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The Drum Beat 681 - Highlights from the International Seminar on Children and Communication: Rights, Democracy, and Development

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681
The Drum BeatHighlights from the International Seminar on Children and Communication: Rights, Democracy, and Development - The Drum Beat 681
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For The Communication Initiative (The CI), the role of communication in the processes of social transformation is strategic - particularly in communicating with, for, and about children and adolescents. For this reason, this will be the first in a series of newsletters to be sent in the course of 2015 related to the subject.

This issue of The Drum Beat gathers knowledge and debate generated during the "International Seminar on Children and Communication: Rights, Democracy and Development". The Agencia de Noticias por los Derechos de la Infancia - ANDI Comunicación y Derechos (ANDI Communication and Rights), in collaboration with various organisations, has launched a series of initiatives to promote public debate on the convergence of the rights of children with the right to communicate. One such activity was the completion in 2013 of the seminar in Brasilia (Brazil), which brought together representatives of governments, parliaments, international cooperation agencies, media companies, research centres, and civil society organisations. The meeting outlined the relationship between freedom of expression and protection of the rights of children and youth, with the aim of the adoption of public policies that are designed to promote positive impacts and minimise negative impacts of media.

This Drum Beat, which is based on the Son de Tambora e-magazine published in December 2014 by our sister site La Iniciativa de Comunicación, presents the main conclusions of the seminar, including the recently published "Comunicación y Derechos en revista" ["Communication and Rights"] magazine from ANDI. To read the Son de Tambora in Spanish, click here.

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INVITED SPECIALISTS
The Brasilia seminar brought together specialists from diverse backgrounds and professional fields. To mention some of them, the agencies of the United Nations were represented by: Frank La Rue, at that moment the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression; Marta Maurás, Vice President of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; Rafael Obregón, Head of the Communication for Development Section of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); and Guilherme Canela, Minister of Communication and Information for Mercosur and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chile.

Northern nations that participated were represented by: Brian O'Neill, Director of the School of Communication of the Institute of Technology of Dublin (Ireland); Divina Frau-Meigs, Advisor to the Council of Europe and UNESCO Professor of Sociology and Media at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle (France); Susan Linn, director of the coalition Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (United States); Leon Willems, Director of Free Press Unlimited and Chairman of the Global Forum on Migration and Development - GFMD (Netherlands); and Chris Elliott, Reader's Advocate from The Guardian (United Kingdom).

Representatives from developing countries included: José Eduardo Cardozo, Minister of Justice of Brazil; Jaime Delgado, Deputy in the Congress of the Republic of Peru; Aida Doggui Moreno, Coordinator of the Byrsa Movement (Tunisia); Guillermo Mastrini, Director of the Master of Cultural Industries of the National University of Quilmes (Argentina); Marcelo Canellas, special reporter for TV Globo (Brazil); and William Bird, Director of Media Monitoring Africa (South Africa), among other specialists and authorities.
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A JOINT COLLABORATION ON CHILDREN, RIGHTS, AND MEDIA
ANDI organised the International Seminar on Children and Communication: Rights, Democracy, and Development in cooperation with the National Secretariat for the Promotion of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, a bureau of the Ministry of Human Rights, Presidency of the Republic of Brazil; the National Secretariat of Justice, Ministry of Justice of Brazil; and the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Conanda). The event also featured PETROBRAS sponsorship and support from the Ford Foundation, TV Escola, the Red ANDI Brazil, ANDI Latin America Network, and The CI.

During the 3-day event, important issues for sustainable social development were discussed, as were the following: the challenges of ensuring broad freedom of expression; education for the media; the opportunities and risks of new technologies; the convergence of communication platforms; participation of children and adolescents in media production; advertising directed towards children; classification/rating systems of entertainment content; the quality of information and self-regulation of the press; and the media as a tool for social inclusion and the guarantee of rights.
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RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Latin America faces the challenge of producing regulatory frameworks to guarantee this right. The main threats in the area of freedom of expression are: undue State interference for the purpose of filtering and modulating the flow of information circulating in the public sphere, and the concentration of ownership of the media - both economically and geographically - which tends to hamper equal participation, including representation on behalf of children and adolescents, in various social sectors in the public debate.

In order to combat these threats, during the seminar, analysts recommended the adoption and improvement of democratic regulation mechanisms in three strategic areas: state regulation; self-regulation and corporate social responsibility; and the creation and implementation of mechanisms set up by civil society to monitor the media.

Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: "It is necessary to understand that for 40 or 50 years, Latin America has not regulated the media space, which is the public space par excellence. These media today have a very strong power of democracy, and democracy has the right to regulate this space as it does with others, without stifling freedom of expression, but impose some rules to the game."

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CHILDREN AND TEENS AS SUBJECTS OF COMMUNICATION
Quality, accountability, and inclusion were some of the topics focused on during the meeting. Participants agreed that children and young people, as consumers of media content (both through traditional platforms and new technologies), deserve the right to access content that respects their intellectual and emotional vulnerability and that contributes to enriching and diversifying their opportunities for education and socialisation.

