MAGIC news archive
September 2005

TRAINING
Barbadian children learn how to produce One minute for my Rights videos

Trainer Nicholas King demonstrating to students the use of the camera © UNICEF Office For Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean/2005/McClean-Trotman
Over the last two weeks twenty Barbadian children ages 8 through 15 years joined a growing number of children throughout the world who are producing one minute for my rights videos. Under the guidance of Nicolas King - who was trained in the UNICEF-supported One minute for My Rights Training of Trainers workshop in Suriname in May- these children have decided to focus on HIV/AIDS and drugs as the themes for their videos which are expected to be completed early in the month of October.
In addition to learning the technical skills of video production, the children, who are mainly from Nelson Street and Poinside in the city of Bridgetown, have been learning various life skills which will enable them to deal with social issues such as how to protect themselves from contracting HIV/AIDS. They are also being taught drama by Aaron Blackman one of the resource persons for the Youth Development Programme.
FULL ARTICLE

EVENTS
Children exhibition, carnival to be held in Sri Lanka
An educational exhibition and children's carnival to mark the international children's day will be held in Colombo from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, Daily News reported Tuesday.
The event which will be held under the theme "We are the Future "is aimed at providing education and entertainment to the younger generation and creating awareness about children's rights, Sri Lankan Information and Media Minister Dilan Perera was quoted as saying.
"The Media Ministry is organizing this event for the second time.Last year it proved to be a resounding success. We expect to give our children an even better experience through this year's carnival and exhibition," he said.
According to the report, Children's parks, children's films, book exhibitions, mobile computer labs and over 200 exhibition stalls of government and private institutions will add color to the event. Speech, drama, arts, singing and gymnastic competitions will also be held for school children during the carnival, Perera added.
SOURCE

NEWS
Media: Youth panel could monitor the media (UK)
Ofcom and the Press Complaints Commission will consider setting up a youth panel to monitor media portrayal of young people, following lobbying by the children's commissioner and the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP).
Al Aynsley-Green and representatives of the UKYP met the media regulators last week to discuss the idea, which was previously mooted by young people during meetings with government ministers. They also surveyed evidence and a draft code of conduct produced as part of Young People Now's Positive Images campaign.
FULL ARTICLE

PROJECTS
Young voices call out across Liberian airwaves - By Patrick Slavin

A member of the Star Radio team in Monrovia, Liberia © UNICEF Liberia/2005/Slavin
MONROVIA, Liberia, 20 September 2005 - An unusual group of young Liberian journalists is landing more and more major news scoops, such as an exclusive interview with the Liberian Head of State, the Minister of Defence, or UNICEF Liberia Representative Angela Kearney.
What is so unusual about these journalists? The average age of Star Radio's four Kids Talk reporters is just twelve years old.
Preparation, hard work, practicing the highest professional journalistic standards, and making sure they make it school on time are the secrets to their success.
Kids Talk first hit Liberia's airways in July, and their 27-minute broadcasts are now heard four times a week on Star Radio, one of this west African nation's leading radio stations. Star Radio can be picked up across Liberia on the shortwave band.
"I like hearing my voice on the radio and love it when I get praise for Kids Talk," said correspondent George Toby, 12, who has to constrain his infectious smile when he turns his microphone toward one of the show's VIP guests.
FULL ARTICLE AND AUDIO FILES

