Raising Voices has been working in partnership with NAWOU (a Ugandan NGO) and ActionAid Uganda to prevent domestic violence in Kampala. Part of the project is a major campaign we mounted in the media to engage the local community in a dialogue. We learned some important lessons and scored some important victories too. The following comments are based on this experience.
> 1. In your experience, what factors contribute to an innovative, and >successful, media campaign? Why? Persuade senior journalists that violence against women affects the entire community including them. We held a successful series of seminar in which we invited 30 senior journalists from print and electronic media. The meeting was attended by the Minister for Information which made it a high profile event and made the journalists feel that any one who was anyone had to be there. We also did NOT harangue the journalists for what essentially is a climate of sensational and male centric reporting. Instead we explored the issues and potential deep rooted underlying causes of the status quo. We produced a suggested checklist of what a balanced story would look like and challenged the journalists to adopt it. That evening, all three major TV stations carried a story about how violence affects women. 18 radio stations reported a story directly emanating from the discussions in the seminar. Seven stories appeared in print. Why? we asked ourselves. Probably a confluence of reasons but the effect of reaching out in a collaborative spirit and not blaming individual journalists for the status quo helped considerably. Throughout the sixteen days, the coverage remained unusually high. It is still not unusual to get invitations to appear on TV or radio to talk about VAW. > 2. Are there specific examples of successful, innovative media materials >and campaigns to end VAW? We have been writing a regular weekly column in the two different national papers. The response has been remarkable. The 'voice' of the column is that of the woman who sees injustice and names it and deconstructs the arguments all within a charismatic narrative. Women in particular have found the narrative supportive and the colloquial language comforting. The columns will be published in a book in the near future. > 3. What tactics do NOT work in using media to end VAW? Why? Are there > specific examples of failed media materials and campaigns to end VAW? In one of our meetings with journalist, an invited guest produced an astute and 'right on' analysis of how the media purveys images of violence against women as entertainment. Her analysis was incisive, supported by examples and absolutely defensible. Yet the forum also turned into defensive posturing and an us vs. them situation. The analysis that would be necessary and invaluable in print and directed against institutions would very quickly become a barrier when directed against individuals. A delicate balance has to be found between not pandering and building engagement. We learned that when working with individuals its important not to blame them for operating in the climate they find themselves in. Most journalists we worked with did not yet have the luxury of walking away from their job because it was morally indefensible. They did however, feel interest when they were invited to be part of the solution.. > 4. What is needed to foster good relations with media agencies and >convince them to carry material to end violence against women? Working with key journalists as allies, by allowing them to look good in front of their bosses, by recognizing that they operate in the real world where the agenda is profit and sales yet insisting and drawing a clear line in the sand which you will not cross. In effect, becoming pragmatic. > 5. Do you think that it is effective to use the same media techniques to >end VAW as companies use to sell products? Why? We have chosen to stay away from this. A marketing company (for a fee of course!) had offered to design a professional campaign. Our instinct was that we should be wary about reducing our message, even in a subtle way, to the blatant 'productization'. That is not to suggest that we all revert to boring people or worse, focusing on making them feel guilty. However, there is ethical value in retaining the moral difference, even if for most people that would be at subconscious level. >6. Can media campaigns to end VAW really change public opinion? Can they >change politicians' actions? At a broad level, journalists argue that they 'reflect' rather than 'create' culture. While that may be overstating it, there is a some truth in it. Media probably influences public opinion but in itself is not sufficient in changing behavior or collective notions about how we ought to create and run personal relationships. Only intimate, sustained dialogue between people who trust each other can do that. Dipak Naker Codirector Raising Voices P O Box 6770 Kampala, Uganda Tel: 256 071 839 626 Fax: 256 041 531 249 email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.raisingvoices.org ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
