Media as socially responsible business

• Two ways of measuring the media’s CSR performance:

1. Reporting / Output (coverage of CSR)

2. Non-reporting initiatives

The BBC as a socially responsible business

• Editorial Policy

• Marketing / Audience Research

• Feedback

• BBC Outreach

• BBC World Service Trust

The BBC World Service TrustUsing communications for development

• Charity established by BBC in 1999 to use media and communications to reduce poverty and promote human rights, thereby enabling people to build better lives.

• Strong emphasis on research and impact evaluation

• Reaches potential audiences of 163 million through BBC World Service and 85 million through BBC World TV in 33 different languages. Greater scale through national and local media partners

• Working in 40 countries worldwide - Africa, Asia, Middle East, FSU and Europe

• Access to skilled BBC staff, transferring broadcasting expertise globally in TV, Radio and Online Production with development focus.

• £17m income for 2006/7. DFID, EU, Dutch, Swiss, Norwegians, UN Agencies and Foundations.

The role of the media in development

• What is the role of the media in stimulating national debate and creating a demand for change?

• How can media form part of national information strategies? (provide communities with health, livelihoods and education)

• How should the media in developing countries be

strengthened to enable it to play a more effective role?

The BBC World Service TrustUsing communications for development

Work focused around 5 key themes:

• Health

• Governance

• Humanitarian Response

• Environment

• Learning for Livelihoods

Arriving a Governance Strategy

STEP 1: Define “Good Governance”

EU categories: Effective/Difficult/Post-Conflict

USAID: Governance = Parliamentary democracy

DFID: Transparent, Accountable, Effective &Participatory

STEP 2

• Identifying where media can make a difference

• Defining direct and indirect goals for WST Governance and HR work

Arriving a Governance Strategy

WST Governance DIRECT GOALS

• Transparency. Freedom of information, clarity and openness in decision-making

• Participation. Freedom of association, ability to voice views/participate in electoral process

• Accountability. Power to question public authorities.

WST Governance INDIRECT GOALS

• Peace. Conflict resolution, peace building, social cohesion; democratic transfers of power

• Fairness. Rule of law, equal rights and treatment for all

• Human Rights. Respect for civil, political, social and economic rights

• Government effectiveness. Freedom from corruption, use of resources in the public interest.

STEP 3 – Evaluating Context

Trawling through indicators – TI, FH, ODI, USAID, etc etc

WB aggregates multiple indices under:Voice and Accountability Political stabilityGovernment effectiveness Regulatory QualityRule of Law Control of Corruption

Arriving a Governance Strategy

Using WB Indicators

• Totalled

• Discarded high scorers

• Doubled Voice & Accountability

• Used V&A and Political Stability to assess two categories:

– Conflict

– Closed

=> WST Governance Indicators

STEP 4 – Identifying the Governance Continuum

Conflict Transitional Stable

Closed

Arriving a Governance Strategy

Intervention Level

STEP 5 – Defining Methods, Tools and Sub Goals for each Context:

Conflict TransitionalStable Closed

• Participation key to all Governance work

• Working at different levels of intervention

Arriving a Governance Strategy

Examples of WST Governance Work

CONFLICT Some aspects of Darfur

TRANSITIONAL Transitional Justice Sierra Leone ElectionsExtractive IndustriesBangladesh Sanglap

STABLE Nigeria BM/Voices

CLOSED Iran

WST Governance Project: Iran Media

Funded by the Dutch Government

January 2006 – December 2007

The achievements of the Iran Media project

– Training more than 150 journalists and aspiring journalists through

• Face to face training • iLearn (online learning courses) in Persian

– Launching a multimedia community website – Broadcasting a live weekly radio discussion

programme

Bojnurd

Sari

Esfahan

Shiraz

KermanMasjed Soleyman

TehranKaraj

Khorramabad

Mahabad

Mashhad

Bushehr

Rasht

Qom

Gorgan

Kashan

Where our trainees come from…

Ahvaz Zahedan

Babol

Bushehr

Bandar Abbas

Sirjan

Birjand

Face to face training in Istanbul 2006

Using iLearn

• Training expertise

• Training material (including basic journalism, ethics, radio, TV, online, health reporting, reporting conflict, environmental journalism)

• A CMS (Content Management System) www.i-learn.co.uk/cms

• Websites e.g. www.i-learn.co.uk

• A discussion forum for trainees

Interactive online journalism training…and all the things that enable it, including:

