African Women Journalist Forum gather 300 journalists in Casablanca, Morocco

 

Strengthening the capacity of African media to cover the subject of climate change

 

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

 

Even when Africa is a low emitter of greenhouse gases, it pays heavily for global warming through climate-change hampered development, impoverished biodiversity, destroyed eco system and jeopardized progress in security and stability. It is therefore important for Africa as a continent to understand her true dilemma, craft own solutions and implement through tailor-made modalities. Comprehensive understanding of the true threat of climate change is crucial for decisive realistic mitigation approaches but this cannot be achieved without effective media involvement as partners and agents of change.

 

It is upon this background that the third edition of the African Women Journalist Forum was held in March 2020, bringing together more than 300 journalists in Casablanca, Morocco. The Forum met under the theme Emergency Climate Change: African Media, Agents of Change which complements the fact that, media is the source of information and influence positive change as well as help raise global awareness of the challenges facing less developed nations.

 

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita officially opened the third edition of the African Women Journalist Forum. He emphasized the relevance of the media as willing partners and agents of change in the fight to avert the adverse effects of climate change, especially women journalists with their associated commitment. Nasser explores the usual vigor female journalists would add on the struggle since in their capacity as women, they directly get affected by the negative effects of climate change such as drought, floods and poor food harvest. As mothers, the minister clarified, they trek distances in search for water, and their babies are affected with malnutrition and cannot move when roads are cut off by floods. He said the decision to incorporate women journalists as partners and agents to avert effects of climate change cannot be underestimated and should be given all the support necessary to blossom.

 

The participants debated modalities for effective media partnership and agency based on seven different thematic areas that included:

–   succeeding in Africa’s  energy transition issues and challenges;

–   the challenges of sustainable management of water resources;

–   sustainable agriculture; a green economy for Africa,

–   health impact of climate change, which strategy to adopt;

–   what sustainable developments for African cities;

–   waste management, a decisive lever in the fight against climate change;

–   adaptation of climate change – the media can be agents of change

 

The later thematic area was unanimously adopted as the 2020/2021 action plan.

 

The adopted 2020/2021 action plan aims at achieving goals that include:

–   Mobilizing the African media for the stimulation of public debates around issues of climate change and its impact of African countries.

–   Contribute to enrich the knowledge of African public opinion on the impact of global warming, adaptation and mitigation measures.

–   Foster greater visibility of climate issues in the African media.

–   Rely on the African Women journalist’s network to consolidate compliance with the journalist rules and professional ethics in dealing with climate and environmental issues.

–   Establish a real force for citizen proposal and influence media organizations essential for effective and powerful dissemination of information.

 

Violet Gonda, the President of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television said it is long overdue to integrate the African media as agents in climate change Impact assessment, adaptation and mitigation. She added that the journalist should be effectively trained to understand the subject of climate change the related areas of interest to authoritatively inform and influence public paradigm shift. She also challenged a panel of climate change experts “why Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa are still being made to fly via Doha, Dubai, Europe to connect to countries on the continent, if we are talking about reducing carbon emissions on the continent?”

 

Almost all journalists in attendance from Sub-Saharan Africa could not secure direct flights to North Africa from their respective countries, but spent a couple of days in transit flying, for example, from Kenya to Dubai or from South Africa to France to get connecting to Casablanca. The IAWRT president argued that policy makers on the continent should look into more effective measures to reduce pollution and of connecting Africa especially on the issue of how people travel between countries in Africa.

 

Salim Cheikh, the General manager of 2M, the forum initiators, said the choice of climate change as the main theme for the forum’s third edition is to reaffirm the major role of the media in informing and raising awareness among African societies on major strategic issues. The media is also the major catalyst for initiating a paradigm shift for a common vision and changing perceptions linked the realities of Africa as a continent.

 

According to Khadijja Boujanoui, the Chairperson of 2M, the 3^rd edition of the Forum for Women Journalists of Africa’s emphasis should be on strengthening the capacity of African media to cover the subject of climate change as stimuli to African plan and implementation of national policies that regulate the impact of climate change. She notes the need for journalists to have accurate and relevant information both on climate phenomena and on policies at the regional, national and international levels.

