MAGIC NEWS ARCHIVE JUNE 2004

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
OneMinutesJr workshop in Romania - September 2004

Within the framework of the OneMinutesJr network, UNICEF, the European Cultural Foundation and the Sandberg Institute will organize a workshop for Roma youngsters between 14-16 years of age. The workshop will take place in Targu Mures, Romania, from September 2-7. Roma boys and girls from Slovakia, Serbia & Montenegro, Romania, Hungary, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria are invited to APPLY for the workshop.
MORE INFO

NEWS
Latest Voices of Youth newsletter online - Young people and HIV and AIDS - "An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure"

On 11 July 2004, at the XV International AIDS Conference, young people will join policy and decision makers as they struggle with how to ensure access to HIV and AIDS information, skills, services and care for all. This 10th issue of “What Young People are Saying” underscores young people’s dedication to the fight against HIV and AIDS and their unique capacity to pinpoint the critical issues, concrete solutions and recommendations for what we all can do – together.
NEWSLETTER in pdf

PUBLICATIONS
Aspects of Human Development Journalism now part of University curriculum in Moldova
A university course of lectures on covering aspects of human development was recently published in Chisinau. The book, which appeared in 500 copies in Romanian and in Russian, is a joint initiative of the journalism department of Moldova State University and the Independent Journalism Center carried out under the auspices of UNICEF.
Major highlights include the fundamentals of reporting about social development, poverty, children's rights, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS and other issues. Since the fall semester of 2003, "Journalism for human development" is part of the university journalism curriculum.

PROJECTS
"Children under 16 Allowed!" competition held by Internews Russia
This summer, Internews and the Tochka Upory Foundation are holding a competition for children's animated films about human rights called "Children under 16 Allowed!"
The competition will fund the production of short animated films based on short novellas in Andrei Usachev's book "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Retold for Children and Adults," each of which illustrates provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The children's animation studios that are selected will participate in a pre-production workshop in Moscow and the finished films will be included in a multimedia encyclopedia of human rights that will be distributed to educational institutions throughout Russia. The competition is being carried out as part of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, a ten-year program (1995-2004) encouraging member states to eradicate illiteracy and to direct education towards the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
For more info, please contact Irina Emshanova, Director, "Kultura" Project for Internews Russia.

REPORTS
Watching TV 'blocks sleep hormone in children'
Exposure to television can influence melatonin levels in children and possibly contribute to the premature onset of puberty, according to a study by scientists from the University of Florence.
MORE

ARTICLES
Training School Subject Of Film - Former Resident, 16, Documents Conditions At Juvenile Facility
With a film crew in tow, a former resident of Connecticut's troubled Juvenile Training School has returned to document the problems that have plagued the Middletown facility.
The school, which has been the focus of investigations into allegations of youth beatings and of corruption in the Rowland administration, is now the subject of a brief film that provides commentary on juvenile justice.
Former resident Travis Ruffin, 16, returned in May with a camera crew of other teenagers to film a 25-minute documentary, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The project, organized and paid for by Youth Rights Media, a nonprofit group established by three Yale University graduates in 2000, produced the film, "CJT$: At What Cost?"
FULL ARTICLE (free subscription necessary)

REPORTS
Young reporters go to jail in Moldova

Five high-school journalists from the Youth Media Center in Chisinau went for a visit to their fellow detainees from the Reformatory Colony in Lipcani. It was the first time when teenagers that had nothing to do with the justice system committed no crime entered a Jail for minors.
The Reformatory Colony from Lipcani town is the only prison in the Republic of Moldova for boys between 14 and 18 years old that are convicted for law obstruction. At present, there are 185 young men between 14 and 21 years of age imprisoned here. They got here after committing theft, robbery, rape, and even murder. Depending on the gravity of their crime, each and every one of the boys has to remain in prison for a period that can vary from one to 10 years.
Life at the Colony is not easy, the boys say, but it is much better than at the Pre-trial Detention Facility. "Here we have got fresh air, we can see the sun and play football from time to time." A lot of the boys come from vulnerable, extremely poor families. They have been expelled from their schools, society, and even from their own families. Maxim is 17 years old and he comes from Chisinau. He wasn't even 10 when he became an orphan. His father left their family when Maxim was just a little boy. Then his mother died of tuberculosis. He lived alone and, from time to time, visited one of his aunts. Because Maxim didn't have money for food, he used to steal different things and then sell them. Only when he got bored of the street life he went to school. First time he was released on bail: "No one told me that for any small offence I could get back in court and that, the second time, my penalty would be even more severe", says Maxim. On the contrary, a lot of people told him he couldn't be imprisoned because he's a child. Maxim has been in the Reeducation Center of Lipcani for 2 years now. In another 2 years he will be free, but no one is waiting for him out. He says he will leave for Russia to look for his father, watch him in the eyes and ask for some help. Maxim dreams of having children and being able of providing them a decent life...
In the Republic of Moldova there is no Specialized Juvenile Justice System that would correspond to the special needs of the children suspected or accused of obstructing the law. Their cases are examined and compared with grown-up cases, and the procedure can last for months, or even years. As a result, even if they are guilty of something, their child rights are not being complied with. The reform of the juvenile justice system is still at the beginning.
UNICEF Moldova and the Government of the Republic of Moldova, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, have launched this year the project "Reforming the Juvenile Justice System in the Republic of Moldova". After this visit to the colony in Lipcani, the young journalists from the Youth Media Center, together with UNICEF Moldova, decided to initiate
activities for raising awareness of the public on juvenile justice issues. Also, they will inform their fellow detainees about their rights and obligations, about their health risks, life and freedom, and other things they should know about. In this way the boys would be more ready for returning into the society that is waiting for them, for the time they will be free and they will have to take the right decisions on their own.
VIEW THE PICTURE STORY BY THE YOUNG JOURNALISTS (pdf)

