"Donor-funded journalism is a complex sphere, frequently characterised by balancing acts between the priorities of two vastly different environments. The health desk of one of South Africa’s legacy media outlets, the Mail & Guardian, owes its existence to philanthropy. Launched in 2013, the Bhekis
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isa Health Journalism Centre produces in-depth, analytical coverage of health and social justice issues in Africa. With a grant from the German government, Bhekisisa appointed a health editor and two reporters in January 2013. In September 2015, the organisation expanded further to six full-time staff members and 15 freelance correspondents, after it received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Because of donor funds, Bhekisisa has become an entity that a few years ago was unimaginable: the Mail & Guardian’s largest specialist desk—more than thrice the size of the political desk. But the centre’s donor resources, and accompanying impact, have come at a great cost. It has radically changed staff members’ job descriptions from being mere journalists or editors to spending significant time—often up to 30 per cent for reporters and 40 per cent for editors—as data collectors, fundraisers, event organisers, proposal writers, conference moderators, creators of information management systems and donor report writers." (Abstract)
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"In addition to access to scientific information on HIV and AIDS, TV producers need skills to use new information technologies; talent to hold the interest of the public audience and inspiration to report sensitively and creatively about HIV and AIDS. The effort is huge but it pays off when air-time
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is allocated by broadcasters to transmit quality, prime-time programmes. This handbook is intended for TV producers who wish to make that extra effort; it aims to enlarge possibilities for accurate and credible TV reports on HIV and AIDS." (Foreword)
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"This manual is intended to help you train non-governmental organizations working in HIV-related fields and People Living with HIV (PLHIV) Networks on how to work effectively with the media. The manual is based on Internews Network’s Local Voices Training Curriculum that was developed by the Kenya
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Local Voices Program in 2003-2005. This curriculum has also been implemented and adjusted where appropriate by the Internews Local Voices Programs in Nigeria, Ethiopia and India. The manual consists of a five day step-by-step training agenda. It is possible to modify this program for a four-day training by slightly shortening all the sessions. A workshop based on this training model that is shorter than four days would not be as effective, because there are several issues being addressed in the different modules that can’t be left out, as they all relate to one another. It works well to start the workshop on a Monday and end it on a Thursday or Friday. Local Voices workshops accommodate about ten participants per training. The training modules are practical and aimed at getting participants to apply their newly acquired skills during the workshop. Participants are required to organize an actual media event for the last day of their training. This event allows participants to gain real life experience organizing a media event. It also serves as an opportunity for participants to interact socially and to develop relationships with participating journalists so they can begin trusting each other and working together to produce accurate and compelling coverage." (Introduction)
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"Internews Network, a U.S.-based organization that for more than two decades has trained journalists around the world, in 2002 received funding from the United States Agency for International Development to launch a project in Africa to help media improve their coverage of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Cal
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led “Local Voices,” the project expanded to Ethiopia in 2005 and India in 2006. In 2004, Internews Europe started a similar project in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia, “Turnaround Time,” with funds from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. That project evolved to do trainings in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. This report evaluates Local Voices and Turnaround Time and aims to help strengthen the continuing training programs [...] Both projects had a similar, overarching goal: To increase the quality and quantity of HIV/AIDS coverage, improving the environment for prevention, treatment and care. Although we have no way of assessing whether the projects had an impact on a societal level, over 1000 journalists went through carefully designed workshops, subsequently printing or broadcasting more than 5600 HIV/AIDS-related stories that Internews mentors often helped produce. Journalists clearly benefited from the trainings at each site, and many praised the program for fundamentally altering how they approach their jobs." (Executive summary)
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