MAGIC news archive
May 2005

PROJECTS
Bangladesh launches children’s news agency

Dhaka, 30 May 2005: Child journalist Noor Selina Shewley (17) speaks before the audience during the launch of Shishu Prakash. (Photo) Salma Siddique/UNICEF
Dhaka, 30 May 2005: A dedicated news agency for children ‘Shishu Prakash’ (Children’s Express) was launched today to enhance both the quality and quantity of child development news in Bangladesh.
Supported by UNICEF and implemented by Mass-Line Media Centre (MMC), the pilot project aims to empower 640 young journalists (aged from 16 to 18) with the techniques for reporting child development issues.
Ten children (five boys and five girls) in each of the 64 districts throughout the country will identify and write news stories. These stories will be sent to the Dhaka-based Child Rights Desk set up at MMC to provide editorial oversight before the stories are published in ten selected national Bangla and English dailies.
It is envisaged that respect for child and adolescent rights in Bangladesh will improve as a result of the collaboration with pro-active newspapers and social networks.
Apart from regular reporting on children stories, Shishu Prakash will release more than 200 issue-based stories and periodic reports analyzing trends in child reporting by the national media in the pilot project which runs until the end of 2005.
Shishu Prakash will use global standard guidelines and checklists in reporting children’s issues. This is the first such initiative in South Asia.
Praising this initiative, speakers at the launching ceremony hoped that this will also increase children’s participation in the media.
For more information, please contact:
Rezwan-ul-Alam (Assistant Communication Officer)
UNICEF Bangladesh

UPCOMING EVENTS
The C8 Children's Forum - July 3-5, 2005

What is the C8?The C8 is a children and young people’s version of the G8 meeting. C8 will be held in Scotland in July. Young people from around the globe will be travelling to Scotland to debate and take action on the most pressing issues facing young people today.
Young people from 8 of the world’s poorest countries will meet with young people from G8 countries, to debate, discuss and firmly place their issues on the agenda of the G8 leaders. They will produce their own recommendations to take to the G8 leaders.
PROJECT WEBSITE

WORKSHOPS
OneMinutesJr workshop in Chisinau, Moldova

Participants of the OneMinutesJr workshop in Moldova - UNICEF/MAGIC - 2005
20 boys and girls from Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Uzbekistan have come together in Chisinau, Moldova, to produce OneMinuteJr videos on "migration".
The young participants will write short stories and then film and edit their movies in the 5-day workshop which ends with a public presentation during the Chronograf International Film Festival.

AWARDS
Macedonia’s Youth of the World, Youth for the World has been named the winner of UNICEF’s Voices of Youth ‘Make a Difference’ one-minute video contest.

Play this video now! low or high

A special award will be presented at the annual PROMAX& BDA Conference on 21-23 June in New York City.
The award goes to the video that best capture the mission of Voices of Youth - to promote and protect every child’s right to know more, say more and do more about the world they live in.
The winning video will become an official public service announcement of Voices of Youth and will be made available for broadcast along with the rest of the finalists in celebration of the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting, 11 December 2005.

WEBSITES / GAMES
Habbohotel 'UNICEF Bus' - UNICEF-Comité Español

The Habbohotel "UNICEF Bus" completed its first year last Friday, April 29th. In order to celebrate this first anniversary, UNICEF created a series of activities and chats concerning "Sports for Development", accompanied by a forum on the website www.enredate.org (Website of the program of Education for Development for UNICEF-Spanish Committee). The theme also coincides with 2005 being the International Year for Physical Education and Sport.
UNICEF and Habbohotel created an alliance in order to carry out chats with young people about important themes such as education or development. Now, thousands of children visit the site to participate in this virtual community, supervised 24 hours a day by a volunteer staff from both Habbohotel and UNICEF, creating a safe environment. Children can get on the "Bus" for 15 minute chats about given themes.
MORE IN SPANISH

PROJECTS
All for Peace: A Palestinian-Israeli Radio Station
It started with music. In January 2004, a radio station based in East Jerusalem made its debut on the Internet [www.allforpeace.org], broadcasting a playlist of global tunes that featured Arab and Israeli melodies. By April, the station was hosting talking radio programs in the mornings - one hour in Hebrew and one hour in Arabic. "We deal with education, culture and sport, but politics is out," explains Maisa Seniora, the station's Palestinian co-director. "You are bound to hurt someone when you deal with politics." The station offers a range of programs for adults as well as for young listeners.
FULL ARTICLE

TRAINING
Tanzania holds its first radio manifesto meeting
Twenty three senior managers, producers and editors from eight radio stations today participated in the first meeting of its kind todiscuss on the implementation of the Global Radio Manifesto. The meeting was organized by the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) in collaboration with the Young People's Media Network (YOMneT) and supported by UNICEF.
The objectives of the meeting were twofold: to share experiences and renew commitments to the Radio Manifesto and to develop a strategy and plan of action which will ensure Tanzania raddio stations have children and young people not only in their programmes but are given a bigger opportunity to express their opinions and reflections through radio.
About 85 per cent of Tanzanians rely on radio for their news, education and entertainment although television is catching up fast, an impact of globarization. Rodney Phillips, the UNICEF Representative expressed his wish to seeing more children and young people are given opportunity in the media, especially radio "They have the ability and have proved can do wonders if given the opportunity to use radio", he said.
In the plan of action, issues of capacity development such as training and resources allocation; advocacy of the manifesto and its translation into national language-Kiswahili as well as coordination and networking were given prominence. UNICEF has pledged to support the MCT, YOMneT and radio stations in working toweards achieving the goals set in the manifesto for the best interest of the chils and young persons.