ARTICLES
Media Messages on Health & HIV/Aids Target African Youth
Messages created by and for young people have become a centerpiece of efforts to educate teens about health risks. Organizers of those campaigns say they are potent tools for protecting teens from HIV and other risks of sexual activity.
"Aids is replacing football as the most talked about subject," a contestant in a competition called "Scenarios from Africa" told researchers. "Before, we were not interested. Now we are."
FULL ARTICLE

NEWS
Express is on write track

Children's Express, Londondery's new youth journalism project, are expanding their membership ahead of their summer programme. The Strand Road-based youth organisation have been in operation for the last seven months in Derry, and have already made a huge impact, with many of their members getting published and broadcast across the local and national media.
Children's Express train young people in all aspects of media, including print, radio, television and photography, and aim to get young people's voices heard in wider society.
Read the FULL ARTICLE or go to the Children's Express website

EVENTS
World Refugee Day - June 20, 2004
Go to the special World Refugee Day page on MAGIC

AWARDS
Prix Jeunesse 2004 winners announced

Broadcasters/Producers from the Netherlands, Japan, Poland and Sweden won the awards in the regular categories.
"My name is Baata" (Mongolian National Television, Ulaanbaatar) was the winner of this year's UNESCO AWARD. "A programme of encouragement. Three Mongolian children find ways to help each other: to get along with, to resepect each other and to learn from each other. In just 11 minutes a simple story is told: About help, support, fun and respect. And the bottom-line for the viewer: We only can cope with our world in togetherness."
"With No ID" by City TV from Bogota, Colombia, won the UNICEF prize: "The programme is an excellent example of child participation in the media. Children have a central role - they are not only presenters, but they are also given the opportunity to express their views of their world. Its dynamic sections including the engaging news segment grabbed the full attention of the audience. The programme had the ability to capture Colombian kids in their surrounding, while at the same time, tackling serious issues related to conflict and child rights."
Other awards went to Germany, the US and Tanzania.
See the FULL LIST OF WINNERS

ARTICLES
Street Children have their own newspaper
Writing on the problems he faces is a part of Umesh's job; he is a ragpicker who doubles up as a journalist for 'National Children's Times,' a bi-monthly newspaper brought out by street children. Like him, Arun and Deepak, who also work as ragpickers, are the editors of NCT which has more than 70 children acting as correspondents, reporters and sub editors.
" NCT is a six page bi-monthly issue produced in two languages - Hindi and English," says Sunil Kumar, media co-ordinator of 'Butterflies,' an NGO which works with street children.
FULL ARTICLE

RESOURCES / PUBLICATIONS
How To Get Started And Keep Going: A Guide to Community Multimedia Centres
UNESCO has just released a handbook on Community Multimedia Centres entitled: "How To Get Started And Keep Going: A Guide to Community Multimedia Centres". Written by reputed practitioners and researchers working on CMCs or ICT for development, it is available in hard copy, CD Rom and on WebWorld. The book is a practical tool intended to be of use to those involved in CMCs or other models of community media (information centers, multipurpose telecentres, community learning centers, etc.).
MORE INFO IN ENGLISH
MORE INFO IN FRENCH

