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RESOURCE
MATERIAL / Media
Diversity: DISABILITIES
AND HEALTH |
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selection of articles and resources examining the theory of the media's role in
reporting on people with disabilities and health |
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Manual for Journalists covering Disability in Africa
Journalists in Africa who want to include the concerns of people with disabilities in their news coverage can consult a training manual released by the Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities . The manual is intended to help the some 80 million persons with disabilities in Africa that are often discriminated against and excluded from schools, work opportunities and health services, to become more visible in their societies, according to the report's introduction.
To access the manual click here  (PDF / 661KB)
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HIV/AIDS: Media Guide
Journalists interested in HIV/AIDS can now access a new media guide. The resource is available in English, French, Tamil, Khmer and Tagalog. The guides were launched on November 30 2006 by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its local network of associated organizations in Asia and Africa. They are part of a two-year program supported by the Swedish trade union movement, the LO-TCO.
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Report: AIDS coverage has room to improve
A global federation of journalists' unions is calling for more training programs to improve news coverage of HIV and AIDS worldwide. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is making several recommendations based on the findings of a research report it released July 25.
Based on the findings, IFJ says that standards for reporting on the sensitive issue are improving, but there is still much room for improvement.
The research involved content analysis of 356 stories over two-week period in Cambodia, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa and Zambia. About 79 percent of the stories were published in print media, and the rest were broadcast on the radio or TV. The researchers also surveyed journalists and NGOs in those countries.
Download the full report (PDF format)
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Reporting
Diversity - People with Disabilities (PDF / 191KB)
The Media Diversity
Institute’s “Reporting Diversity Guide” is a comprehensive manual
for journalists and trainers. It includes a 'Disabled People’ section that
provides tips on reporting on people with disabilities and case studies of two
articles on this theme from Serbia and the United States.
(MDI, 2002
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• Reporting Manual on HIV/AIDS  (PDF / 870KB)
This reporting guide on HIV/AIDS was designed for journalists covering the global epidemic, often on short notice. The Kaiser Family Foundation undertook this project as part of its continuing commitment to combating HIV/AIDS through public education and awareness. The material covers a broad range of subjects including the science, treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. (Kaiser Family Foundation) |
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How are we looking?
There are few disabled people seen on television dramas or documentaries, not to mention seen in advertising campaigns. Disability advocates argue that they should be seen both in front of, and behind, the camera. (The Guradian, December 2005)
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Deadline for Health: The Media's Response to Covering HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria in Africa
A study of health reporting in Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi and Senegal, by the African Women's Media Center (AWMC), with a focus on the media's response to covering HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. It used a combination of personal interviews, focus groups (with the media, government officials and NGOs) and analysis of newspapers. More than 25 million people Africans live with HIV/AIDS, while 90 percent of all deaths from malaria are in Africa. Timely, accurate and responsible information is a key to managing, living with and conquering these diseases, says the AWMC. The media has a central role to play in this. (PDF / 1.4MB)
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New network of African journalists to target HIV/AID
A group of Central and West African journalists attending a recent workshop (June 2005) have agreed to form a network aimed at increasing the impact of journalism in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Journalists from 18 countries took part in the workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The focus was on increasing the political involvement of journalists in HIV/AIDS control. For more information, contact Kingsley Obom-Egbulem from Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) in Nigeria at Kingsley@nigeria-aids.org (IJNet)
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Mopani Junction: Zimbabwean radio soap opera on HIV/AIDS
Mopani Junction is a 104-episode radio soap opera about HIV/AIDS that is broadcast in Zimbabwe in three languages: English, Ndebele, and Shona. The series aims to challenge individuals, families, and communities to move beyond awareness of HIV/AIDS by thinking, talking, and taking action to protect and care for themselves and others.
(Communication Initiative)
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Daily papers for the blind now available in six minutes
A new British computer program can make daily newspapers available for visually impaired people within six minutes of their publication. The technology, developed by the Talking Newspaper Association of the United Kingdom (TNAUK), is the brainchild of Neil McLachlan and Professor Isaac Porat, computer engineers who are both blind.