ARTICLES
Powerful persuasion - Can healthy eating ads balance TV's junk food barrage?
Orange wedges served with school-bought lunches turn into silly toys, wedged rind-side out in kids' mouths like cartoon character lips.
Crunched juice pouches and milk boxes scatter the tables; half-eaten homemade sandwiches on white bread and nibbled-upon hot-lunch quesadillas lay smashed and limp as the children at Broomfield's Emerald Elementary make faces, crack jokes and giggle their way through meal time creating an ear-splitting din.
Food is not the central focus of their time; Play is.
FULL ARTICLE (free registration required)

ARTICLES
Catch the real vibes at jamsquad.com - Jamaica
The pace at which technology is moving these days is absolutely mind-boggling. The Internet is one of the main beneficiaries of this growth as evidenced by the use of broadband technology and the various linkages of the Internet with other media. It was natural for the Internet and entertainment to merge today to provide societies with greater entertainment options.
David Mullings along with his younger brother Richard are the masterminds behind Random Media which is a multimedia company geared to provide options for especially young people to access information on entertainment and other leisure activities. The concept arose during their first semester in their MBA programme at the University of Miami where they started the realvibes.net website, a site where you can download music from the various genres but which was more geared towards the international market. Random Media were successful with their first project which now averages over 500,000 hits per month.
FULL ARTICLE

EVENTS
International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) - Sport for Development and Peace - Let's Play!

UNICEF and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences are asking broadcasters around the world to highlight sport as they celebrate this year's International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) on 11 December 2005.
The power of sport as a tool for development and peace is the theme of this year's ICDB, the day when broadcasters throw open their studio doors and the airwaves to young producers and presenters.
And, for the first time this year, the International Academy and UNICEF will offer eight regional awards to the broadcasters which best promote the principles, purpose and main themes of ICDB.
Each regional winner will be invited to the International Emmy Awards Gala in New York on 21 November 2005 and one will receive the prestigious International Academy/UNICEF Award.
FULL INFO

WORKSHOPS
Young filmmakers meet in Litchfield, CT, for first-ever US American OneMinutesJr workshop

To find out more about the workshop which was organized by ListenUp!, please click here.

NEWS
Voices of Youth members plan newsletter
Luciana, Jennifer, Laura, Camille, Fatima and Zuhur are hard at work inventing their own means of expression: a newsletter that will be published online through Voices of Youth.
These young people and others who are regular participants in Voices of Youth's online chats and discussions, got together over the last few months to discuss what they could do to affect change in their communities. They "got together" online, from places as far apart as Somaliland, Romania, France, Nigeria, Morocco, and Argentina. The group has never met in person.
FULL ARTICLE

AWARDS / OPPORTUNITIES
Marie Claire Magazine has recently launched a fabulous journalism award for student journalists in South Africa
FULL INFO

Vote now for your favorite video!
The "Make a difference" one-minute video contest on Voices of Youth is coming to a close. We received 75 wonderful entries from young people around the world, and the adult and youth judges have chosen 10 finalists. Now is your chance to vote for the winner!
Visit VOY to watch the 10 videos chosen as finalists, then cast your vote and help choose the video that best shows how young people are taking action to make the world - and their own communities - a better place. Don't forget that you need to register as a member of Voices of Youth to vote.
The winning video will be the official Voices of Youth public service announcement, will receive prizes, and will be made available for broadcast around the world on International Children's Day of Broadcasting later this year.
You have leass than 2 weeks to cast your vote, so do it now!

Vote maintenant pour ta vidéo préférée!!
Le concours vidéo-minute "Faites bouger les choses!", présenté sur La Voix des jeunes, touche à sa fin. Nous avons reçu 75 vidéos du monde entier et les juges, jeunes et adultes, ont choisi les 10 finalistes. A ton tour maintenant de voter pour la vidéo qui va l'emporter!
Clique ici pour visionner les 10 vidéos finalistes, puis vote et contribue ainsi à choisir la vidéo qui montre le mieux comment les jeunes se mobilisent pour faire de notre planète - et de leurs communautés - un meilleur endroit. N'oublie pas que tu dois devenir membre de La Voix des jeunes pour pouvoir voter.
La vidéo gagnante deviendra le message officiel de La Voix des jeunes et son auteur se verra récompensé. La vidéo sera proposée aux chaînes de télévision du monde entier qui pourront la diffuser lors de la Journée internationale de la radio et de la télévision en faveur des enfants.
Il ne te reste que moins que 2 semaines pour voter, alors vote tout de suite!