EVENTS
UNICEF Slovakia holds conference on Media & Children

MORE INFO on the website of the Slovak National Committee for UNICEF

BROADCASTING
Colombia signs commitment to Quality Television for Children
Within the framework of the event entitled "Quality Television 2005", held in the city of Bogotá at the Casa de Nariño, official home of the President of Colombia, the "Commitment for Quality Television for Children in Colombia" was signed. In attendance were the First Lady of the Nation, the Minister of Culture, representatives of the Ministries of Communication and Education, the President's Special Programmes Advisory Office, directors of public and private television channels, the presidents of the National Association of Communication Media (ASOMEDIOS), the Association of Colombian Dailies (ANDIARIOS), and the National Advertisers Association (ANDA), the UNICEF Representative and members of the group that promoted this initiative, headed by Fundación Imaginario.
The event brought together national and international experts, legislators, programmers, producers, regulatory functionaries, academics, students and other personalities of the audiovisual sector to exchange, analyze and debate the different perceptions of how to create quality television for children.
Furthermore, an important sample of children's television offerings was shown, with the best of Latin American and European productions like Prix Jeunesse Suitcase from Germany, the Latin American EBU Item Exchange, Zweites Deutches Fernsehen, and Divercine.
This process began in January 2004 after the country made a commitment at the Fourth World Summit on Media for Children and Adolescents, held in Rio de Janeiro, to work for what today has become a reality. It promotes incentives for the national production of children's television, wherein private enterprise may show its social responsibility and its commitment to children.
The commitment is intended to train young professionals and new producers of children's programming, with increased emphasis on creative research and development. It furthermore aims to stimulate citizen participation and surveillance of children's television in Colombia and form a truly qualified television audience that feeds its criteria back to national producers.
For Manuel Manrique, UNICEF Representative for Colombia and Venezuela, this is a commitment from which we expect "an attractive, quality television that promotes the development and rights of children. It is about television in which child rights are always present, and that keeps in mind the constant presence of child viewers of what in most cases is the only entertainment and recreational medium within reach."
As an outcome of an extensive process of research and cross sectoral negotiation, the signing of the commitment also had the blessing of such international allies of the process as the Fundación Prix Jeunesse, the Chilean National Television Council, MIDIATIVA and RED TV from Brazil, the World Summit on Media for Children Foundation and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá.
The materialization of this commitment offers a positive panorama for Colombian children, a panorama that includes the Bill of Statutory Law on Children and Adolescents, introduced last August 17 before the Congress of Colombia. It also includes the work being done by UNICEF with state entities like the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, ICBF and the Federation of Governors, to get the Development Plans of the different municipalities to include investment that addresses the priorities of Colombian children and adolescents.

CALL FOR ENTRIES
2nd International Audiovisual Festival for Children & Adolescents in Havana, Cuba

The Cuban Institute of Movie Arts and Industry (ICAIC), through its Animation Studios, officially announces the celebration of the Second International Audiovisual Festival to take place from June 1st to 4th, 2006, in Havana. It is aimed at developing exchange, producing quality audiovisual works, and promoting thematic, esthetic, and cultural diversity within a globalized world context.
The Festival will be co-sponsored by UNIAL, ICRT, the Educational Television, the Educational Channels, UNICEF, and the International Movie-Making and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños.
CALL FOR ENTRIES IN ENGLISH - SPANISH - FRENCH
FESTIVAL WEBSITE

TRAINING / WORKSHOPS
OneMinutesJr summer workshop in Georgia, South Caucasus

The sea, sun, beach and friends around...what else do you need for a good film?
Members of the Young People’s Media Network in Georgia could not find a better place in August for their one-minute video workshop. On 3–10 August, 25 members of the network from different TV studios gathered at the Black Sea popular resort of Chakvi to film 25 one-minute videos.
Young people under the guidance of professional scriptwriters and cameramen had to prepare storyboards and do actual filming and editing. The five-day workshop was organized by Internews with the financial support of UNICEF.
Environmental pollution, friendship, drugs, smoking, life in general at the seaside, were the main topics of the films, chosen by children themselves. Of course, the sea, the sun and pleasant surroundings inspired the young people to make interesting films with a lot of humour. But some of the films were serious...
“How can people throw broken bottles around...garbage is everywhere, I could not think of any other topic when I saw how polluted our seaside is,” said Nino Meshvelashvili, 17, from the Tbilisi Youth House, author of the film “Boomerang”.
FULL ARTICLE

FESTIVALS
6th Buster Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences
Running between Monday, 12 - Sunday, 18 September, the 6th Buster Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences shows 156 films from all over the world - and a sidebar of New Nordic Films:
The 6th Buster Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences, which took off Monday (12 September) to the screening of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) in the attendance of festival protector, Her Highness Princess Alexandra, will present 156 films with competitions both for features and shorts. Using screens at the Grand, the Huset and the Cinemateket, the festival's main venue is Copenhagen's Palads Theatre, which will host the award ceremony on Friday, 16 September (and US director Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Three Nordic productions will contend for the prize as Best Children's Feature, including Danish director Anders Rønnow Klarlund's Strings, Finnish director Liisa Helminen's Pelikaanimies (The Pelican Man) and Swedish director Anders Gustafsson's Percy, Buffalo Bill & jag (Percy, Buffalo Bill & I), the latter - from Ulf Stark's novel - showing as an international première. The eight competitors comprise such films as Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi's award-winning Lakposhtha häm parvaz mikonand (Turtles Can Fly).
FULL ARTICLE
FESTIVAL WEBSITE