TRAINING
L'Unicef forme la presse de Goma aux droits de l'enfant
Du 21 au 24 mai 2004, le sous-bureau de l'Unicef à Goma a réuni à l'hôtel La Frontière, vingt-six professionnels des médias écrits et audiovisuels, dans le cadre d'un " Atelier de formation des journalistes de Goma sur la Convention relative aux droits de l'enfant ". Ces travaux, qui ont également connu la participation active de deux adolescents représentant le " Parlement d'enfants du Congo ", ont été animés par M. Justin Morel Junior, administrateur de la communication de l'Unicef et de son adjoint, M. Celestin Bibimbu, sous la modération de M. Roger Kahindo, chef de division provincial de la Presse et information.
Plusieurs thèmes y ont été abordés, parmi lesquels les stratégies de communication utilisées par l'Unicef pour sensibiliser l'opinion nationale et internationale aux droits des enfants et les genres journalistiques ; ce dernier point ayant été particulièrement apprécié de tous les participants qui ont, dans leur mot de clôture du séminaire, remercié l'Unicef pour ces enseignements théoriques et pratiques qui les aideront dans leurs prestations quotidiennes, que ce soit dans le domaine de la protection des droits de l'enfant ou en rapport avec la ligne éditoriale de leurs maisons de presse respectives. Pour finir, l'Unicef a promis aux journaux et radios présentes, de les équiper et de les sponsoriser pour la production d'articles et d'émissions radio en faveur de la défense des droits de l'enfant du Nord-Kivu.
UNICEF RDC Country website

EVENTS
Prix Jeunesse in Munich, Germany

Pictures from the Prix Jeunesse

EVENTS
Children watching war - International workshop, taking place during the Prix Jeunesse in Munich, Germany

The workshop is organized by the IZI and supported by the bpb MORE INFO

CALL FOR ENTRIES
International Children's Day of Broadcasting
UNICEF and the International Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences is now seeking entries of outstanding television programming for, with and by children for this year's International Academy/UNICEF award.
The prestigious International Academy/UNICEF Award honours television that appeals to the hearts and minds of children, giving them an opportunity to speak up and be heard. The Award is given to the broadcaster whose programming best captures the spirit of UNICEF's International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB).
The International Academy/UNICEF Award is presented at the annual International Emmys Gala, which is held in New York on 22 November 2004. Finalists for this year's award will be announced by the International Academy at a Press Conference during the MIPCOM 2004 television market to be held in France in early October. We welcome entries from all television stations that participated in ICDB 2003.
To enter the competition, please submit the presentation on a VHS tape (PAL or NTSC) with an accompanying entry form (which can be printed from the ICDB website and a detailed summary of the programme presentation. Note: if the programme presentation is longer than one hour, please submit a shortened, edited version, which should include all the segments pertaining to ICDB. There is no entry fee - if your programme is selected as one of the finalists, we will ask that you donate a copy on BETACAM tape, so that it can be screened at the awards ceremony, as well as photographs for website. Entries must be received by 31 July 2004.
And please don't forget ICDB 2004, for which we are inviting broadcasters to help children inform themselves and adults about how to build a community that protects everyone. Protection is the world's responsibility. Celebrate this year the International Children's Day of Broadcasting on Sunday, 12 December 2004.
For more info, email Jeannette Gonzalez, UNICEF Division of Communication.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Swedish television SVT joins the OneMinutesJr network

On 4th June 2004, SVT launched the OneMinutesJr on the SVT website, encouraging Swedish young people to make their one minutes movies, promoting them, and creating a link between Sweden and the rest of Europe. The Swedish OneMinutesJr will automatically join the annual competition. The collaboration will contribute to an even more creative synergy and a fruitful dialogue between young people form different countries.
Lena Glaser, Head of svt.se: “The web gives SVT a unique ability to invite the audience to participate, and in an easy way show the result. OneMinutesJr is an opportunity to do it in an international context. On the web we can bring the audience in Sweden and Europe together, which is very exiting”.