(Press Gazette)
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| • | Media
misreporting of mental illness is no joke
Sixty per cent of UK people
with mental health problems blame media coverage for discrimination they experience
in their daily lives. Liz Nightingale from Rethink, the UK's largest severe mental
illness charity, writes that the organisation's members think that misrepresentation
adds to a stigma that is often worse than the illness itself.
(Press
Gazette)
| | • | Guidelines
for writing about disabled people
Language
guidelines for writing about disabled people, from the Greater London Action on
Disability (GLAD) group. (GLAD)
| | • | Interviewing
People With Disabilities
Interview tips for journalists from the US-based National Center on Disability
and Journalism. (National
Center on Disability & Journalism
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Suicide
Sensitive Journalism Handbook (PDF / 236KB)
Produced
by the Sri Lankan 'Centre for Policy Alternatives' and the 'PressWise Trust (UK)',
this handbook opens by informing readers that the media can play a powerful role
in educating the public about suicide prevention. It is packed with practical
reporting tips, as well as examples of current practice in Sri Lanka, based on
three-month's monitoring of suicide coverage in the press there.
(Centre
for Policy Alternatives & UNICEF)
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| • | Reporting
Suicide: Guidelines for Journalists from Journalists
The
PressWise Trust, the National Union of Journalists (UK and Ireland) and the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) compiled these guidelines in consultation with
suicide prevention agencies. The aim of the guidelines is to assist print, broadcast
and on-line journalists to appreciate the risks associated with suicide coverage,
and suggest simple ways of avoiding unnecessary harm.
(PressWise Trust)
| | • | Disabling
imagery and the media: Media Representation of disabled people
This study by the British Council of Organisations of Disabled People focuses
on the stereotypical portrayals in the UK media of people with disabilities, and
provides recommendations to prevent these misrepresentations. One of study’s
major concerns is the way charities represent the disabled, but it also examines
other aspects of the media, such as books, films, television, radio and the press.
(British
Council of Organisations of Disabled People)
(PDF
/ 179KB)
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| • | Depictions
of people with disabilities in the British media
Ashwin Bulsara argues
that media's portrayal of disable people in the United Kingdom has a long history
of oppressive and negative representation. Disable people have been presented
as socially flawed able-bodied people rather than as disabled people with their
own identity. (by Ashwin Busara)
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| • | Intimate
Encounters - Body Image
An essay about sexuality, disability and body image: Australian Belinda Mason-Lovering
has created a unique, highly emotive series of photographic essays called Intimate
Encounters, which encompass a broad range of socially taboo issues..... | | |
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Effect of Media on the Stigma Towards Mental Illness
An American study
found that the majority of people there identified
the mass media as their
primary source of information on mental illness. The author of this article says
that this is of particular concern due to the inaccuracies and misinformation
associated with electronic media's portrayal of people with mental illness.
(MAH)
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Mindless
and Deadly: Media hype on mental illness and violence
Despite the
common media link between mental illness and violence, scientific research has
cast doubt on the causal connection, reads this article from US organisation FAIR
(‘Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting’).
(FAIR)
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Australian report on reporting suicide and mental illness (PDF / 211KB)
'Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness' is a resource for journalists commissioned by Australia's Department of Health and Ageing. It was developed with the assistance of media professionals, suicide and mental health experts and consumer organisations. It is designed to inform responsible and appropriate reporting of suicide and mental illness in order to reduce harm and copycat behaviour, and reduce the stigma experienced by people who experience a mental illness.
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How
the Australian Media Report on Suicide and Mental Health (PDF / 508KB)
A
summary of a major Australian study, commissioned by the Department of Health,
that examined the way the media report and portray suicide and mental health and
illness. It focuses on the extent and nature of coverage, rather than the impact
of media reports. |
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