ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights

ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights


ANDI + ANDI Latin American NetworkJournalism, Children’s Rights and Public Policies

Democracy, Governance and Accountability:the contribution of media and communication

BBC World Service Trust / Communication InitiativeLONDON – 16th January 2008

Background – Brazil

• A country of young people

– 2006: 180 million people

– Children and adolescents: 62 million

– Children under 12 years old: 41 million

– