The two-day CairoMediaConference 4 at The American University in Cairo (AUC) October 23 & 24 will attempt to find the right words and visuals to talk about the global climate crisis and to foster sustainability.
Journalists and media professionals will get input on framing and communication, interactive practical workshops, inspiring storytelling and narratives, climate research presentations, information on the interaction of journalism and social media when it comes to communicating climate change, climate protection awareness and strategies to kindle climate action.
In November of 2022, Egypt will be hosting the world’s climate conference the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27). Global leaders, civil society organizations, environmentalists and business people will be meeting to negotiate and produce the kind of game-changing measures that the climate needs.
The theme of the Global Conference on Universal Access to Information 2022 is Artificial Intelligence, e-Governance and Access to Information. It will take place in Tashkent in Uzbekistan today.
JMIC is celebrating at Makere University in Uganda under the same theme: Artificial Intelligence, e-Governance and Access to Information.Speakers from media, organizations and government is in the programme today – more information will follow.
On Tuesday 14 June JMIC (Journalism & Media International Center) at OsloMet presented a report on the development of Afghan journalism after the Taliban takeover in mid-August 2021.
H.E. Youssof Ghafoorzai, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Norway (Photo: Pål Arne Kvalnes, OsloMet).
The study is based on analysis of media content from six Afghan outlets, as well as interviews with prominent media leaders, and journalists still working inside Afghanistan. It is to our knowledge the most comprehensive report on this issue so far.
The event was addressed by:
H.E. Youssof Ghafoorzai, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Norway, Oddgeir Osland, Dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet, and Knut Olav Åmås, Director, Free Expression Foundation.
Oddgeir Osland, Dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet Zahir Athari, researcher, University of OsloHasina Shirzad, researcher, MA student, OsloMetElisabeth Eide, Professor Emerita, Project Leader
The report was presented by:
Elisabeth Eide (Professor Emerita, project leader), Hasina Shirzad (MA student, OsloMet), and Zahir Athari (researcher, UiO).
Other team members are postdoc fellow at OsloMet Mahmud Farjami as well as Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, Director of Nai-SOMA, a media watchdog in Afghanistan, who could not be present at the occasion.
The presentation was followed by comments from Mr. Sharif Hassanyar, previous Director of Ariana TV network in Afghanistan Kristian Berg Harpviken, Research Professor, Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Responses from the authors and questions from the audience.
The event was streamed for those who could not attend physically.
Journalists discussing hate campaigns against women journalists in Iraq. Photos are curtsy of IAWRT Iraq
More than 70 Iraqis discussed hate in media and election during a workshop on hate speech during election time.
The workshop was composed of online and offline sessions. The participants were students, media researchers, and educators from Anbar University and journalists from International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) from all over the country, with several languages, religions, and ethnicities.
They participated in a workshop on hate speech 13October 2021 by JMIC trainer Abeer Saady in Arabic – some online, some physically present in different places in the country. 47 of the participants were from Anbar University in the west of the country, while 24 were from IAWRT gathered in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region.
Dr. Omar Chiad organized the group in Anbar University. He held two main discussions; one before the session with the professors and another session after the online training. Later he followed up the topic in his teaching sessions.
On the other side, Awaz Salim Abdullah gathered the IAWRT members in Sulaymaniyah. The came from different cities of Iraq. The ones who are in near cities as Erbil, Kirkuk, and Halabja traveled to Sulaymaniyah and attended physically, while the others attended online. After the online session, Awaz gave a session on online harassment and hate speech against women journalists, which is relevant to the workshop. She has earlier attended a training of trainers (TOT) with JMIC.
The workshop held partly online and offline was a further development from the safety training in the spring. The participants asked for a focus on hate speech, because it is particularly relevant during election time in their country.
With the success of the Iraqi training, JMIC held two other training on hate speech in another two Middle Eastern countries:
A workshop was held in Yemen in the capital Sana´a: 34 participants from Sana´a University and the Cultural Media Center (CMC) came for the training in tackling hate speech as journalists, which was held on 16November. The workshop time was extended as discussions were very relevant to the conflict in Yemen. Participants came from different cities of Yemen, and some of them share relevant important experiences and cases.
Also, in Libya it´s election time – and discussing hate speech was suggested by our partner in Azzaytouna University and Libyan Center for Freedom of the Press (LCFP). The training was held on 17of November, with 35 participants from different parts of the country. Dr. Mohammed Al Asfar, professor of media and chair of the LCFP continued the discussion on the topic with further sessions. The participants recommended further activities on self-regulations and code of ethics during election times.