Go to the OneMinutesJr website

RADIO
Young radio journalists from Moldova participate in a radio drama addressing responsible health behaviour and HIV/AIDS prevention
J une 5 marked a new start for young radio journalists from the Youth Media Center in Chisinau, Moldova. In cooperation with Antena C Radio, and with UNICEF Offfice support, they launched a new weekly 45-minute radio programme for teenagers called “Paratrasnet” (Lightning rod). The programme addresses the most important issues for their age – health, sexuality, interpersonal communication etc. The aim of the programme is HIV/AIDS prevention among young people.
The programme is anchored by the radio journalist Tatiana Iojita from Antena C Radio (which covers 2/3 of the teritory of Moldova). Tatiana is experienced in producing radio programmes on sexuality, HIV/AIDS prevention and health for teenagers. The broadcast is live, interactive, with phone calls and discussions in
the studio, and includes weekly an episode of the radio drama called “Girls and boys”. In each episode, the main character - Niky, a teenage girl - and her friends have to take those small but important decisions that can affect their lives – to say "Yes" or "No" to peer pressure in specific situations, to accept or not a kiss, a drink, etc. The first series was dedicated to the first Niky’s discotheque and first date. There is a behavioural dilemma
at the end of each series and young people in the studio and those listening to Antena C radio discuss the decisions to be taken by the character and argue on-air on the next steps. Other listeners are asked to vote for one of the options by e-mail or send letters to the team.
The Youth Media Center is a resource center for young journalists of Moldova, supported by UNICEF Office and by Chisinau municipality. It is equipped with a radio studio, provides journalism training to children and young people.
For more info, email Violeta Cojocaru at UNICEF Moldova

OPPORTUNITIES / CALL FOR ENTRIES
Call for Entries: Two new awards at Prix Europa 2004

Young filmmakers and makers of radio drama hava new opportunities at this year's Prix Europa which will take place from 16 till 23 October in Berlin and Potsdam.
PRIX EUROPA SPOT "My Europe" is the name of the prize supported by the German Foreign Office which is looking for spots of one to two minutes in length about Europe. The spots should transcend national, cultural and language borders and communicate a very personal vision of Europe. In addition, Radio France, new to the festival's board, has initiated a new radio drama prize : the PRIX EUROPA RADIOFRANCE. So all in all this year 13 prizes with an overall value of 78.000 Euros are being awarded.
You can enter projects in all categories online in the section "Taking part". There you will find the appropriate forms for Television, Radio and Internet. In addition, you can register for personal participation in the Prix Europa 2004 as observer, jury member or press. Not to be neglected: the rules and regulations for the competition. The deadline for all entries is 1 July 2004.
PRIX EUROPA website

RADIO / AWARDS
Children's Lives, Children's Voices - The Winners

Children from the Democratic Republic of Congo and El Salvador have won "Children's Lives, Children's Voices", this year's OneWorld / UNICEF competition for the best radio produced by, for and with children. With children from Afghanistan and Burundi running them close in second place.
The winner in the features category is Sisi Watoto (We, the children), by Search for Common Ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Presented by children aged 16 and 17, the programme gives a voice to Congo's children affected by the war. The runner-up in this category is Shahrak Atfal (Children's City), by Internews Afghanistan. Produced by children aged 7 to 13, it is set in an ideal imagined city, and features an interactive radio, an invisible parrot, and a flying carpet.
The winner in the spots category is a radio campaign by Radio UPA in El Salvador. It covers six basic children's rights: education, participation, environment, the right to be heard, not to be abused, and access to HIV/AIDS information. The runner-up is a call for peace from Studio Ijambo in Burundi. It was produced with primary school children in Bujumbura during a time
of high tension prior to the handover of power from a Tutsi President to a Hutu President.
MORE INFO

ARTICLES
Media challenged by abuse stories - While increased media coverage of child abuse helps bring attention to the issue, reporters sometimes go too far in trying to get the best stories
A number of cases of child abuse recently prompted the Taiwanese Ministry of Interior (MOI) to issue a statement explaining all the laws and government policies that aim to protect children.
The media's interest in these cases has raised two issues: discretion when it comes to reporting news stories that involve minors, and whether social policies are comprehensive enough to protect children from harm.
FULL ARTICLE

EVENTS
Children In Tirana Draw Children's Rights Flag
On the occasion of June 1, International Day of Children, the Municipality of Tirana has declared the whole month of June as "Children's Rights Month". The activities aim to make the Albanian government and public opinion more sensitive about children's rights in Albania. One of the first activities to be organized was the drawing contest for the children's rights flag. The contest was carried out on May 22, and it gathered over 2000 children on the "Mother Theresa" square in Tirana. The children drew their visions of the flag, which will be raised in governmental and non-governmental institutions as a symbol that children's rights should be a priority for everybody.
In this contest children had the right to express themselves based on ideas such as: I don't have to work, I have the right to attend school, Children shouldn't be exploited, Municipality of Tirana should take care of us, I have the right to be respected, etc. The children divided in groups were assisted by some 200 volunteers from major children rights organisations.
FULL ARTICLE

OPPORTUNITIES / AWARDS
Global Youth In Action Award

You can win a $1,000 award, provided by the Global Youth Action Network. We challenge you to act on the issues that concern you! If you start a project that addresses a need in your community, you could win a $1,000 Global Youth In Action Award!
With a grant from the Shei'rah Foundation, this year's awards program particularly seek to recognize youth-initiated projects that take a new approach to problem-solving. Apply today - the deadline is July 1, 2004.
MORE INFO