The UNICEF representative in Brazil, Gary Stahl, said: "There can be no democratic communication without giving voice to children, girls and youth". Thus, a way forward that can ensure quality media production for children and adolescents is one that views them as individuals with a role in communication and not just as passive objects - i.e., not as mere consumers. They should listen, but also be placed at the forefront of participatory processes, giving them room in the media and in the production of content.

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MEDIA EDUCATION IN SCHOOL
The "International Seminar on Children and Communication: Rights, Democracy and Development" was a space of recognition of the strategic importance of education for the media in the development of children and adolescents, as it strengthens their receptive capacity in a way that is more conscious and critical. This should be a constant concern of everyone involved in the educational process: the State, teachers and school managers, and parents.

During the debate, Mônica Gardelli Franco, Director of Development of Educational Content for the Ministry of Education of Brazil, stated that: "We should always have a question in mind: who benefits from that content? To answer it, we ought to give the first step toward critical consciousness." According to her, "only after this stage will we be able to take a position based on our own opinion. This is an arduous task of education - that of getting young people and children, as well as parents, to become aware of this."

For specialists gathered at the event, in general, media education is based on three essential pillars: the use of media content as a teaching tool; training of consumers on how to be critical of media; and learning the operation of different languages and platforms that also stimulate, in the latter case, the active participation of children and adolescents and enable them to become producers of media.

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ACCESS TO NEW MEDIA
New technologies offer a valuable range of opportunities: access to wider informative and entertaining material, the experience of interactivity, the ability to produce and disseminate content, and connectivity of social networks, among others. However, the potential provided by new technologies is not available to everyone. In assessing the situation of those in developing countries, the digital divide is one of the main problems faced by the new generation, and States must prioritise public policies to address this challenge.

Innocent Nkata, Executive Director of Social Mobilization of Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication of South Africa, questioned whether "new technologies can change the lives of people, even though they can also exacerbate their exclusion, particularly on the part of historically vulnerable minorities".

Along the lines of this panorama offered by the world of new media, the debate focused on the need for "harmonisation" of two rights of children and adolescents: that of enjoyment of the benefits of the virtual world and that of protection from risks that are associated with this world. During the meeting, participants talked about digital inclusion, pursuing the themes of: internet regulation, supervision of content, risks and opportunities that the network offers our children and youth, and implementation of preventive public policies that protect the younger segments of the population.

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IMPACT OF ADVERTISING
Children and adolescents have become preferential targets for industry marketing and advertising. To address this issue, the meeting reviewed the solutions adopted by different countries to mitigate the adverse effects the advertising world has on the physical and psychosocial development of children.

Discussion was held on analysing phenomena such as the "commercialisation of childhood", the promotion of a consumer culture, and its damaging effect on the health of children, among other topics. Specialists and public managers from different continents voiced the call for corporate responsibility and confirmed the importance of regulatory mechanisms. "Brazilian children between 4 and 11 years spend an average of five hours a day watching television, more time than they spend in school, where the average length is four hours. The challenge constitutes avoiding having the advertising be more influential on child development than the education itself," warned Wanderlino Nogueira, member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations.

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CLASSIFICATION OF CONTENT
The seminar had as one of its main focuses the issue of classification of entertainment content, against the negative impacts of the media, as a key to promote the protection of children and adolescents. Rating content for age appropriateness and "fun with security" were some of the conclusions.

"Sometimes we forget that the right to freedom of expression should be for everyone, not just the media. The social interest in protecting children must prevail as a higher interest - thus needed in all countries. This is not speaking of limiting content but rather regulating the schedule of broadcast," said the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue.

Different countries have implemented regulatory practices for this purpose under criteria that seek to provide access to audiovisual products for certain age groups and, in the case of television, also link the broadcast of these products to specific time slots. In other countries, the challenge has yet to be resolved. Protection initiatives, with regard to potentially harmful media content, are still encountering strong resistance from media companies, which consider them a threat to their economic interests.

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JOURNALISM IN THE TECHNOLOGICAL ERA
The crisis facing the media is not solely economic. It also takes the form of changing consumption habits driven by new technologies and by a more critical stance of the public, who at times question the degree of independence and reliability of journalism practiced by the media.

In this context, participants reflected on the words of various specialists regarding: independence; regulation and self-regulation; the production of quality journalism; and the relationship of journalism to children's rights, democracy, and development.

For Ricardo Corredor, Executive Director of Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Journalism - FNPI, it "is important that the media are transparent in their management, in the same way that is required of governments. Although the media is being questioned, they are a reference of credibility."

