Panel
discussion: The Media and Sustainable Development
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James
Laurie, News and Current Affairs, Star Media, stated
that sustainable development was a phrase without meaning
for most. He said that his channel has probably never
done a story on "sustainable development," per
se, but that environmental topics such as climate, ozone,
poverty, and globalization are covered every week. He
noted that there is a problem of language, and that the
media stays away from abstractions. |
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Barbara Pyle, former Vice-President Environmental Programming,
Turner Broadcasting/CNN, said
she uses the term sustainable development in her coverage.
She expressed the fear that television audiences only
have five- to ten-minute attention spans for topics of
sustainable development, but affirmed that the right programming
can indeed mobilize people. |
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Simone
Duarte, Globo TV, Brazil, stated
that sustainable development is a priority coverage area
for media in the South. She described how soap operas
have been used to insert environmental messages into entertainment.
She commented on the high degree of segmentation of the
media in the North. |
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Laurie discussed the continuing relevance of
television as a mass medium. He noted the important
role that a television station's audience plays in the
maintenance of its environmental coverage.
Pyle mused on the "dumbing down" of
sustainable development in the media. She noted that
health topics are covered adequately despite their complexity,
and wondered why the same could not be done with sustainable
development. She said that reporters would not get excited
about just another document, so the WSSD's outcomes
needed to be concrete.
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In
the ensuing discussion, Kimo Goree, International Institute
for Sustainable Development, wondered why representatives
of the new media were not on the panel and asked what
is being done at DPI to sustain new types of information.
He also said that people are no longer being fed information,
people are going out and seeking information. Tharoor
responded that maybe they should have included a member
of the new media, but believed that traditional sources
of media were still the most common. |
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Austria
said that maybe governments did not do their job in
conveying to the media what sustainable development
is. She said that most address environmental issues
and stressed that sustainable development is about the
interrelationship between economic, social and environmental
issues.
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Green
Earth Volunteers, China, asked if assistance would
be available to ensure developing country media participation
at the WSSD. She also enquired as to the negative impact
that media coverage of the environment can have on livelihoods,
and put in an appeal for the creation of an environmental
education media network. Tharoor replied that funds
were not available for media participation. |
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An
NGO representative on the Norweigian delegation (RealAudio
below)
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South
Africa emphasized engagement of the media, called
for continuing discussion at upcoming PrepComs on the
role of the media, and drew attention to the importance
of community media. The International Institute for
a Sustainable Future said that the story of sustainable
development is an easy one for the media to tell, contrary
to what some panelists asserted. He called on the UN to
highlight and support civil society partnerships that
promote sustainability. Delois Blakely, Community Mayor
of Harlem and Goodwill Ambassador of the Gambia, requested
support for her town-hall meeting to be held during PrepCom-III,
to talk about issues of civil society. An NGO representative
on the Norwegian delegation noted that the Secretary-General
of the UN had recently declared a war on poverty, and
suggested that media might pay attention if they heard
governments support this war on poverty, adding that "Media
will come to WSSD to see how this war will be fought."
Tharoor concluded that the battle for SD is part of the
larger issue of creating a secure world. |
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Shashi
Tharoor, Interim Head of the UN Department of Public
Information and Moderator of this panel, started the
discussion with the observation that now is the time
for the media to take interest in events such as the
WSSD, and enquired how media could cover such a complicated
topic and event. He noted that the term "sustainable
development" itself was complicated, not user-friendly,
and did not roll off the tongue. He said that the panel
would focus discussion on television, given its impact
and global reach.
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Tim
Hirsch, BBC, said stories must not sound preachy,
and that the challenge is to see how to get environment
and sustainable development stories into the main news.
He said the vast issue of sustainable development always
seems to be growing and is difficult to sell. He suggested
that an issue that reflects an aspect of sustainable development
should be chosen and pitched strategically. |
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Snuki
Zikalala, SABC, said that every month leading up
to the Johannesburg Summit, SABC was focusing on different
themes such as environment, education, oceans, health
and energy. He stressed human interest stories that
the public can relate to, such as job creation for South
Africans.
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Duarte
stated that environmental coverage can be done without
needing "dumbing down" and losing complexity.
She noted that the present "war on terrorism"
would probably result in less coverage of sustainable
development topics.
Zikalala stated that on busy days, sustainable
development should not expect to make it on the nightly
news - it is a topic typically reserved for "slow
news days." Tharoor asked if WSSD, being
a pointed event, would be more news-worthy than other
aspects of sustainable development. Zikalala
responded that it "depends who says what,"
but Hirsch retorted that it "depends on
who does what." He continued by sharing his concern
that media coverage will depend on how defined the agenda
will be.
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Jocelyn Dow, Women's Environment and Development Organization,
asked if the news agencies disaggregated their audiences
by sex and age to see who is watching what coverage.
She said war is an immediate hook as it is bad for sustainable
development, and emphasized peace and development. Hirsch
cautioned that the media will not take on an advocacy
role, and that there is much debate within the media
over which environmental issues should take precedence.
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France requested a timetable for the translation
of documents on the UN website, stating that these were
needed to plan media activities. Tharoor assured the
delegate that most public documents were already translated,
and that translation of substantial documents is up
to DESA.
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An NGO representative called for progress to
be made at the grassroots level by bringing the message
of sustainable development to the common people, and
called for insuring continuity, and highlighted that
the sustainable development process should take priority
over a single event, such as the WSSD. Tharoor
encouraged NGOs to take material from the UN website
and translate it.
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Delois
Blakely, Community Mayor of Harlem and Goodwill Ambassador
of the Gambia (RealAudio below)
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Representative
of the International Institute for a Sustainable Future
(RealAudio below)
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