Television
This issue of The Soul Beat focuses on information from the network about television in Africa. If you would like to contribute your own experiences, please contact Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
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1. Pakachere - Malawi
A collaboration between Population Services International Malawi (PSI) and the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication. It develops communication materials using radio, television and print, based on Soul City's methodology of edutainment with a multimedia communications approach. Prime messages are about HIV/AIDS and related health issues. The television talk show will be made up of an episode of the Soul City drama series, a locally-produced talk show featuring guests, such as expert speakers, government officials, individual case studies and a participating audience.
Contact Simon Sikwese sikwese@malawi.net
2. Polio Social Mobilisation Campaign - Egypt
This programme follows up on previous years' National Immunisation Days (NIDs), which found television to be a key medium for disseminating polio messages and sought to fight public fatigue caused by repeated discussions on the same issue by using innovative approaches. The awareness campaign included: an education TV spot capitalising on the credibility of a local celebrity; a five-second "count-down" public service announcement (PSA) aired prior to each NID campaign; use of existing TV and radio spots; a celebrity song; in-depth reports in key newspapers and magazines; and cooperation with existing TV and radio programmes.
Contact Sahar Hegazi shegazi@unicef.org
3. Media for Peace in Africa Programme - Africa
The project aims to influence the attitudes and behaviour of communities affected by conflict across Africa, enabling them to seek non-violent solutions through the media and to empower media to do so. It aims to help journalists and media organisations deal with the challenges of reporting on conflict situations and to mobilise the potential power of the media to contribute to a culture of peace in Africa. Its activities include fellowship grants that enable journalists to research and report in depth on conflict and peace issues and publish or broadcast substantial features in major national or regional media.
Contact Programme Officer albino@panoseasternafrica.org.ug
4. Studio 263 - Zimbabwe
A TV drama series which aims to provide an entertaining educational
format and an arena for reflection and discussion of issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and risk behaviour. Studio 263, whose title refers to the international calling code for Zimbabwe, airs five nights a week. The show tackles issues of love, relationships, family matters and HIV/AIDS. According to the organisers, the show also highlights issues like couples in which one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative, and how counsellors help them to manage this. Studio 263 celebrated its two-year anniversary with a month of community outreach culminating with a group of its actors receiving HIV counselling and testing.
Contact Population Services International Zimbabwe psi7@harare.iafrica.com
5. Talk to Me - South Africa
A nation-wide television and radio campaign to support parents and caregivers in speaking effectively within families and to children about HIV/AIDS and its prevention. It uses South Africa's "best-known five-year-old orphan muppet living with HIV/AIDS, Kami from Takalani Sesame." The campaign encourages people to accept and care for those who are infected and affected and to cope with HIV/AIDS in everyday life. Through Kami and friends, the campaign shows viewers, listeners and readers that young children are capable of understanding HIV/AIDS and its consequences.
Contact Lesley Fahey faheylk@sabc.co.za
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My Africa
As a special 2005 focus, the BBC is doing a number of TV and radio programmes about Africa. The My Africa website aims to share the lives of 25-50 individuals from of all walks of life across Africa, one or two from each African country with the world. These Africans will set up online diaries or "photo-blogs", photo-journals with photos and explanations, enabling audiences in the UK and around the world to interact with them, through questions and answers.
For more details please contact Miriam Quansah merqueen@gmail.com
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6. Creating a Learning Culture in Rural Schools via Educational Satellite TV Broadcasts: A European and South(ern) African Encounter
by Joan Roodt and Pieter Conradie
This 19-page evaluation looks at the benefits of tele-education for schools participating in TeleTuks, as perceived by teachers and by learners. This study aimed to determine to what extent schools are able to participate in the various ICT-related options available; and what problems participating schools experience. It was found that satellite TV is effective in supplementing classroom education by fostering an interactive learning culture, although it has not been utilised and implemented widely enough.
7. A Study of Parents' Perceptions of the TV Series "Soul Buddyz" Across Race
This 60-page study seeks to give a broad indication of the ways in which the TV-series Soul Buddyz 1 served as communication with the potential to inform practice in the everyday lives of different racial
groups in the Johannesburg area. It explores how parents perceived the series in relation to their own lives; why parents watched Soul Buddyz 1 and what they got out of it; how Soul Buddyz 1 encouraged communication between parents and children; whether there were any differences in the way the series was perceived across race; and how parents related to the values espoused by the series.
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8. South Africa: Access to Agricultural Information: Study Among Rural Women in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
by Joseph Kiplangat
This study was carried out under the Department of Library and Information Services of the University of Zululand among rural women in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. It investigates the diffusion of
Information and Communications Technlogy (ICTs) used to communicate agricultural information. The article concludes that "apart from the necessary improvement of the telecommunication infrastructure and rural electrification, the study recommends that extension workers, agricultural researchers and policy makers should collaborate more closely with rural communities, particularly women, to make sure that the content of radio and television programmes is more relevant to their needs."
9. Neutralising the Voices of Hate: Broadcasting and Genocide
by Richard Carver
This article discusses the effect of propaganda in broadcast media on public behaviour in the context of the 1996 Rwandan genocide. It examines the claims that Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM) incited Hutus to kill Tutsis by both racist broadcasting and explicit instructions. The article queries the power of radio and media to influence pre-existing prejudices and the assumption that without the media, the genocide might not have happened. It makes reference to the claim that violent TV programs predispose children to behave violently too.