PROJECTS
Radio Equipment Donated by UNESCO to a Papua New Guinea University
The students in communication arts and journalism from Divine Word University (Papua New Guinea) have greatly benefited from the use of the new digital radio equipment donated by UNESCO, under an IPDC project, in 2003. The equipment has been installed in University's specially built and secure Electronic Media Training Facility.
The students report that new portable minidisk recorders are very useful in their work. The courses in radio journalism and community reporting require them to go into communities and talk to people in the villages and settlements around Madang. Usually people are more willing to talk in their home environment and do not feel comfortable coming for an interview on campus. These small recorders enable the students to capture the atmosphere of villages, with background noise and music from local instruments.
FULL ARTICLE

ARTICLES
Tapping young readers in India
It is a month old print media product and yet to find an advertiser. The capital's largest circulated English newspaper, Hindustan Times, launched HT Next, its daily for the youth in the Delhi market on May 3.
The newspaper is yet to generate advertising though HT's vice president (marketing) Anand Bhardwaj is unfazed. "We have not marketed the paper to advertisers yet," he says. Though media products are usually launched with advertising support, Bhardwaj says HT Next wanted to go to the advertisers with respectable numbers. Currently, the paper prints 30,000 copies of HT Next. The paper for the youth is an all-colour product, for "those in-between" years, is targeted at the 13-22 year age group. The idea for a youth product has been brewing in the company for over six months. It stemmed from the logic that over 50 per cent of India's population is below 30 years. Also a tracking study showed that youngsters do not read newspapers. They only pick up the city supplements.
FULL ARTICLE

ORGANIZATIONS
European Youth Press - network of young media makers
The European Youth Press is an umbrella organisation of nine regional and national youth media associations all over Europe. The European Youth Press was founded May 5th, 2004 in Berlin during the youthmedia-congress "News in Motion 04"-congress. The founding members are Youth Press of Austria, ASPJ - Swiss Youth Press, Youth Press of Germany, Balkan Youth Press, League of Young Russian Journalists, FAR - Bulgaria, Young Journalists' Association "Polis" - Poland, DUE - Hungarian Youth Press, Ungmedia - Swedish Youth Press.
MORE INFO

RADIO / RESOURCES
Evaluation and monitoring Toolbox created for a UNICEF-supported youth radio project in Kyrgyzstan
community radio stations can monitor and evaluate their health and social development programming despite being small, with limited funds. That's the message of an evaluation and monitoring Toolbox created especially for a UNICEF-supported youth radio project in Kyrgyzstan.
MORE INFO

ARTICLES
Revealed: How food firms target children
Methods used by the food industry to target children, bypassing parents and deploying "viral marketing" and "underground communication" have been uncovered by the Guardian on the day MPs publish a damning account of the government's "woefully inadequate" response to obesity.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show that the industry is exploiting sophisticated techniques to market to children without their parents' knowledge.
FULL ARTICLE

OPPORTUNITIES / ARTS
International Poster Competition: Utopia Station II
Utopia: an ideal that has driven mankind since the beginning of time. What will the future bring? What will the world of the future look like? How will we live? These and other questions are the focus of an international series of exhibitions that opened in June 2003 at the much-anticipated Biennale Festival in Venice, Italy. Conceptualized and curated by Molly Nesbit, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rikrit Tiravanija, the UTOPIA STATION project brings together the work of contemporary artists from different genres.
The International Child Art Foundation complements this concept with a project for children worldwide. Under the motto "Utopia - children envisage and paint their future" the question of "What is the future?" will be answered in in�triguing, funny, whimsical, thought-provoking and interesting ways. The future is, after all, what our children make of it. Whether through photos, drawings, texts or collages, each child will record in his own style, his personal vision of the future. The result: an absorbing selection of regional and culturally specific utopias.
A selection of the work created by the children will be exhibited alongside the utopias of contemporary and renowned artists at the Haus der Kunst (in Munich, Germany) from October 1, 2004 till January 9, 2005. Yoko Ono is expected, among others, at the private viewing. ICAF will invite the nominated children to take part at the opening of the exhibition in Munich, Germany.
MORE INFO

RADIO
Kids and War Images
At a time when newspapers and television are running pictures of prisoner abuse and sexual humiliation, what should children be allowed to see? At what age are they mature enough to handle harsh images of war? Is it OK to shield kids from the truth? Join NPR's Neal Conan and guests to discuss children and difficult images.
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