 

Fettouma Djerrari BenabDembi, an expert on Earth and Humanism, stressed that the media as the agent of change has the obligation to promote Climate Resilience as the area of concentration through giving back to the soil that provides food to humanity. She said African communities need to be educated that good farming practices with concentration on organic crops create climate resilience through raw material organic residues turned into hygienic residues for fertilization regeneration. The composites residues do not only regenerate soil health/ fertility but also boosts the economic status of the farmers the expert asserts. The organic residue from farm produce could be collected for farm fertilizers sold to other famers and current projected statistics indicate that a tone of tomato residue may cost a farmer 27 Euros but sells off at 40 Euros which makes an economic sense.

 

Africa has the potential to thrive on sustainable agriculture since she owns 25% of fertile land in the world with the capacity to produce organic food, the most sought after in the world.  The media as the partner and agent of change for sustainable agriculture with key emphasis to organic crops and bio diversity, should be able to create messages in languages that speak directly to the local farmers if comprehensive appreciation of sustainable agriculture should be supported and fully re-integrated with in Africa.

 

 

IAWRT President Violet Gonda, Vice President Abeer Saady and IAWRT Uganda chapter president Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye at the African Women Journalist Forum

 

A short video on tips on how to avoid misinformation during COVID-19 pandemic

IAWRT Philippines chapter head Lynda Garcia shares how we can promote proper information dissemination

 

“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic”, said World Health Organizing Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the Munich Security Conference on Feb 15.

 

With so much information being shared in new media today, there is a need to teach family members about the importance of Media and Information Literacy because fake news spreads faster, causing a lot of confusion and division, sometimes between family members themselves. 

 

Communication expert and Miriam College Communication Department chair Lynda Garcia explains how we can promote health and safety through proper information dissemination in a short video.

She cautions families about one of the biggest pandemic risks–viral misinformation—and gives tips on how to avoid it.

The video is created and published by Miriam College Family Studies as part of their “From Breakdown to Breakthrough” series.

 

 

IAWRT Vice President Abeer Saady shares her time and expertise

Abeer shared her expertise and insights to help journalists cover the pandemic safely and ethically.

by Lady Ann Salem

 

IAWRT Vice President Abeer Saady is a safety trainer and the author of IAWRT’s Safety Handbook for Women Journalists “What if…?”, now in English and Arabic. She has given safety training to journalists working in hostile areas in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Bahrain and elsewhere. She has also given safety training in IAWRT international conferences, such as those held in the Philippines and Uganda.

 

When the COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in February and governments imposed various measures to control the outbreak, covering the pandemic has also become a safety issue for journalists. For one, they are risking their own health and safety every single day to provide news and information to the world. The lockdowns and other measures imposed have also been used by some governments to limit or restrict coverage by media or also used the current situation to undermine freedom of expression and press freedom. Some governments are now easing lockdowns and the world has yet to feel the blow to the economy and big job losses in the media may also be expected.

 

In various Zoom webinars and online forums, Abeer shared her expertise and insights to help journalists cover the pandemic safely and ethically.

 

This is to help make sure no one gets hurt on the ground or get imprisoned while covering events that some government may have restricted during this time, as well as be on their guard to exercise and defend freedom of expression and press freedom.

