In response to the lack of a mass medium that tackles disaster response and rehabilitation in a highly vulnerable region, IAWRT Philippines chapter is establishing a community radio station to be based at the so-called ground zero of the strongest typhoon in recorded history. ESP 

To kick it off in early October, women community radio broadcasters in the Philippines organized and conducted a four-day workshop for the establishment of a disaster response and rehabilitation community radio station  in Tacloban City. That was followed by a  two-day community-based radio training in late October. 

By IAWRT Philippine Chapter and  Frenchie Mae Cumpio

With gusts in excess of 300 kph, Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) struck the entire central region of the Philippines (the Visayas) on November 8, 2013, killing a yet-undetermined number of people, displacing millions and destroying property worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Last year, the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) confirmed 6,300 fatalities across the country. However some NGO’s estimate a much higher toll in Tacloban City alone. 

Pics: Post Typhoon Hiyan, November 2013: Samahang Operasyong Sagip (SOS) Tacloban aerial view: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development. 

Nearly two years after the disaster, poor Haiyan survivors have yet to be permanently resettled and social services remain sorely lacking across the islands of Leyte and Samar, as can be seen in this video from the affected region.

“Climate change experts predict that the Philippines will always remain vulnerable to typhoons as destructive as Haiyan.  Our aim is to help the people of Eastern Visayas prepare for this, so-called, new normal,” IAWRT Philippines chapter president Jola Diones-Mamangun said.

“A community station is the most viable solution to the lack of a sustained and dedicated mass communication platform to help the survivors to rise up from this disaster and prepare for the next,” Mamangun added. 

Unlike existing commercial radio stations in Eastern Visayas, the community radio station will be non-profit and will be dedicated to helping marginalized sectors recover from Haiyan’s devastation.

IAWRT’s International Board recently approved a grant funded by Norad through FOKUS for the establishment of a mobile disaster response and rehabilitation community radio station in Haiyan-affected areas.

Pic: SOS (a network of volunteer health workers, professionals, and students, assisting disaster victims)

“Aside from being community-owned, this station shall have the capacity to be mobile.  It means we can transport all its equipment to an area within the region which is being threatened or is suffering from another disaster and return to Tacloban City after,” Mamangun said.

The workshop in Tacloban is the first in a series of activities aimed to train its first group of broadcasters. It included discussions on the state of the Philippine mass media as well as the need for more community radio stations to serve women and other vulnerable sectors of society.  Writing for radio, interviewing, reporting, the broadcast clock, and on-air presence were included in the workshop.

Diones-Mamangun, IAWRT Philippine Chapter treasurer May Macapobre and member Marvie Matura conducted the training, along with Eastern Vista (a local non-profit media group) and Kodao Productions’ radio director, Raymund Villanueva .

“What makes this project groundbreaking is the fact that women are leading its establishment and women shall occupy executive positions in its management,” Macapobre said.

Women leaders from the peasant,* fisher folks, urban poor, academe and the church are being invited to form the radio station’s local board, while women candidates are being interviewed to be its first station manager.

Pic:Front L-R: Nora de Verra, Lourdes Lacerna, Marissa Cabaljao, Jola Diones-Mamangun, Frenchie Mae Cumpio , Janet Darantinao, Marvie Matura and May Macapobre. Back: Raymund Villanueva, Michael Jay Advincula, Kelvin Tomzon, Joven Montubig, Frank Falguera, Dean Lacandazo, Mario Sabelgas, Rev. Cesar Tumandao and Jebri Gil

In late October, a group of 27 delegates, the majority of whom were women, came from different parts of Samar and Leyte to participate in two days of community radio training hosted by IAWRT Philippines, again in partnership with Kodao Productions and Eastern Vista. it was held at the UP Vista Office, office of student publications of the University of the Philippines – Visayas Tacloban College (UPVTC).

The delegates, who will soon serve as the reporters and anchors of the radio station, received confidence and team building training along with news writing, radio broadcasting and field reporting. The first day of the training focused on boosting the confidence of each participant, with workshops in basic acting and news writing. It included broadcast training on breathing and word pronunciation.

The second day of the training began to put theory into practice, with a test podcast where one of the participants served as the anchor and nine of them were field reporters. Mamangun says that In early November, they will be put to the test as part of the local media.  “An Eastern Visayas-wide mobilization and activity  themed ‘Two Years of Injustice,’ will be held to coincide with the second anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda [Hiyan]. The trainees will serve as field reporters stationed at different parts of Samar and Leyte.” 

pics: team building, and facilitator and IAWRT Philippines chapter head Jola Diones-Mamangun. photos by Jandi Dineros of UP Vista

May Macapobre says emergency radio stations were set up after Typhoon Haiyan, but they didn’t last. “They were dependent on the presence of foreign disaster response and humanitarian organizations. Now that their interventions are over, those stations stopped broadcasting. What we need is sustainability and that is only possible if the people own the station.”

“Climate change is real and the best way to prepare the people to meet the challenges of recovery and preparation for more disasters ahead, is an education tool in the form of their community radio station, she explained. IAWRT Philippines hopes to initiate the station’s test broadcast in December. 

