Right to communicate: capacity-building of ethnic minority broadcasting in Mongolia

Globe International organized 6 events and involved in total 182 participants in Bayan-Olgii aimag- the province located in the north west of Mongolia between 13- 20 April 2006. It was cooperated with Bayan-Olgii Office of the Governor and the Bayan-Olgii Brach of Confederation of Mongolian Journalists (CMJ) in the framework of the Communication and Information Programme, under authority of UNESCO Office Beijing in line with the “Right to communicate: capacity-building of ethnic minority broadcasting in Mongolia” initiative has organized the trip of UNESCO-selected consultants and conducted trainings for media practitioners in Bayan-Olgii province

The international team of consultants and trainers below visited Bayan-Olgii aimag
• Dana Ziyasheva, adviser, UNESCO
• Rose Kudabaeva, Producer, BBC
• Ayazabi Beisenkulov, professor, Kazakh State University
• Naranjargal Hashhuu, president, Globe International
• Dash Munhburen, executive director of Globe International

During the international team visit 2 activities had been carried out.

1. Trainings
2. Contest among candidates for the fellowship

I. TRAININGS

Globe International organized the round table, 2 seminars and 3 workshops that listed below:

• Round table: Role of free media in a democratic society
• Seminar: Media legal framework
• Seminar: Public Service Broadcasting
• Workshop: Basics of Modern Journalism
• Parallel Workshops on Radio and TV Journalism

Round table: Role of free media in a democratic society

The round table was organized in 14 April 2006 and involved 74 participants. H.Naranjargal had taken the main presentation, which focused on why free press is important, why it is one of the democratic principles and one of the public's fundamental rights. The presentation also stressed the political, economic and legal environment. By the end of the presentation she has given the short picture of the Mongolian free media landscape.

During the round table Rosa Kudabaeva, BBC producer told about the Kazakh Service as a part of Central Asia and Caucasus Department, which was established in 1996 and closed in 2005. She informed the participants in importance of the region in a global context – external reasons, need for news and current affairs programmes in Kazakh – internal reasons, delivery problems, FM broadcasts/Contracts with Independent Radio channels, short and medium waves, and main achievements such as an independent and impartial source of information for target audience both in Kazakhstan and abroad and it helped to raise standards of Radio journalism in Kazakh, developed own style and distinctive voice.

Mr. R. Suragan, director of Information Technology Center presented on the current situation of Bayan-Olgii media. He noted that the private FM radio stations and new TV station have established their broadcasting and it contributes to the opportunity to provide free information in the aimag. The attitude of the authorities who wanted to monopolize the media has been changing since the new Law on the Public Radio and TV. He thinks there are several issues to be focused. These are poor media management that lead to lack of professional journalists, released the journalists from their jobs due to their political party membership, high skilled journalists left the country for Kazakhstan because of their less paid jobs, and the journalists lack knowledge on the modern journalism. He also focused on the technological backwards of Kazakh media and the financial problems.

Ayzbi Beisenkulov, professor from Kazakh University told about the media in Kazakhstan. He said that 2000 media outlets are functioning in the country out of 30000 registered. There are 200 radio and 200 television stations. The main financial resource of private media is the advertising income. One TV station has generated the income amounted 500 million tenge from only adds.

Dana Ziyasheva, UNESCO adviser informed the participants on UNESCO activities in the information, education and culture.

Seminar: Media Legal Framework

42 participants attended the seminar organized on 14 April 2006. D.Munkhburen, MA in law had taken the presentation: Legal environment for the Mongolian Media and she informed the participants the general legal structure of Mongolia, constitutional provisions on guaranteeing freedom to freely express, publish and seek and receive information. She also focused on the internal media law and Mongolian constitutional provision. The presentation provided the knowledge on the media legislation of Mongolia including the Law on Media Freedom, Law on the Public Radio and TV, Law on the Advertising and other laws affecting freedom of expression. The participants have learnt better knowledge on the types of censorship and how it is reflected in the practice and used by the authorities.

Rosa Kudabayva has presented what’s defamatory, libel & slender, who can sue, efences, sources and examples of libel cases

Seminar: Public Service Broadcasting

The seminar was held on 15 April 2006 and involved 36 participants. H.Naranjargal has taken the presentation on the nature and principles of PSB and the Mongolian PSB law and R. Kudabaeva told about the BBS as PSB.

N.Naranjargal provided the information on why is PSB needed, its values and main principles to be managed by the public, to be financed by the public and to be controlled by the public. She also focused on these main principles reflected in the Mongolian PSB legislation, and other good provisions of the law such as self-regulation, rights to reply, rights of the journalists to access information and protect their information sources.