 

ICFJ Webinar 21: Journalism Safety on the Frontline: How to Protect Yourself While #CoveringCOVID

Streamed on April 27, 2020

 

How can journalists protect themselves physically, psychologically, and digitally while #CoveringCOVID? What should employers be doing to support them? And what long term effects should we prepare for now? Abeer Saady and Dart Center Asia Pacific Director Dr. Cait McMahon joined International Center for Journalist’s Global Director of Research Dr. Julie Posetti to explore these issues and share practical advice that journalists can immediately begin implementing on the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

ARIJ Safety and Ethics Challenges Covering COVID-19 with Abeer Saady

Streamed on April 10

 

What are the occupational safety measures currently required during the coverage of the Corona Virus pandemic, depending on the nature of my work (as reporter, photographer, radio / TV set, news editor, investigative reporter)? How do I protect my equipment and maintain my physical and psychological integrity? How do I deal with different ethical dilemmas (promoting rumors, checking news, straining authorities, evading official sources, respecting privacy, dilemmas related to photography and publishing visual materials such as photos, videos and statistics)? Do I go to the stone hospitals to get a special story? What are the rules for conducting interviews with patients and experts?

 

These and other questions were answered during the fourth ARIJ digital meeting in 2020 as part of the ARIJ series and webinars.

 

 

 

 

Goethe Institut Kairo webinar on science reporting and fake news

Streamed on May 6

 

Abeer Saady was interviewed by Ashraf Amin, director of the scientific department at al-Ahram newspaper, on misleading information and safety measures for journalists in times of COVID-19. See video here.

 

 

Forum with Syrian and Kurdish journalists

Forum on “Media and civil society institutions in the time of Corona. Freedom versus responsibility. Are we ready?”.

by Binay Shorsh

 

 

On World Press Freedom Day, the Syrian Kurdish Journalists Union in cooperation with the Amsterdam-based Free Press Unlimited held a virtual seminar through the Zoom.

 

Two members of the IAWRT Iraq-Kurdistan chapter joined the seminar: Awaz Salim Abdullah, chapter head and Niaz Abdullah.

 

The following resource persons participated in the forum:

Dr. Abeer Saady – Vice President of IAWRT

Ahmed Sheikh Sidi – Director of Programs at the Center for Civil Society and Democracy

Ali Nimer – Official, Violations Documentation Office, Syrian Kurdish Journalist Union

 

The symposium dealt with the violations that journalists are exposed: in particular, the reality of journalistic work in the region, and in general, the challenges facing journalistic work in light of the current coronavirus disease crisis. They also discussed the role of civil society organizations under the current circumstances and their contribution to meeting the needs of society.

 

Another relevant topic was raised in the discussion: Does the independent Syrian media touch on the suffering of people and reflect their fears?

 

The participants of the seminar also sent messages of solidarity to IAWRT Philippines members who were arrested on May 1 as they were reporting on a protest against the killing of an activist just the day before. They were detained for a day and were released on bail and will still continue to face the charges filed against them. They also joined the online protest calling to free women journalists around the world.

Situation of female journalists in Uganda during the COVID-19 outbreak

 

To be a journalist in Uganda is ideally complicated, but to be a female journalist becomes more complicated and worse when you are a female freelance journalist. 

 

by Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

 

 

A time like this when the world is under a lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation becomes worse, for the journalist is expected to facilitate the survival of others with provision of timely and accurate information.

 

 

The scared families and individuals under the lockdown, the policy makers and other frontline teams at the fight of the epidemic are basically dependent on the media to make decisions.

 

The situation automatically presents a journalist as the pivot at a time of survival like this of the COVID-19 outbreak. The media is expected to provide timely, accurate and relevant information for the governments and other focal frontliners as well as the public yet the journalists as individuals are equally members of the communities under the lockdown therefore require the same attention as others.

 

Unfortunately, the national government plans in a country like Uganda expect the journalists to be fully facilitated by the media houses they work for. Yet most of these media houses operate at a half budget under the looming fear of collapse after the COVID-19 lockdown.

 

The media setting is predominantly private in Uganda, largely surviving on revenues generated from the advertisements that no longer come in during the lockdown. Most of the journalists operate as freelance journalists who are paid per a story on file and published or aired.

 

The media houses like other enterprises are minimizing costs because there is little or no income coming in at the moment therefore keeping a few key workers at the station preferably those with personal vehicles and bikes plus a few others without personal transport but are so vital to the daily running of the station. The arrangement naturally leaves out majority of the journalists because most cannot afford personal transport. Others are freelancers paid per story therefore have to ideally maneuver through to survive.  Most of the staff reporters are currently paid half salary and the budget for freelance reporters is put on hold until further notes.

