Publications

JOURNAL FOR KENYA'S NATIONAL AIDS CONTROL COUNCIL

Fall 2006

AIDS NGOS GET THEIR ISSUES AIRED

By Mia Malan and Sandra Ndonye

Many local AIDS NGOs have seen a drastic increase in their media coverage after attending Internews workshops on effective media relations. Eleven non-profit organisations and two government officials participated in the five day trainings in late 2005.

Elsa Ouko, Executive Director of the Kenya Network of Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE), says she has experienced the power that radio programs can deliver first hand: “Over the past few months, more and more HIV-positive teachers have joined our organization as a directly result of having heard me speak on radio talk shows. I have registered 120 new members. Many have phoned into the programs and I could counsel them live on air.”

Participants learned how to write press releases, organize media events and how to use the media to advocate for their issues. Kenyan radio journalists that have previously been trained by Internews were used as co-trainers. In this way, trainees receive the opportunity to build personal relationships with journalists who cover HIV. On the last day of the training, the participants were expected to conduct a media event on an HIV subject of their choice that was covered by Kenyan reporters.

“It was a nerve wracking experience, but forced us to put our newly acquired skills to use. We decided to focus on the lack of access to pediatric ARV’s and as a result had various stories aired on stations such as KISS FM, Metro FM and Radio Citizen,” says Diana Mbari from the National Empowerment Network of People Living with AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK).

Diana continued to work with the media after the training. “In November 2005 I was able to get effective media coverage for the first Kenyan case in which an employee took her employer to court for unfair dismissal. I now have a good understanding of who to contact, how to write a press release with a news angle that will attract journalists and how to avail the complainant’s lawyer for media interviews in good time.”

Steve Adalla, a communications officer from NASCOP, used his skills to organise the launch of a government publication, ‘AIDS in Kenya’.

"What could have been an everyday media event that journalists would rarely come to, turned into a well attended and useful function for reporters this year because I knew what information they would be interested in and who to invite. I realised that journalists wouldn’t attend a media event if there was not a good story in it for them. The release of a book does not constitute a story. It is what is in the book that attracts them, but you have to let them know about this first.”

For Job Akuno from Hope Worldwide, the impact was drastic. Shortly after his training, Mr Akuno had to coordinate media coverage for a weeklong event called ‘Mukuru: The untold stories.’

"I managed to get journalists to attend the event throughout the week. As a result, the KBC, Citizen Radio and TV, Nation, Kameme FM, Metro FM, Radio Simba and several newspapers all covered the event – many on prime time news bulletins. The fruits of my labour paid off because I was now able to tell the media and the world what is happening with my project and also able to advocate for the issues we fight for live on air,” Akuno enthused.

Internews tabulated the media coverage results of trainees by tracking the number of stories appearing in the Kenyan news media and media events held within a 6 (first training) and 3 month period (second training) after the trainings. For the first training, each organization appeared an average of 8.6 times as a source in an AIDS news story and organised an average of 3.8 media events. For the second training, organisations appeared an average of 17 times as a source and organised an average of 1.8 media events.

HIV coordinator of POLICY project, Esther Gatua, felt so confident after the training that she opted to facilitate a journalism workshop on HIV and property rights along with Internews. Esther was able to interest reporters in her organisations’ activities in Kisumu, regarding disinherited widows, by “putting a human face to it.” She made it possible for reporters to interview two widows which the POLICY project has helped to get their property back.

“I have learned that building personal relationships and trust between the media and NGOs improves reporting on HIV issues and is very important. NGOs who understand news values can sell their stories through attractive news angles,” Gatua explained.