10. Local Sounds, Local Visions: The Struggle for Community Television in South Africa
By Mike Aldridge
"South Africa has seen considerable freeing-up of its airwaves in the 1990s, after the inception of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 1991. Nevertheless, there remains considerable difficulty in establishing the community television stations envisaged in the IBA's founding Act. The struggle for local or community television is both a political one, in overcoming the constraints imposed on potential broadcasters by the ideological and bureaucratic agendas of the IBA, as well as an economic one in finding a model for a self-sustaining community television mechanism. This paper seeks to uncover the major difficulties involved in establishing such televisual media, as well as to present a model of a sustainable local television station."
See also:
Africa Charter on Children's Broadcasting
Charter on African Media and the Digital Divide
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11. Impact of a Drama Series on the Community Where it is Produced
by Andile Tobi, Pumla Ntlabati, & Kevin Kelly
This six-page report evaluates the impact that the South African television drama series, Tsha Tsha, had on the community of the town in which it was filmed. The series is set in a fictional small town, Lubusi, but the story is developed with reference to the people, places and stories of a real town, Peddie, in the Eastern Cape province. Early research into the characters and story took place in this location. It was also partly recorded and produced there, with many of the local people as extras. The researchers set out to investigate what this meant to the town.
12. From Awareness to Action: Tackling HIV/AIDS Through Radio & Television Drama
by Mary Myers
Why do information campaigns often fail to change people's behaviour? Why do people persistently take risks, even when they know the consequences? These are perennial questions in disaster studies and of particular relevance to the study of HIV/AIDS. This nine-page discussion paper looks at psycho-social aspects of the AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, referring to certain initiatives that combine entertainment and education through the mass-media, promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS and encouraging behaviour change.
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Announcing the Cape Town Book Fair
The first annual Cape Town Book Fair (CTBF), will take place in June 2006. The CTBF will incorporate a festival, involving local schools, libraries and communities, popularising reading more widely, exposing readers to high-profile local and international authors, and exploring ways to make books more accessible for all. All sectors of the book, cultural and tourism industries will be engaged in the fair. The fair is a collaboration between the Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) and the Frankfurt Book Fair.
For more information, click here
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13. Up in the Air? - The State of Broadcasting in Southern Africa: Analysis and Trends in Six Countries
by Aida Opoku-Mensah
Providing a series of case studies of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa,Zambia and Zimbabwe by journalists and broadcasting experts, this book looks at key broadcasting policy issues facing decision-makers in the region. The authors focus on legislation, regulation, programming and technology, with a view to promoting both the independence and diversity of broadcasters and of the information that they broadcast.
14. Women's Rights in Focus: Egypt
by Brian Katulis
This 39-page study finds that advances in women's rights remain blocked by Egypt's closed political system, inadequate public education, and a
population "largely disengaged from political life". As a result, men and women are poorly informed about women's rights. However, an ongoing media revolution led by the explosive growth of satellite television is helping to better inform Egyptians of women's rights, among other issues. Key findings include that women in particular give high marks to televised education programs and public awareness campaigns that address health and social issues.
15. Combating AIDS: Communication Strategies in Action
by Arvind Singhal and Everett M. Rogers
The purpose of this 428-page book is to synthesize critical lessons about effective HIV/AIDS prevention programmes, with emphasis on communication strategies. The authors feel that despite the growing AIDS crisis, the world is making poor use of behaviour change and communication strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention. The book focuses on communication strategies that could mobilise political action, target high-risk groups, and overcome stigma. The authors have also described and analysed the value of entertainment-education strategy in HIV prevention and care, highlighting the use of popular, long-running television and radio soap operas to engage audiences emotionally and create a forum for public debate and discussion.
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16. Reporting Africa - May 9-20 2005 - Mbabane, Swaziland
Organised by the Southern African Media Training Trust (NSJ), this two-week training course aims to help participants develop a critical awareness of media representation and the sociology of news production. It also aims to draw attention to positive developments taking place in Africa and how to report on NEPAD, the African Union, and HIV/AIDS.
17. Advances in Behaviour Change Communication for HIV/AIDS - July 18-Aug 5 2005 - Nairobi, Kenya
This course is aimed at programme officers and managers working in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and health education in various sectors including ministries of health, HIV/AIDS non-governmental organisations, reproductive health organisations, civil society and for-profit organisations. Participants learn about understanding behaviour and behaviour change; designing effective behaviour change communication interventions for HIV/AIDS; and developing appropriate messages and materials to promote behaviour change.
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18. 2005 African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are inviting individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa to participate in the 2005 African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards. The awards aim to encourage informed coverage of the information society and Information Communications Technology (ICT) for development issues in Africa. Deadline: July 31 2005/September 30 2005
19. Southern African Development Community (SADC) Media Awards
Southern African journalists reporting socio-economic development issues are invited to submit entries for the 2005 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Media Awards. The award aims to promote regional cooperation and integration by encouraging journalists to improve their reporting and analysis of regional development issues, showcasing thoughtful, incisive or creative reportage in English,
Portuguese and French. Four categories will receive US$2,000 cash prizes: photojournalism, print, radio and television. Deadline:
March 30 2005
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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
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