* In the Philippines, particularly among the democracy activist sectors, “peasant” is a badge of honor. It means belonging to the largest sector as well as the main force for social transformation.

Pics below: workshop 1. (L-R) Lourdes Lacerna , Nora de Verra, , Marissa Cabaljao, Jola Diones-Mamangun, May Macapobre, Lourdes Lacerna , Frenchie Mae Cumpio , Marvie Matura and Janet Darantinao.  Worshop 2: Tessa Andrea T. Palmiano, Rodney O. Dublin, Lianne Ponferrada, Marites T. Duguilla, Panchito P. Pancho, Jr., Frenchie mae Cumpio, Diana Martinelli Babael, Joseph Carlos A. Decenilla, Rev. Cesar C. Tumandao, Jr., Michael Jay Advincula, Nichole A. Fabular, Yolito G. Tabontabon, Krishmar H. Centino, Mary Grace Solayao, Jenny Rose Nabong, Mary Joy Solayao, Glody Ann Z. Ocale, Maria Lorissa C. Tabontabon, Lerma R. Macabante, Evalyn f. Cabueñas, Rose Ann Asoy Tejones, Marissa Cabalyao, Josefa F. Abid, Lourdes Lacerna, Kelvin Tumzon, Janet Darantinao, Jandi Dineros.

 

Gunilla Ivarsson from Sweden is the new President of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, Ananya Chakraborti from India, her Deputy. At elections held after the 35^th Biennial in New Delhi, India, Pochi Tamba Nsoh the IAWRT chapter head for Cameroon, became the organisation’s new Secretary, Violet Gonda, UK/Zimbabwe, became the IAWRT Treasurer.  The board members are Anupa Shrestha from Nepal Abeer Saady from Egypt and Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier from Canada. ESP

Pictured: IAWRT Executive: Pochi Tamba Nsoh, Secretary;  Ananya Chakraborti, Deputy Prresident; Violet Gonda Treasurer; Gunilla Ivarsson President.

below: 

1.  Pochi Tamba Nsoh, Ananya Chakraborti, Violet Gonda, Gunilla Ivarsson, Anupa Shrestha, Abeer Saady, Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier.

2.  President Gunilla Ivarsson and Vice President Ananya Chakraborti.

3. Outgoing board and current secretariat: Communications Officer, Geeta Sahai, Web Journalist, Nonee Walsh, past secretary, Violet Gonda, past president Racheal Nakitare, past vice president, Gerd Inger Polden, past treasurer, Ananya Chakraborti, past board members, Khedija Lemkecher, Valerie Lew, Sheila Dallas, Finance officer, Regina Gathoni.

 

WINNERS

TV Documentary:  Farzana Boby, Bangladesh, The Poison Thorn (Bishkanta) 

Radio:  Alexandra Christine Hall, (pictured) Clandestine Abortion in Chile, WINGS

Web audio:  Diana Wanyonyi, Kenya, Save our Queens Campaign,  Baraka FM.   

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

TV: Kristine Ramm, Norway, Feminists of the 70s, NRK ; Adele Tulli, United Kingdom, Rebel Menopause.

Radio: Karena Wynn-Moylan, Australia, Memories of Sarajevo: singing a new song, Bay FM, 99.9; Mindy Ran, the Netherlands, Women on the Frontlines 2015, US-based Pacifica Radio Network.

Web audio: Boni Sones, Throwing in the Towel: how Labour Women MPs fought to change Westminster Politics,The women’s parliamentary radio website.

more details

 

 

the Asian Broadcasting Union in collaboration with Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) have organised the 3rd regional workshop on Over-The-Top (OTT) and Integrated Broadcast Broadband (IBB) technologies and services.  It will be held  Sept 29 to Oct 1, 2015, Kuala Lumpur Hotel CaPITOL.

This three day workshop will introduce these technologies and address some of the main issues that broadcasters are facing when they want to introduce OTT and IBB services within their portfolio. It will not only explore the technology but also look at other value added services and business opportunities that they can introduce to attain a competitive edge in the market place. Case studies from Asia-Pacific region will be presented with some reference to European implementations too.

There are no registration/participation fees for ABU members interested or.involved in technical and production operations, who wish to attend this “OTT and IBB Hybrid Technologies” event. 

full details available http://bit.ly/1ELOwIk
 

Name: Nonee Walsh 

Location: Illawarra region, New South Wales, Australia

What do you do?

I have spent three decades as a radio, and online reporter and journalist specialising in legal, environment science and human rights reporting, mostly for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney. Prior to that I worked in community radio. I have just been appointed as the web journalist for IAWRT (July 2015).

Why did this type of work interest you, and how did you get started?