R. Kudabaeva in her presentation BBS as PSB told about purpose and values of the BBC, how it is run, future of the BBC, BBC’s License fee Case, history of the BBC and all BBC channels

D.Ziyasheva said the PSB is to solve the problems, not to create the problems in her speech about UNESCO activities supporting BPS all over the world.

Workshop: Basics of modern journalism

Workshop was organized on 15 April 2006 and involved 30 participants. It consisted from 2 parts. The first part was conducted by H.Naranjargal and it focused on what is journalism and what is journalist, and specifics of journalistic information, types of information sources, using sources and mind mapping as journalistic research. The workshop also provided the knowledge on the election reporting: types of the information covered by mass media during the election campaign, what are the main principles of election reporting, what is bias and code of conducts of journalists during the election campaign

The 2 part devoted to the radio and R.Kydavaeva trained the journalists on how to make good radio. She trained the journalists on the principles: t imely and relevant, clear and accurate - how to write for radio, fairness, interesting and attention grabbing – menu, headlines, how to tell the story – diversity of genres, interactivity and communication.


Parallel workshops on radio and television journalism

The workshops organized between 16 – 19 April 2006 and each session involved 10-15 participants. The workshops ran by H.Naranjargal, R.Kudabayva and Ayazbi Beisenkulov.

TV Journalism Workshops

H.Naranjargal during her training session discussed the social issues in Bayan-Olgii aimag that local journalists should report. Journalists formed into 4 groups. According to BO journalists the main problem in Bayan- Olgii is the unemployment, so they worked to narrow the reporting angles through Mind Mapping. TV journalists have learnt the knowledge on the following topics. Each stage contained the practical tips and exercises working in 4 groups.

What is TV?

It devoted to the nature of television broadcasting and its types, relationship between television and audience, tools of television and structure of television programs. The participants also learnt knowledge on different roles and duties of television journalists.

Writing for TV

Participants have learnt the specifics of TV writing and introduced with types of television scripts, particularly the structure and composition of the scripts.

TV Talk. TV Interviewing

This part focused on nature of television talk and its types and participants also have been introduced with television interviewing techniques and practical tips.

TV News

The participants gained knowledge on how to produce television news and various types of television news, particularly structure of television news, writing headlines and leads, and how to package the news stories.

Program planning

The last part of the television journalism workshops devoted to development of good program strategy. The participants learnt how to classify the programs, what should be planned for pick hours and so on.

TV talk show

Ayazbi Beisenkulov trained the journalists on nature and forms of television talk shows as an interesting public discussion program.

As results of the workshops 4 groups have produced 4 news: book presentation donated by UNESCO organized at the public library, 30 persons, who received the illegal pension insurance are to pay it back, how to efficiently use 5 million MNT allocated by the Government to support the unemployed citizens in Bayan-Olgii, and how the BO aimag administration support the private sector- reportage from small baking factory .

Radio Journalism Workshops

Rosa Kudabaeva conducted the workshop and she discussed the issues of local Radio – problems and perspectives (analyses of current broadcast in Kazakh), what could be changed and audiences expectations. During her session the journalists have learnt the knowledge on the following topics.

Radio journalism – content generation and planning

The session involved the long-term and short-term planning, when to broadcast: in morning or evening, breakfast show or evening analyses, target audience (age, gender, occupation, interests), and radio magazines (weekly, monthly)

News, nature, sources and news bulletin

R.Kudabaeva trained on editorial priorities – accuracy, fairness and balance, selection and assessment of information – gathering the facts, sources, breaking the news, content of a programme with full regard to the needs of the audience, news bulletin – what’s the top story or stories, news and despatch, illustrations - atmos, actualities, clips and background information

Interview techniques

This part involved the topics on what’s an interview, types of interview, styles of interview, focus, preparation before the interview, questions, body language, and “Hard talk”

Packaging

The journalists gained knowledge on what’s a package, when it’s needed, focus, balance, “Ingredients”, structure, soundtrack and mixing

By the end of the session R.Kudabaeva introduced the journalists with radio discussions and told about “Burning” topics, urgent issues, preparation, guests, interactivity, audience in the studio, and audience on the phone

Each training session followed by training practices

II. CONTEST

Ayazby Beisenkulov, professor from Kazakh State University in assistance with the group of support organized the contest in 2 stages and 34 candidates attended. The following 4 persons have been selected for the fellowship to study at the Kazakh University for a semester in Autumn 2006. UNESCO is fully covering their expenses for studying in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

• Ainur Huangan
• Gulbatiza Zayahan
• Sovet Nasir
• Soyan Mysa