Media & ICTs

A proposed gender policy in community radio was presented for the first time at the regional roundtable meeting of the World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC) on 9 July 2008 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Informed by an extensive survey conducted by AMARC-Women's International Network Asia-Pacific, the proposed gender policy reinforces the crucial nature of women's participation in community radio.

Based on AMARC-WIN Asia Pacific survey, 45 per cent of staff and volunteers are women but only 28 per cent of them are in leadership positions and 30 per cent performing technical tasks. Among the concerns that they cited were: lack of technical skills; security and violence; less chances to present their view points; and less access to decision-making. They complained of the male-dominated radio set-up, that intimidates them and hinders their participation.

South Africa is awaiting the advent of digital terrestrial television (DTT), which will see a migration from the current analogue system to digital broadcasting. The changeover, estimated at R7-billion ($887 232), is being driven by the Policy Development Branch of the national Department of Communications in collaboration with state-owned broadcast network operator Sentech.

The migration is steered by the Digital Broadcasting Migration working group, which comprises four committees dealing with content, technical matters, economics and policy. It was established in August 2005 by Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri with the mandate to develop a national strategy for the analogue to digital migration.

The working group consists of representatives from the broadcasting industry, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, government, civil society, organised labour, and relevant consumer groups. The group presented its recommendations in a report to the minister in November 2006.

"Digital migration was mooted as early as the late 1990s in South Africa," said Matsepe-Casaburri at the handover. "Through technological transformation, digital broadcasting can deliver more benefits for the industry and the public, with reduced transmission costs in the long term. As government, we have an obligation to ensure that services reach every citizen of this country at an even more affordable rate."

A new study by UCLA and Danish researchers has raised another cell phone health issue.

After surveying more than 13,000 children, the scientists have concluded that women who used a cell phone while pregnant are much more likely to have unruly children.

While previous health studies have linked radiation from cell phones with potential tumor formation, this is the first research to tie cell phone use to behavioral issues.

The researchers said children of mothers who used cell phones while pregnant, even infrequently, ran a higher risk of developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotional control, and relationships by the time they started school. The risk increased if the children themselves used cell phones before age seven.

Since the researchers could not pinpoint a reason that cell phone use could affect behavior, critics may suggest that the link may not actually exist. Instead, the link might be explained by cultural factors.

Careers in information and communications technology (ICT) are often thought to be restricted to men. Such a common stereotype is far from the truth. Although the proportion of women graduating in engineering or computer science is still very low, young girls can expect a successful and rewarding career in the ICT sector. This topic is at the core of a conference organised today, ahead of International Women's day (8 March), in Brussels, where the European Commission will encourage young girls in Europe to "Move out of the shadow and seize the opportunITy".

"It is unacceptable that Europe lacks qualified ICT staff. If this shortage of computer scientists and engineers is not addressed, it will eventually slow down the European economic growth and Europe runs the risks of falling behind its Asian competitors", said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "We need to overcome common stereotypes which describe ICT careers as boring and too technical for women, and instead encourage women to succeed in this exciting, innovative and multi-facetted sector".

The role of women in the Middle East is changing, as is evidenced by enrollment in the Cisco Networking Academy program. Since January 2008, about 36% of the 1,200 newly enrolled students in Jordan are women. This brings the total number of participating students in Jordan to 6000 in the 34 Cisco Networking Academies across the Kingdom.

"We are excited to see such a significant increase of females in Jordan taking an  interest in ICT as a career that provides them with the expertise to contribute as productive members of their communities," said Nevine El Kadi, Middle East & Africa Networking Academy Program manager in Cisco. "By investing in local skills, the country is taking another step toward an even stronger economy that enhances its global competitiveness."

Researchers at the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have released an educational spelling game available free of charge in all 11 official South African languages.   

The game, called OpenSpell, was the inspiration of researcher and linguist, Dr Madelaine Plauché and open source software developer Richard Carlson.

One of the most astonishing results in a market so new is that, overall, 52% of respondents who had watched TV or video online said they would be interested in watching TV and movies on their laptops "on a regular basis." This points to a genuine boom in online viewing of prime content, which should strengthen the commitment of content owners and Internet players to develop workable standards and business models.

ARTICLE 19 has published a checklist designed for civil society organisations who wish to conduct analyses of the implementation status of the African Union's Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa. The checklist intends to allow civil society organisations working on issues relating to freedom of expression and access to information to establish the key obstacles to the fulfilment and protection of freedom of expression. According to the publishers, the checklist interprets each article of the Declaration in a comprehensive manner, providing details on how freedom of expression should be fulfilled and provided for. The checklist can be used for researching and writing "shadow reports" to be submitted to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

This package was produced as part of the training component of UNESCO's Media Development Project in Mozambique. The overall objective of the UNESCO project is to strengthen the human and technical capacity of the media - especially the independent and private media - in Mozambique. This is part of the process of enhancing democracy, good governance and human rights in the country while promoting professionalism and editorial independence. The training package therefore addresses only one aspect of this process. Its overall objective is to ensure the furtherance of more gender sensitive media reporting at a time of great social change in Mozambique and other parts of southern Africa.