Tweet
A BIA APPROACH TO RIGHTS REPORTING
Emine Ozcan-Gokce Gunduc
BIA
Jan 22 2008
Turkey
BIA launches a four volume series on rights reporting. Introduced
to media professionals in the weekend the series is the outcome of
training workshops for journalists and rights activists and focuses
on a rights approach to reporting.
As part of its "Media Freedom and Independent Journalism Monitoring
and News Network (BIA)" project, the IPS Communication Foundation
releases four new books on rights journalism. The books, aimed at a
readership of journalists and rights activists, are a result of 23
media training workshops run by IPS between 2004 and 2005.
A total of 860 journalists and rights activists, 348 of them women,
512 men, had taken part in these educational workshops. Assistant
Professor Dr. Sevda Alankus, Dean of the Eastern Mediterranean
University's Communications Faculty, acted as editor and training
advisor for the series of books.
A focus on rights The four books are titled "Human Rights Journalism",
"Journalism Focusing on Women's Rights", "Journalism Focusing on
Childre's Rights" and "Rights Organisations: Becoming Visible in
the Media."
At the weekend, BIA invited journalists, lawyers, academics and
activists to a breakfast in order to launch the series of books.
Making the invisible visible BIA coordinator Ertugrul Kurkcu spoke
about the progress in the reporting on the freedom of expression
and rights monitoring since the inception of the project. He also
discussed the Independent Media Forum organised at the end of 2006,
saying: "We have the possibility to see what others cannot see."
He added, "Even if the state boasts that the number of imprisoned
journalists has decreased, we started 2007 with the murder, with the
execution of Hrant Dink," and invited those at the breakfast to join
the commemoration event for the murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist
on that day.
A contribution to human rights literature Assistant Professor Dr. Sevda
Alankus spoke about the fact that with this project academics had
become part of "real life". "We gathered examples of how journalism
could be done better."
Describing BIA as a "special experience", Alankus added that reporting
on rights also meant considering rights violations. The books,
she said, represented a contribution to the literature focusing on
human rights.
She added that in the current atmosphere of conflict and social
tension, BIA was the first to express the concept of "peace
journalism"; it was heartening that the term had been adopted by the
mainstream media, too.
Bianet dissolves lines Assistant Professor Dr. Serdar Degirmencioglu
said that in journalism there were often rigid lines between areas of
interest. For instance, someone working on children's rights might
have problems finding a newspaper or television channel interested
in their work. However, bianet represented a forum where these lines
had been dissolved, and the newly-published books were a result of
this mentality.
Lawyer Hulya Gulbahar, president of the Association for Supporting
and Educating Women Candidates (KADER), praised the fact that bianet
had introduced women's rights journalism to dozens of female and male
journalists of regional media institutions through their educational
workshops.
"If the media does not try to look at issues from a woman's
perspective, then it is turned into a mechanism against women. Bianet
has played an important role in the formation of the Women's Media
Monitoring Group. Indeed, bianet's educational workshops, which have
been the basis fort he books, have been important for creating ethical
rules for the media."
Journalists inadvertently violate rights and need to be educated
Journalist Tugrul Eryilmaz emphasised the importance of rights
journalism, pointing out that even the most well-meaning journalistst
could inadvertently violate rights. Thus, bianet was taking an
important step forward. He called on all people working in the media
to acquire the books and read them.
Journalist Ipek Calislar described bianet's approach as an invitation
to everyone to change themselves first. "We began to understand
together that by making news we could also commit crimes. Some of us
commit many, some of us few crimes. Focusing on this has widened all
of our horizons and this needs to be continued." (EZO-GG/TK/AG)
Emine Ozcan-Gokce Gunduc
BIA
Jan 22 2008
Turkey
BIA launches a four volume series on rights reporting. Introduced
to media professionals in the weekend the series is the outcome of
training workshops for journalists and rights activists and focuses
on a rights approach to reporting.
As part of its "Media Freedom and Independent Journalism Monitoring
and News Network (BIA)" project, the IPS Communication Foundation
releases four new books on rights journalism. The books, aimed at a
readership of journalists and rights activists, are a result of 23
media training workshops run by IPS between 2004 and 2005.
A total of 860 journalists and rights activists, 348 of them women,
512 men, had taken part in these educational workshops. Assistant
Professor Dr. Sevda Alankus, Dean of the Eastern Mediterranean
University's Communications Faculty, acted as editor and training
advisor for the series of books.
A focus on rights The four books are titled "Human Rights Journalism",
"Journalism Focusing on Women's Rights", "Journalism Focusing on
Childre's Rights" and "Rights Organisations: Becoming Visible in
the Media."
At the weekend, BIA invited journalists, lawyers, academics and
activists to a breakfast in order to launch the series of books.
Making the invisible visible BIA coordinator Ertugrul Kurkcu spoke
about the progress in the reporting on the freedom of expression
and rights monitoring since the inception of the project. He also
discussed the Independent Media Forum organised at the end of 2006,
saying: "We have the possibility to see what others cannot see."
He added, "Even if the state boasts that the number of imprisoned
journalists has decreased, we started 2007 with the murder, with the
execution of Hrant Dink," and invited those at the breakfast to join
the commemoration event for the murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist
on that day.
A contribution to human rights literature Assistant Professor Dr. Sevda
Alankus spoke about the fact that with this project academics had
become part of "real life". "We gathered examples of how journalism
could be done better."
Describing BIA as a "special experience", Alankus added that reporting
on rights also meant considering rights violations. The books,
she said, represented a contribution to the literature focusing on
human rights.
She added that in the current atmosphere of conflict and social
tension, BIA was the first to express the concept of "peace
journalism"; it was heartening that the term had been adopted by the
mainstream media, too.
Bianet dissolves lines Assistant Professor Dr. Serdar Degirmencioglu
said that in journalism there were often rigid lines between areas of
interest. For instance, someone working on children's rights might
have problems finding a newspaper or television channel interested
in their work. However, bianet represented a forum where these lines
had been dissolved, and the newly-published books were a result of
this mentality.
Lawyer Hulya Gulbahar, president of the Association for Supporting
and Educating Women Candidates (KADER), praised the fact that bianet
had introduced women's rights journalism to dozens of female and male
journalists of regional media institutions through their educational
workshops.
"If the media does not try to look at issues from a woman's
perspective, then it is turned into a mechanism against women. Bianet
has played an important role in the formation of the Women's Media
Monitoring Group. Indeed, bianet's educational workshops, which have
been the basis fort he books, have been important for creating ethical
rules for the media."
Journalists inadvertently violate rights and need to be educated
Journalist Tugrul Eryilmaz emphasised the importance of rights
journalism, pointing out that even the most well-meaning journalistst
could inadvertently violate rights. Thus, bianet was taking an
important step forward. He called on all people working in the media
to acquire the books and read them.
Journalist Ipek Calislar described bianet's approach as an invitation
to everyone to change themselves first. "We began to understand
together that by making news we could also commit crimes. Some of us
commit many, some of us few crimes. Focusing on this has widened all
of our horizons and this needs to be continued." (EZO-GG/TK/AG)