I think I always wanted to be in the media and my interest is maintained because I believe knowledge empowers democracy, and mitigates against any abuse of authority. In the mid 1970’s it was a small-scale beginning in high-school, challenging teachers’ control of the school magazine; at Adelaide University to challenge conservative students control of the student newspaper ‘On Dit’, through to Student Radio where I took up a challenge to join, after I criticised a clique of male students running programs; That began my radio career and I went onto another community (volunteer run) radio station at a time when the coverage of environment issues, women’s rights and homosexual rights were considered radical rather than main-stream. To this day, despite its technical inadequacies, I am proud of my first radio documentary, which allowed prostitutes to tell their stories as workers and women, who faced discrimination and illegal victimisation by Police. Prostitution was later decriminalized in South Australia. It was then that I first gained my respect for the proper function of law, through one University law Professor who gave advice which ensured the Police had no grounds to carry out their threat to prosecute for libel. Later I set up a community radio news show, designed to demonstrate that news must always be heard critically, by reporting the way in which different countries radio stations reported on the same event. After that I moved to Sydney to forge a professional career in radio journalism, starting as a cadet in the ABC Radio Current Affairs department. In my ABC career, I was the first Royal Commissions and inquiries rounds-person, and reported on many scandals and abuses of human rights. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-08-21/reporter-reflects-on-james-hardie-scandal/1399386 ; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-24/crown-solicitor-in-child-sex-abuse-case-mediation-years-ago/5839396;  http://www.australiaplus.com/international/2010-02-15/class-action-begins-over-iraq-wheat-payments/198944

I was the first ABC radio news Inquiries and Royal Commissions rounds-person and first Environment Reporter, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/sydneys-cryptic-water-crisis/3554268#transcript; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-10-21/nsws-decision-to-run-a-new-coal-mine-has-been/2305972;

I reported politics and on science news, including women’s perspectives http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s217256.htm; http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2002/02/06/474862.htm:

I also acted as a Chief of newsroom staff. Truth-seeking has always motivated me. I am inquisitive (hence my first foray, interviewing women who sold sex because I knew nothing about them) and sensitive to the different ways in which people understand events, partially because of my own immigrant experience in Australia.

What part of this job do you personally find most satisfying? Most challenging?

I enjoyed meeting, and being able to tell the stories of people who usually do not get access to the media or the corridors of power, such as those who suffered institutional abuse by corporations, or the law or government. This can often be frustrating for a journalist who is primarily a news reporter, having to fit complex issues into small spaces limited by program formats and being expected to file ‘early and often’. It can be hard to deal with the disappointments of people who want more attention given to their individual stories.   I enjoy the feeling that I am adding to the body of knowledge which people require to participate in decisions which affect their lives. I especially liked following and reporting on investigations which uncovered wrongdoing and held perpetrators to account, or lead to change or improvements.  The most annoying aspect of modern journalism is now the extent of control of government and public statements, through public relations and media specialists, encouraging journalists to take the quick route to complete their stories.

What do you like and not like about working in this industry?

I arrived at a time when men dominated news management, and journalism was thought to be best done in an aggressive forceful manner. Much though I enjoyed holding politicians to account through questioning at media conferences, it was not a broadcast style I aspired to, being by nature inquisitive rather than inquisitorial. It was a challenge to be allocated the “serious” subjects to cover, whilst maintaining a non-aggressive approach. Along with other women journalists I worked to expose the grading bias against women in the workplace,  and have since seen many women rise to higher editorial positions in the ensuing years. However, there still needs to be vigilance against an expectation for women journalists to be more than able reporters – having also to be pretty, made-up, dressed-up and often young, to be on television.

What are your long-term goals?

In IAWRT I want to foster cultural understanding of the different issues faced by media workers, to  publish stories about their work and to enhance IAWRT’s work to foster the careers of women who tell important stories, and to put systems in place where future members can take on the web-journalist role and  continue to agitate for the goal of equality, worldwide.

What special advice do you have for a student seeking to qualify for this position?

In terms of a career in mainstream media, start by volunteering in community organisations to get experience. It is important to get out of your comfort zone, meet and work with people who are not part of your normal social circle, to learn to tell stories with them, not just about them. I still think radio is a good starting point, as a story’s value is determined by content alone, and broadcasting brings with it, responses from a wide range of listeners. Community news sites and some blogging can also be good starting areas, but always be wary of falling into the trap of just talking to those who agree with you.  Obviously with a web-journalist position one needs to get across a number of ways to reach out, through social media, and the many on-line mediums now available, so look for community and activist groups who may want a media worker.

Do you have any special words of warning or encouragement as a result of your experience?

Don’t be afraid of complexity, such as bureaucratic records or legal documents, they give you the necessary knowledge to fully understand issues. Keep your information and old stories well organized and secure, if necessary. As well, it is important to go back to old stories to see if there has been any outcome or solution and to ensure that those in power are held to their promises. If you make mistakes, acknowledge them, fix them and move on.  Work to a code of ethics and stick to it.

These are my strongest assets/skills, areas of knowledge, personality traits and values are….

I am always keen to spend time with people to find their truth so that I can learn about them, and try to do justice to their perspective. I love sharing knowledge and learning from others. I am able to get across complex issues in the law, government, planning and environment policies or science and  make them comprehensible and relevant to an audience. I am able to use my broad knowledge of governmental and judicial events going back nearly thirty years to work to accurately provide people with useful information to pressure the power elites to account for their past undertakings.