OPPORTUNITIES
OneWorldTV and MTV's Staying Alive Campaign have teamed up once again to launch this year's HIV/AIDS PSA competition. This is your opportunity to create a powerful Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the subject of HIV/AIDS to a wide audience across various platforms.
We are asking you to get creative with your video equipment to produce a 30-60 second PSA to inform, inspire and motivate particularly young people on the issue of HIV and AIDS. Public Service Announcements should provide clear information about the issue whilst simultaneously captivating the audience and inspiring them to act. You will need to be creative, well informed and passionate about bringing the issue of HIV/AIDS to the public's attention in new and engaging ways.
The winning PSA will be showcased on the Staying Alive website and the OneWorldTV open documentary platform plus there's a very good chance it will be broadcast on one or more of MTV's television channels. Last year's winning entry was indeed broadcast on MTV's Asian channels and the UK's Community Channel, as well as receiving the Staying Alive award. All eligible video entries received will be showcased on the OneWorldTV open documentary platform.
MORE INFO

PROJECTS
Young TV producers network in Asia on HIV/AIDS: 'A Look Within' - A Project of UNESCO and AIBD
UNESCO and AIBD have collaborated on a project to build a network of young TV producers working on HIV/AIDS in Asia. The rationale is that regional endeavours of this sort will enable all countries in the region to be involved in an effective regional work for quality TV programming on HIV/AIDS.
This project began with a preliminary training workshop held in Thailand in April this year. Eleven young TV producers from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, working with national TV organisations, were chosen for training. The workshop helped participants gain knowledge and skills in producing films on HIV/AIDS. After the workshop, they were requested to produce a short documentary on HIV/AIDS.
FULL ARTICLE

ARTICLES
Recommendation that parents limit television viewing of Katrina disaster for children under 12 years of age
The devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina have been felt across the country during the past weeks. Thousands of children are survivors of Katrina, while millions of others around the country have observed horrific sights via media coverage. Although they were not directly involved with the tragedy, repeated television viewing of the disaster puts these children at high risk for developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.
"Research on the impact of the World Trade Center attack indicates that children who viewed more television news of the attack were two times as likely to develop symptoms of PTSD than children with lower TV exposure," said Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D., Director of the NYU Child Study Center. "Our job as parents is to protect our kids from unnecessary media coverage of this event. Good parents will stop the television."
FULL ARTICLE

TECHNOLOGY & PARENTS
Group urges parents to 'Get with IT'
Parents concerned about their children's use of the internet and other new technologies are being urged to 'Get with IT' by Ireland's Internet Advisory Board.
The Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, has launched the Internet Advisory Board's (IAB) awareness campaign, which is aimed at helping parents know more about the internet and digital age so that they can make sure their children are safe while surfing the web or using technologies such as mobile phones.
FULL ARTICLE

BROADCASTING
Germany's kidcasters get ready for a toon TV invasion
The German kids broadcasting market is about get a little more crowded this month as Nick straps on its lederhosen and takes a second stab at succeeding with a 24-hour kids channel in the region. And with Cartoon Network launching a six-hour Saturday morning block on Kabel 1 (fueling rumors that a full channel launch is in the works for 2006), everyone's curious to see whether veteran domestic kidnets such as Super RTL and KI.KA will be able to shut down the newbies and hang onto their considerable marketshare.
FULL ARTICLE

NEWS / RESEARCH
Young shift TV viewing to new media
Young viewers are increasingly turning away from traditional television sets and watching programmes on other devices, according to new research.
Among 25- to 34-year-olds, almost one third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx.
FULL ARTICLE (free registration required)

CALL FOR ENTRIES
PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL 2006, the world's premier festival for children and youth television programmes, is calling for entries.
The overall festival theme of PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL 2006 is "Laugh and the World Laughs With You: Kids, TV and Humour". Information units on the festival theme will be offered during the festival week, and a PRIX JEUNESSE "2006 Theme Prize" will be awarded to a programme with outstanding use of humour, out of all entries.
ATTENTION: Early entry deadline: 12 December 2005
Contest rules and entry forms available at the Prix Jeunesse website.

EVENTS
Sithengi 2005 schedule announced

A Total of 120-150 children attend the CBFA-SITHENGI Children's Festival in Cape Town. The children attend workshops in different media related fields from TV Productions, Animation, Radio Production, Arts and Culture. This year the children will also participate in a Film Camp and Kids for Kids Festival learning how to produce their own 1-minute film.
A selection of children will be invited to write a short treatment and to pitch their story to a panel of judges during the CBFA-SITHENGI Children's Festival on the 15 November.