¡Vota por tu vídeo favorito!
El concurso de vídeos de un minuto "Marcar la diferencia", que se presenta en La Juventud Opina, está llegando a su fin. Hemos recibido 75 vídeos extraordinarios de jóvenes participantes de todo el mundo, y los jueces jóvenes y adultos han escogido 10 finalistas. ¡Ahora tienes la posibilidad de escoger tú al ganador!
Visita VOY para ver los 10 vídeos finalistas, emite luego tu voto y contribuye a elegir el vídeo que mejor muestre a tu entender las medidas que toman los jóvenes para conseguir que el mundo y sus propias comunidades sean mejores. No te olvides de inscribirte como miembro de La Juventud Opian para votar.
El vídeo ganador se convertirá en el anuncio de servicio público oficial de La Juventud Opina, recibirá premios y será emitido en todo el mundo durante el Día Internacional de Radio y Televisión en favor de la Infancia.
¡Solamente tienes menos que 2 semanas para emitir tu voto! ¡Vota ya mismo!

RESOURCES
CRC now available in 47 languages on MAGIC

The latest version added to the list of CRC versions comes from Myanmar and is illustrated.
Browse the list of languages

PROJECTS
Child-speak on video - Children make films to express their views on issues that impact their lives
Koppal and Raichur districts, Karnataka, have one thing in common with all other districts in India - a population that is not respected and often looked down upon as a liability by society, a population that is forced to live a life of tears.
These, in effect, are the opening words of a 10-minute documentary on disability. It examines the stigma and indifference with which families and communities regard disabled children.
FULL ARTICLE

PROJECTS
The Untold Stories of Darfur
A UNESCO-supported production team traveled recently to Darfur to start shooting "The Children of Darfur", a 24' youth documentary about the daily stories of children living in Darfur's refugee camps.
MORE INFO

OPPORTUNITIES
Internews Georgia announces competition for participation in the production of Pan-Caucasus Television program "Our Express"
The aim of the project is instilling values and decision-making skills among the adolescents. The goal of this program is to create, via the powerful medium of television, an unprecedented contact among adolescents in three Southern Caucasus countries of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The project "Kids' Crossroads" is being implemented by Internews in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. 6 teenagers produce TV program "Our Express", they were selected in 2004 through the same kind of competition. They underwent different types of seminars in journalism, filming and editing. The trainings were conducted by foreign consultants. The TV stories prepared by the production group are very popular among the adolescents of the three countries. The program is aired by Georgian Public Television from January once in two weeks, on Fridays.
Internews Georgia invites 14-17 year old adolescents for participation in the production of "Our Express", the selected adolescents will learn all the aspects of TV program production. Kids will shoot, report stories and edit each program. While there will be adult supervision at all times, these young people will learn to take responsibility for developing stories, meeting deadlines and working in harmony in this truly unique cross-border team.

Criteria for participants:

• Age 14-17
• Excellent skills both verbal and written in Georgian
• Good knowledge of conversational Russian
• Experience in any kind of Television Profession
• Preferable to be the member of any youth organizations or children's clubs
• Ability to work with the team

How to Apply:

Candidates are required to complete application forms and to provide recommendation letters. You can get application forms from the Internews Georgia website. The deadline is May 7, 2005 till 7:00 pm. For additional information please contact Shorena Kochiashvili (Project Manager).

PROJECTS
"NRW / Japan - My view... Your view?"
"NRW / Japan - My view... Your view?" is a multicultural media project for kids and teenagers which - along with other activities from the German Land North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) - takes place on the occasion of the Year of Germany in Japan 2005/2006. In NRW the Project will be run by the ecmc European Centre for Media Competence GmbH (www.ecmc.de) on behalf of the State Chancellery NRW (www.nrw.de). On the Japanese side, the Nippon Carl Duisberg Association will be in charge of this competition. The Concept: "How do you spend your Saturday evenings? What do you have for breakfast? How is your way to school like? What kinds of music do you like?" - In the frame of the media project questions like these could be asked by children and teenagers in form of 1-minute film contributions. Participants from North Rhine-Westphalia and Japan report about everyday situations and traditions from their home country and call on kids and teenagers from the respectively other country to describe - again in form of a 1-minute film - the presented situation from their own perspective.
On the website www.beiuns-beieuch.de all contributions will be presented and visitors will be invited to view, participate and exchange. The best films will be awarded on the final event of the competition in December 2005.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE

NEWS
Youth voice to be respected
The Zambian government is making every effort to address the views of young people, Youth, Sport and Child Development acting Minister Judith Kapijimpanga has said.
She said Government was committed to ensuring that the views of young people on national issues were respected and heard all the time to make them partners in development.
The minister said this at the official opening of the Children's Press Bureau (CPB) journalism training programme at the Commonwealth Youth Programme Centre.
FULL ARTICLE

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