By Mario Lubetkin
Nov 28 2005 (IPS)

Journalists who specialise in development and cooperation face a very difficult reality, and one that is very hard to change: there is very little room for this subject in the media, writes Mario Lubetkin, Director General of IPS.

If the media give this subject so little room, are we to conclude that, despite their prominence in the agenda of the international community, development issues simply aren’t that important?

If nothing changes, while information and the debate on economic development and the fight against poverty do not reach the general public, international cooperation will remain the exclusive domain of specialists and functionaries, far from the people. And without the participation and commitment of the people, it is unlikely that governments will do all that they can and should to carry out a programme as ambitious and strewn with obstacles as the MDGs.

/NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM/

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By Mario Lubetkin and - -
ROME, Nov 11 2005 (IPS)

Journalists who specialise in development and cooperation face a very difficult reality, and one that is very hard to change: there is very little room for this subject in the media, writes Mario Lubetkin, Director General of IPS. If the media give this subject so little room, are we to conclude that, despite their prominence in the agenda of the international community, that development issues simply aren\’t that important? If nothing changes, while information and the debate on economic development and the fight against poverty do not reach the general public, international cooperation will remain the exclusive domain of specialists and functionaries, far from the people. And without the participation and commitment of the people, it is unlikely that governments will do all that they can and should to carry out a programme as ambitious and strewn with obstacles as the MDGs.

However, when we see how meagre the media coverage is of this issue in both rich countries and underdeveloped ones, which feel the bite of poverty, it is hard not to be disturbed. If this issue is indeed so urgent, and if it is possible to bring together the forces needed to resolve or at least address it, why is there so little coverage of it in the media?

Let’s take the most recent and most outstanding example. Last September in New York, a UN conference brought together the largest number of world leaders ever convened. Its purpose was to reaffirm the commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were designed to reduce poverty by half by the year 2015. And yet to this unprecedented, record international event the media dedicated almost no coverage whatsoever.

And since then? It can be supposed that in the weeks after the conclusion of this super-summit there were numerous occasions to take up the subject, including chances for the media to criticise or evaluate their respective governments’ actions, implementation of the commitments, or other aspects of the issue. However, not only was the coverage extremely scarce; the media in general showed virtually no interest in receiving analysis of the progress of the Millennium Development Goals.

Journalists who specialise in development and cooperation face a very difficult reality, and one that is very hard to change: there is very little room for this subject in the media.

If this is the case, another question arises: if the media, and the mass media in particular, give it so little room, are we to conclude that, despite their prominence in the agenda of the international community, that development issues simply aren’t that important? When I speak with colleagues at influential media outlets, I always hear the same response: however great the global importance of these themes may be, the general public just isn’t interested.

But there is another facet of the problem that cannot be avoided. If journalists reject the thesis that there is little interest in these matters among the public, while media management is partly responsible, we journalists are also at fault for not having covered this subject better –that is to say, in a more clear and compelling manner.

Meanwhile, in civil society and even in the media, initiatives are underway to awaken the public conscience with regard to poverty and the Millennium Development Goals. The best-known example is the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), which is the largest coalition of organisations fighting against poverty, representing more than 150 million people in 75 countries. GCAP’s participation was well known in the last G8 Summit, which ended with a decision to reduce the debt of the world’s poorest countries. It was made up of grass-roots groups, unions, social and religious organisations, and media, including IPS.

Also worth mentioning is the Com+ Alliance, an association of communication professionals and organisations that support a vision of sustainable development. In addition to IPS, BBC World Service Trust, Reuters Foundation, and TVE all are part of this alliance.

With these and other new and forceful media, like the Arab language network Al Jazeera, Latin America’s Telesur, Current TV in the US, new satellite channels like Italy’s RAI 24-hour, and certain regional divisions of the MTV global youth network, IPS is part of a broad attempt to identify new approaches to reverse the negative tendencies in the media described above.

What is at stake? If nothing changes, while information and the debate on economic development and the fight against poverty do not reach the general public, international cooperation will remain the exclusive domain of specialists and functionaries, far from the people. And without the participation and commitment of the people, it is unlikely that governments will do all that they can and should to carry out a programme as ambitious and strewn with obstacles as the MDGs. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

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