent conflict. (More)

West Bank: Radio Station Helps Youth Trade Despair for Dreams

Growing up under military occupation, two intifadas, and constant sieges, Palestinian youth have been denied a real childhood. Young people with a median age of 17, who represent the largest demographic in the Palestinian population, have endured prolonged school closures and witnessed family members killed and arrested. Some have turned to using slingshots and stones as part of Palestinian uprisings. (More)

Yemen: Lifting the Voices of Women and Young People

In 2007, Yemen ranked last out of the 128 countries considered in the World Economic Forum’s annual Gender Gap Index, signifying the persistence of serious gender-based inequalities. To address these inequalities and bring women’s voices to the fore, Internews Network is empowering Yemeni youth and media professionals to explore sensitive issues concerning gender, society, and human rights.  (More)

Middle East and North Africa: Internews Organizes First Regional Forum for Media Development

On November 1-2, the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) held the first ever Regional Forum for Media Development for the Middle East and North Africa. Over 60 media experts from the Middle East and North Africa attended the regional forum in Beirut, where they developed common strategies for media development to ensure that free, independent and pluralistic media are at the core of development programs in the region. (More)