Learning modules in iLearn

An interactive questionnaire

Zigzag Online Magazine

• Workshop: a virtual newsroom for trainees

• Participation: promoting general discussions

• Media awareness: engaging the audience in media related topics

Virtual Newsroom

– Trainees Feedback

– News Ideas

– Draft Stories

– Trainers Feedback

– Publication– Public Feedback

Moving up the ladder

Editors

Contributors

Trainees

Registered Users

General Users

The project after seven months…

• 500,000 visits on the website

• 275,000 unique visitors

• 1,500,000 page impressions (not including visitors on BBC Persian website)

• 30,000 average visits of Zigzag articles on BBC Persian website

• 2000 registered users

• 2650 posts in discussion forums

Impact of the project

• Trainees with improved media skills have been recruited by national news organizations

• Ideas have been picked up by other Persian media outlets• Stories have been republished or rebroadcast by Iranian print media

and Persian broadcasters around the world• Participants have a more critical approach towards media and

journalistic output• Trainees have shared the learning material with their fellow journalists

in local media• Some trainees have taken up editorial roles on the Zigzag website and

radio show• Formation of a virtual community of young media professionals

Research and Learning department of the BBC World Service Trust is conducting an intensive audience study and impact research for the project

What we do

• The Trust works within five specific fields to improve health in developing and transitional contexts:

1. Maternal and child health2. HIV and AIDS3. Sexual and reproductive health4. Infectious diseases (for example malaria, TB, trachoma)5. Psychosocial health (e.g. mental health, gender-based violence,

substance abuse)

• Key causes of morbidity and mortality • In line with Millennium Development Goals

Health

Health objectives

The Trust’s health projects aim to:

• Foster health-seeking attitudes and behaviours by increasing knowledge, discussion, debate, and life skills.

• Encourage the creation and use of appropriate health resources by increasing demand for products and services and informing community action to meet this demand.

• Generate health-enabling environments - changing social norms (e.g. reducing stigma), and improving skills (e.g. of health workers, NGOs, and government agencies).

Cambodia - Maternal and Child Health

Knowledge about breastfeeding immediately after birth increased from 38% to 67%.

Those washing hands to avoid diarrhoea increased from 10% to 25%.

MCH Cambodia

Parents washing hands to avoid diarrhoea increased from 10% to 25%.

Knowledge about breastfeeding immediately after birth increased from 38% to 67%.

Awareness of Acute Respiratory Infections increased 20% to 80%.

Parents taking child with ARI to a health centre increased from 51% to 70%.

Parents having a child with an ARI in the past 14 days reduced from 30% to 16%.

Impact

Formats - spots

Approach – Theoretical Foundations

•Early Communications for Development Approaches– Behaviour Change Communications– Social Marketing– Entertainment – Education

• Critiques of these approaches– Dependency Theory– Participatory Theory and Approaches– Media Advocacy– Social Mobilisation

Trust merges approaches: media (mass audience) and development (participatory, beneficiary based)

WST Approach

1. Identifying need (pre-proposal)– Millennium Development indicators – International initiatives: WHO, UNAIDS, Roll-back Malaria– Government strategies

2. Setting clear objectives (proposal stage)– Organised around Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices– Specific target audiences – Realistic about changes a media project alone can achieve – Sign-off with relevant government bodies: MoH, NACC etc...and

donor!

WST Approach

3. Engaging audiences – High-quality production– Distinctive and innovative content– Entertaining – Different formats for different objective

4. Locally-driven production– Understanding audience needs – formative research– Cultural awareness and engagement– Production in local languages– Peer-to-peer partnerships with broadcasters– Capacity building should be key element of health projects

Engaging at multiple levels

Population Level• Improving knowledge about how to prevent HIV transmission.• Increasing number of people being test for HIV

Practitioner Level• Health sector: encouraging health workers not to stigmatize people living with HIV and

AIDS• NGO and media sector: increase health communication skills

Organisation Level• Encouraging greater commitment to health programming among public service

broadcasters

Policy / Systems Level• Potential for advocacy work?• Potential to lobby for increased commitment to health programming within broadcasting sector?

Messaging: Barriers and Facilitators

Extensive research into barriers and facilitators to desired behaviour change.

What makes it difficult to change?• Psychological: fear, low self-efficacy• Financial• Access (lack of goods, clinics)• Lack of information or familiarity

What makes it easier to change?• Perceived benefits• Support, encouragement• Services available in area• Alternatives (prevention, treatment)• Information, role models, etc.

Messaging Briefs

What’s the issue?

What’s the objective?

Who is the target

audience?

What information does the target audience need?

Knowledge Attitude Behaviour

What are possible vehicles?

Message brief – Cambodia