 

The media houses prefer the male journalists at the station during a time like this when public transport is completely shut down and a nation-wide security daily curfew in place starting at 7:30pm. But the decision on who is ready to dare the harder times is reached at without a consensus otherwise may be some female journalist would brave the hard times if given a chance.

 

I engaged a cross section of female journalists in Kampala to share their experience during the Covid19 complete lock down and how they are affected.

 

Keno Lilian is a chief News Editor at Radio One, one of the most listened to radio in the Uganda. She says for purposes of social distancing during the COVID-19 epidemic scare the majority of the newsroom staff were stopped from work, leaving a few at the station.  Lillian says it is harder for the female journalists to be effective during the lockdown since most of them don’t have the means to get to office and the field. The male journalists are preferred since they are able to take extra efforts to ride bicycles to the field and office which could be a little harder with the female counterparts for several reasons not ignoring the cultural orientations surrounding cycling.

 

Eva Namugabi is a radio freelance journalist. She laments the tough times amidst the COVID-19 epidemic lockdown. She says she earns per story therefore cannot earn unless she has filed one. But when the media house she is attached to made adjustment to minimize costs, the freelance budget was the first area of adjustment. Unless it is a breaking big story, the freelance cannot file any story to be paid for. In situations where she could go an extra mile to look for a bigger story, she can’t afford it since she has no personal means of transport and the media house cannot transport her. Eva says her husband is not among the essential worker sector therefore affected by the lockdown therefore not earning making it more complicated otherwise her husband would have facilitated her for field and office commuting.

 

Veroca Kayanga is senior court journalists she has been working for her media station for more than 10 year, but has never been put on permanent staff or given any incentives besides the basic pay per stories she files. Veronica says it is generally so hard to operate in normal circumstances but harder at a time like this when the world is on a lockdown. She says despite the lockdown of public transport and no facilitation from her employer, she has to walk her way to the field, to office and back to her home because she has to survive despite the complications that come with lockdown. She laments that as female journalists she works for basic survival with no hope of career development and growth because it is not provided for even when one works to the best of her abilities.

 

 

Nalujja Shamshad is a health reporter who has been at the forefront of reporting about COVID-19 since its outbreak in Uganda. Shamshad says besides the hardship in transport that sometimes calls for walking long distances to work, her fellow journalists resented her for fear of contracting the virus from her. Shamasha says most journalists did not want to cover stories around COVID-19, but she took a brave stand to take on the assignments even when it requires going into quarantine areas where the exposed persons are kept for monitoring by the medical teams. Despite the resentment and other hardships involved, Shamashad is grateful that she braved covering the COVID-19 stories and it is upon that she was chosen among the few allowed to work during the lockdown and that is important for her since she earns per a story filed.

 

Fleriah Nalwanga is a manager at Impact Radio and Dream Television. She says the COVID-19 woos have hit the media industry real hard. Fleria says they have been forced to make drastic cuts on cost, send the biggest percentage of the staff home and unfortunately departments with more women as staff is most affected. She clarifies that the staff members who were willing to stay at the station premises during the COVID-19 crisis were preferred and all of them are male workers. Those sent home are no longer paid a salary, but given allowances and some food handouts and it is likely that majority may not be called back to their jobs even after the COVID-19 crisis.

 

The journalists/media is always at the forefront of all situations to ensure that information moves timely and accurately and are quick at profiling and fronting who should be the hero in certain public fights such as the current global crisis of COVID-19.

 

Less or no attention is given to these gallant fighters not only during crisis but generally the journalists are assumed to have no need for a pat on the shoulder and to be prioritized. It is therefore important that welfare of the individual journalists is prioritized because the media is the fulcrum of society with the power to make or cripple public opinion and narratives. And not forgetting that even when being a good journalist so hard and daring, the female journalist requires extra bravery to do her job.