All the partners wanted to continue the cooperation, which will be an important part of JMICs activities next year.
Awaz Salim Abdullah gathered the IAWRT members in Sulaymaniyah
What happens when women’s voices in media are silenced?
is the question in the Norwegian Press House in Oslo Thursday 9 December at 18 – 19 hrs.
The event takes place in collaboration with the Norwegian Press House, the Norwegian Chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) and JMIC.
Participants are Violet Gonda (President of IAWRT, originally from Zimbabwe), Najiba Ayubi (Head of the Afghan Chapter of the IAWRT and originally from Afghanistan) and Lady Ann (Icy) Salem (who works for the IAWRT in the Philippines).
Moderator is Hege Moe Eriksen in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Some of the particpants will be online. https://pressenshus.no/nobel-uke-pa-pressens-hus/
Maria Ressa participated in an online protest action organized by JMIC and IAWRT in collaboration with UNESCO Press Day 3 May this year: https://uni.oslomet.no/jmic/wpfd-2021-online-protest-defend-press-freedom -and-freedom-of-expression / # more-6085
Edward Sekyewa, Executive Director of Hub for Investigative Media
The Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University last week conducted a five day webinar on Access to information. The webinar that was attended by 45 final year journalism students was supported by the Journalism & Media International Center of Oslo Metropolitan University.
While speaking at the opening of the webinar on Monday 22 November 2021, the Head of Department, Dr. Nakiwala Aisha Sembatya, noted that Access to Information is important because it is at the core of what the Department does. She noted that without the ability to access information in the possession of the state, it becomes difficult for the media to perform its role.
“The media is assigned a special role of watchdog in society. It is critical in raising awareness, promoting integrity and detecting and reporting about wrongs, like corruption and other evils in society. The effectiveness of the media to perform this role depends on access to information and freedom of expression,” she said.
Nakiwala further said that the right to access information is important because it enables citizens to effectively monitor and hold government to account and it is the foundation for all other rights.
“Access to information can be a leverage for the realization and enjoyment of other fundamental rights such as the right to health, education, environment and other rights,” Nakiwala said. She commended the Journalism & Media International Center for supporting the webinar.
The webinar was facilitated by both local and international facilitators. Mr. Toby Mendel, the Executive Director of the Canada based Centre for Law and Democracy discussed the global trends in access to information. Mr. Mugambi Kiai, the Executive Director of Article 19 Eastern Africa, discussed the regional trends in access to information. Mr. Tarjei Leer-Salvesen, a Norwegian journalist taught participants digital skills for accessing information. He demonstrated to participants how one can access information using online tools.
Dr. Ivan Lukanda, a Lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University, took participants through procedures of accessing information in Uganda, using the Access to Information Act. Mr. Edward Sekyewa, the Executive Director of the Uganda based Hub for Investigative Media shared with participants his experience in accessing information in Uganda.
Participants noted that they benefited a lot from the webinar.
“My main take home was that as journalists, we need to be aware of our rights to access information and stand together for a common goal of being watchdogs because when we are ignorant, we can be shut down by the people who don’t want to be exposed,” said Shanitah Nalukenge, one of the participants.
The teachers Tarjei Leer-Salvesen from Norway and Gerald Walulya from Uganda
A workshop held at An-Najah University for journalism students
All photos Lamees Reihan
The Department of Communication & Digital Media at An-Najah National University, in cooperation with the Journalism & Media International Center (JMIC) at Oslo Metropolitan University, organized a news writing workshop for students of the department, in preparation for the implementation of the “Rig on Press Freedom”, which will be organized at the end of this year.
42 male and female students participated in the workshop. Over three days (from 2-4 November 2021), they practiced writing news stories, preceded by presentation and discussion sessions and clarification of the principles and stages of writing news.
At the end of the workshop, the students presented their news, discussed the steps they had taken in gathering information, and focused on the ethical aspects of building the news story.
Three teachers participated in the supervision of the workshop, in addition to the workshop coordinator Farid Abu Dhair, are Dalal Radwan, Ibrahim Okkeh, and Amal Qassem who also assisted in the implementation.
Children singing for climate solutions at the alternative summit
Young activist leaders may be good ambassadors for the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) science, with their knowledge, and their ability to reach out to new generations, Elisabeth Eide suggested in her presentation at COP 26 in Glasgow.
