I s s u e 26
- J U N E, 2 0 0 1
EVALUATION JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION EDUCATION
CHEAPER PAPER - GREATER
IMPACT
AN INFORMED HIV/AIDS
Debate
INVESTIGATIVE
REPORTING - WHAT IS IT?
MAKING SMALL
PUBLICATIONS SURVIVE
COMMUNITY CONTROL OF
NOVA RADIO PAZ
SUSTAINABILITY AND
COORDINATION
 Evaluating
journalism and communication education
The status of Journalism and Communication education and training in
Mozambique was the subject of a two-day seminar organized in Maputo
by the Media Project, with the involvement of communication and
media specialists, managers, editors and journalists in general,
including from the SADC region.
Main objective of the seminar was to evaluate the level and quality
of education and training of journalists presently offered by the
different education and training institutions in the country and the
extent to which this responds to the felt needs of the media
industry.
The discussions were based upon a comprehensive “Study on Journalism
and Communication Education and Training in Mozambique”,
commissioned by the Media Project to a group of high level media
specialists who recommended major curricula reforms, adequate
training equipment and the establishment of curricula communication
systems among the different institutions involved in the education
and training of journalists, especially the public School of
Journalism, but also ISPU and the Catholic University, the only two
private universities offering social communication courses.
Specific subjects discussed included: a panel of editors discussing
the needs of media houses versus training provided by media training
institutions; a critical evaluation of the state of journalism in
Mozambique from an academic perspective; and a regional perspective
in journalism training in Southern Africa.
The Minister of Education, who addressed the seminar during the
opening session, informed that the Government has started evaluating
a project proposal aiming to reform the School of Journalism,
including possibly turning it into a higher education institute,
with the view to improve the presently precarious academic quality
of the School, and thus allowing for the preparation of journalists
with the needed competence for a national media sector that is
pluralistic, independent and technically and ethically reliable.
Group discussions focusing on concrete subjects brought
recommendations on the following topics: possible models of
journalism training at tertiary level; new role of the school of
journalism and curriculum development; synergies and interface
between national training institutions, regional institutions and
the School of Journalism, as well as the role of co-operating
partners in journalism training.
Cheaper
Paper - Greater Impact
- are the core aspirations behind the Paper Purchase Scheme entered
into on May 30 by a group of Maputo-based newspapers and a
Maputo-based supplier. As the initiator and facilitator of the
process, UNESCO has committed itself to cover transport and storage
costs during the first year, as well as to gua-rantee a small
emergency fund. The partici-pating newspapers will save 30 % of the
ever-increasing paper costs through the scheme.
An
Informed HIV/AIDS Debate
- was the aim of the first training course on HIV/AIDS reporting
held in Maputo for journalists and editors from the Southern part of
Mozambique. After the 8-day intensive training course, the
journalists said that they had totally changed their perception of
the HIV/AIDS problem, and that they would never treat it the way
they did before.
Some journalists stressed that their overall reporting style had received
a thorough overhaul, putting them in a position to generally write
in a better, more interesting and more effective way.
Similar courses will be held in Beira and Quelimane in July and September
2001.
Investigative
Reporting - What is it?
- is one of the questions that many of the 40 journalists arrived
with to the two training courses held by the Media Project in Beira
and Inhambane during the month of May, organized as a tribute to the
late Carlos Cardoso, assassinated for his investigative reporting
November 22 last year.
While the participants expressed that they had learnt a lot (!) within
the intensive 8-day processes, they also mentioned that it had
brought them further generally in their way of thinking of
themselves and their role as journalists within their society.
Furthermore they had realized that there is a need for investigative
reporting also in more "trivial" every-day areas that affect all of
us directly.
Making
Small Publications Survive
- is one of the core challenges for the many journalists, working to
turn the ideas of pluralism and diversity into reality all over the
country.
This is also true in Tete, where the journalists in and around the
Association of Independent Media in Tete (AMET) and their
Communication Center, had organized a four day intensive training
programme during the last week of May. Management of finances,
people, the technical and the editorial areas were among the many
components included in the training course.
Community
Control of Nova Radio Paz
- is the unique experience presently taking place in Quelimane,
where the Catholic community-oriented radio station has decided to
effectively involve the community in not only the program-ming, but
also in the decision-making bodies.
This "Communitarisation Process" was officially launched on May 24, when
a representative of the Media Project's Management Team visited the
station. The ceremony stressed access to and participation in the
media as important building blocks in the country's move towards
democracy.
Sustainability
and Coordination
- are at the core of a two day national Community Radio seminar
being organised in Maputo by the UNESCO Media Project June 14-15.
The Seminar will be run in close cooperation with ICS and the groups
of Catholic community-oriented radio stations. The 65 participants
will tackle important issues like training as well as financial and
technical sustainability.
A background document is being prepared with profiles of all the 31
community-oriented stations expected to be on air all over
Mozambique before the end of this year.
Media
Development Project c/o UNESCO, P.O.Box 1397 Maputo, Mozambique
Tel. + 258.1. 498752/ 490840 Fax +258.1.498717
E-mail: unesco@mediamoz.com
|