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SOME EXPERIENCES of PARTICIPANTS
1. EU Kids Online - UK - is a global research network that aims to improve the knowledge base of experiences and practices of children and parents with regard to safer internet use for children in Europe. EU Kids Online has enjoyed the participation of teams of researchers from over 25 countries. The project seeks to: achieve robust and comparable conclusions about the impact of online risk among European children; pinpoint which children are at risk and why by examining vulnerabilities (both individually and country-wide); and examine the operation, the effectiveness of parental control, awareness strategies, and responses of children themselves to risks, as well as digital literacy.
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2. National Network of Youth and Young Communicators (Red Nacional de Adolescentes y Jóvenes Comunicadores) - RENAJOC - Brazil - is a network, created in 2008, that encourages actions that promote the right of adolescents and young people to communicate and be part of the process of producing information. Participants participate in events on the subject in Brazil and in national debates on adolescence, youth, and communication. RENAJOC created the "C Day" - National "Youth Communicate" Day, which is celebrated on October 17 with the Day of the Democratization of Communication.
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3. Media Monitoring Africa - South Africa - is a nonprofit organisation that promotes democracy and a culture in which the media respect human rights and promote more just societies. The three areas addressed by a human rights-based approach are: media ethics, quality of the media, and press freedom. To achieve its objectives, the project exercises supervision over the content received from the media - from monitoring techniques based on research to content analysis. Beyond providing accurate data on the performance of the media, it is a way to exercise control and demand a permanent commitment regarding human rights. Media Monitoring Africa also provides advice to other organisations in implementing media monitoring projects and has experience in formulating policy-related content from regional and local television, as well as drafting of editorial policies.
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4. Center of Archives and Access to Public Information (Centro de Archivos y Acceso a la Información Pública - CAinfo) - Uruguay - is an organisation dedicated to promoting and defending the right to information, freedom of expression, and citizen participation in Uruguay. The centre works on issues such as education around - as well as promotion, monitoring, and defense of - human rights through various lines of work that include: access to public information, freedom of expression, and advice to citizens around the right of access to public information.
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5. Sesame Workshop - Global - founded in 1968, is a nonprofit organisation that works with local writers, artists, researchers, filmmakers, and educators in over 150 countries around the world to create characters that feature in various edutainment programmes, games, and content designed specifically for young children. Since its inception, this organisation has been premised on the conviction that TV is a tool for learning and research in this field, which can determine the best uses of this tool. Sesame Workshop intends to develop innovative and compelling content that is delivered in a variety of formats: television, books, magazines and other printed materials, interactive media activities online, CD-ROMs, video games, movies, and community involvement.
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6. National Committment to Quality Television for Children (Compromiso Nacional por una Televisión de Calidad para la Infancia - Citurna) - Colombia - is an intersectoral partnership through which public institutions, public and private channels, academia, advertisers, the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), associations of parents, and educators in Colombia have joined together to work on television, children, and their development. Aims include: generating lines of development; establishing partnerships for the exchange of information; promoting training to develop skills related to production and programming; developing processes that encourage citizen participation and supervision; and strengthening public debate on television, children, and adolescents in the country.
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7. Agency Patrícia Galvão - Brazil - is an initiative of the Patrícia Galvão Institute that aims to influence the production of news and content on the rights of Brazilian women and girls. This approach involves providing a selection of suggested tools, news reports, innovative approaches, and specialised sources to broaden and deepen the debate on the rights of women and girls, as well as stimulate demand for public policy on these rights. The agency also produces content that is permanently made available for use by journalists in the country.
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8. Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood Campaña por una Infancia Libre de Comerciales - ccfc - United States - was created in 2000 with the goal of ending the exploitation of children and adolescents through marketing and advertising. It promotes the regulation and corporate responsibility of this industry and seeks to change attitudes amongst adults so that children might have more space for active and recreational play and less time in front of screens. The idea is that a changing environment is conducive to children, helping parents and educators to create commercial-free environments at home and at school.
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9. Advisory Council for Radio and Television - Consejo Consultivo de Radio y Televisión (CONCORTV) - is a specialised body comprising members of society, businesses, and the State, all of whom hope to promote good practice in radio and television in Peru. Among recent quantitative studies developed by the entity are: "Study of Attitudes, Habits and Views on Radio and Television" in 17 cities of Peru and "Study on the Image of Children on Television," published in 2013.
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MORE INFORMATION ON ANDI
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This issue of The Drum Beat was written by the CILA team, with translation and editing by Kier Olsen DeVries and Julie Levy.
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The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative Partnership - Partners: ANDI, BBC Media Action, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Breakthrough, Calandria, Citurna TV, DFID, FAO, Fundación Imaginario, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), Inter-American Development Bank, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, MISA, Oxfam Novib, PAHO, The Panos Institute, Puntos de Encuentro, The Rockefeller Foundation, SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, STEPS International, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, The Wellcome Trust, World Health Organization (WHO), W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za

Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com
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The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.
Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on communication for development at any time. Send to drumbeat@comminit.com

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

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