Drawing from interviews with 31 young leading climate activists from 23 countries across the world her contribution aims to capture the contribution of the recent youth climate movement to communicating climate science and politics.
From the point of view of the youth activists, the movement powerfully connects personal and local experiences and emotions with climate science, according to her. This has enabled the activists to construct an authentic, generational and temporal identity that has helped them to carve out an autonomous position and voice with considerable moral authority among existing climate policy actors.
Claiming to represent the future generation, she concludes that activists have offered an important added value to climate science as new ambassadors for scientific consensus and climate mitigation.
The youth movement and the added value it brings communicating climate science is an example of the dynamics of the formation of “relational publics” and emphasizes the need to understand better the networked communication landscape where climate politics is debated, according to Elisabeth Eide.
She presented an article about youth and climate activism published in a Special Issue of Climatic Change co-authored with Prof. Risto Kunelius from Helsinki University, with contributions from researchers in 23 countries.
“Our islands (in the Western Pacific) are like small dots on the world map, but our territory represents 30 per cent of the global surface”, says Wera Mori, climate minister in Papua New Guinea. He speaks for the small island states threatened with extinction by further global warming and sea level rise.EE presenting in the IPCC pavilion, COP26
From left: Tabina Sirhindi, lecturer at University of Central Punjab (UCP), Dr. and Rector Jonathan S. Addleton at Forman Christian College (FCCU), Yakhshi Saleem, lecturer at UCP, Olga Stokke, journalist at Aftenposten newspaper, Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan (FCC) – in front of him stands Madhia Maqsood, lecturer at UCP – Atta Ansari, journalist at Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) and Umer Farooqi, lecturer at University of Management and Technology (UMT).
Shukriya, Lahore! After three inspiring days with great people in Pakistan’s second largest city, I am excited about new knowledge, new colleagues and friends.
Atta Ansari from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) and I, Olga Stokke from Aftenposten national newspaper, had the opportunity to attend a three day seminar in Lahore Nov 9-11 2021.
The topic: “Journalism for Peace, Counter Violent Extremism among Youth, and International Reporting”, organized by Journalism & Media International Center (JMIC) at Oslo Metropolitan University in collaboration with Forman Christian College University (FCCU).
The seminar was opened and hosted by Dr Altaf Ullah Khan, Professor and Dean of Humanities at FCC. He opened the ball by talking about populist politics and media in Pakistan. He then gave the microphone to a range of powerful speakers who delivered insightful and refreshing presentations on vital and relevant topics such as:
Freedom of expression under authoritarian regimes, Journalism in Pakistan and the digital media evolution. The gap between theory and practice when it comes to legal structure for free expression. The audience was given a perspective from the Pakistani Constitution.
The concept of Peace Journalism was highlighted by several: How to perceive Johan Galtung’s “theory” on covering wars and conflicts? Also Atta and Olga had a joint presentation on theory and practice of Peace Journalism within the context of Johan Galtung.
We introduced the participants to Norwegian press laws and ethics. Quite a few were taken by surprise that Norwegian journalists can write almost “everything” without being censored, or without censoring themselves. Norwegian journalists certainly enjoy freedom of press to a larger extent than the majority of press people in the world.
We stressed that though Galtung’s “theory” is not very present in our approach, his parameters are nonetheless implemented in our reporting. Our notion of sincere journalism is that war and conflict reporting on a global level do not differ from reporting on a local level. The same demands to ethical reporting applies: Try to disclose and understand the underlying reasons of the conflict. Report respectfully about “the other” even though you cannot see the face of the other. Be concerned about the context, the terms for talking to people – and who to interview. Professors Elisabeth Eide and Rune Ottosen have also written a lot about Peace Journalism and about «how to report the other».
Not least important is the new generation of journalists. How to empower them – through critical spaces? This topic was not least addressed by Dr. Altaf Khan.
There are challenges ahead, but the good news is that there are so many young talented, dedicated, serious and curious aspiring journalists. They can make a big difference in our societies. Stay curious and brave! And safe.
Elisabeth Eide takes part in a workshop on Climate change communication and the IPCC Live Stream at the climate summit COP 26 in Glasgow in Scotland Friday 5 Novemberat 1430 – 16 GMT.
MediaClimate presents one of the articles by Eide & Kunelius in a Special Issue of Climatic Change.