EVENTS
1st National Community Media Forum in Tanzania
The Media Council of Tanzania in collaboration with the Young People's Media Network (YOMneT) are organizing the first national community media forum in Morogoro from September 12-14 to discuss the formation of the National Community media Forum.
The forum will be attended by 30 participants, 60% of them young people working in the media or producing media from around the country. UNICEF supports this meeting and works closely with the youth networks which will be represented at the meeting by community media actors.
Community media actors have been trained in 16 districts implementing the Out of School youth programme for ages 15-24 - however, from 2006, the focus will be on the age group 14-18.
P articipants will share lessons learnt in supporting children and young people to produce media channels and messages, mainly focusing on protection issues including the visibly HIV/AIDS pandemic. Radio, television and video programmes will be displayed during the forum's market stall session. During this forum, young people will also prepare scripts and outlines for their workto be exhibited during the National Youth Week in Singida from October 8-14.
During the forum in Morogoro, YOMneT will present their report which includes community-based youth led media. YOMneT will also present to the media the monitoring report on the press coverage of issues affecting children and young people up to the age of 24 years, a sub-activity done with the support from UNICEF Tanzania.
Other participants are from Radio Kwizera, a radio station based in Ngara, north-western Tanzania broadcasting for the refugee populations in Tanzania and in Burundi and Rwanda. Others are from Radio Tanzania, Radio Free Africa, Radio Abood, Radio Tumaini, Radio Contry FM, the Tanzania media for Youth development (TAMEYODA) and individual journalists who have been working with young people in the development of community media channels. Among the community-based media are: Radio Kwizera, a dozen-plus faith-based radio stations, Masasi districts radio and television station and several others scattered in 21 regions of Tanzania Mainland.

TRAINING
UNICEF photo workshop for children of Beslan

Children in Beslan get involved in Laura’s research for the workshop
© Mikhail Dzarasov - 2005
Journalist John Varoli sees how a UNICEF’s photography workshop for the children of Beslan turns into an extraordinary period of rehabilitation and rejuvenation. The children’s photographs are of such a high standard that the Beslan authorities will open an exhibition of their work as part of the commemoration of the first anniversary of the siege of School No. 1.
Several months before the first anniversary of the Beslan school tragedy, UNICEF decided to commemorate the event with a photo exhibition that would be something very different – a bold and more insightful perspective than that offered by a professional photographer. The answer: why not give cameras to the children of Beslan and let them photograph their hometown? Thirteen children from Beslan were selected, five of whom had been hostages during the siege at the school.
First, they’d have to be instructed at least in the basics. Enter Italian photographer, Giacomo Pirozzi. He has been to Beslan before, to chronicle the tragedy that befell this small Ossetian town last autumn, but this time his task is more unusual. In less than a week he has to teach 13 children how to become photographers – good enough to put together an exhibition. It’s a risky experiment, and many wonder whether it will work.
FULL ARTICLE

OPPORTUNITIES
International Photoshare Photo Contest
Photography is powerful tool for communicating local health and development issues. Do you have photos of programs in action and the people you serve? Pictures illustrating the realities of urban and rural life in developing countries? Snapshots from your personal travels, volunteer service, or work experience? You may have an award-winning photo!
PROJECT WEBSITE

INTERNET
Elementary School Children Increasingly Rely on Internet for Homework - Study shows most parents still not supervising children's online activities
Toronto, August 31 / CNW - The Internet is fast-becoming as important a homework tool as pen and paper. According to the second annual Back-to-School survey commissioned by AOL Canada Inc. and conducted by Maritz Research, 78 per cent of Canadian children from ages 8 to 12 claimed they use the Internet to get help with homework and research for school projects.
In addition, 45 per cent of these young respondents indicated they spend either an equal or greater amount of time doing schoolwork online as for their own personal use. A whopping 73 per cent of respondents said they prefer to use both the Internet and school/library books equally in completing school assignments.
FULL ARTICLE

BROADCASTING / REGULATION
BBC rapped over porn documentary
THE BBC has been rapped by media watchdog Ofcom for showing a documentary about prostitution, drug abuse, brothels and the pornography industry in the morning.
Some parents complained that they had been watching with young children when Britain's Streets of Vice was screened at 9.15am.
The BBC said the series of four documentaries had been scheduled to run during term-time when children were at school:
FULL ARTICLE

EVENTS
Youth Assembly 2005 at the United Nations: Young people making a difference - By Kun Li
NEW YORK, 12 August 2005 - The United Nations' Youth Assembly is a special conference held annually at UN headquarters, where young people from all over the globe get together to discuss how they can make a difference in today's world.
The primary issue before the Assembly this year was how young people can be empowered to help their countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"My experience here is very exciting. I learned many new things about the Millennium Development Goals," said Andrejs Eglitis, 21, a delegate from Latvia. "It's like enlightenment for me. I now understand why MDGs are so important."
FULL ARTICLE

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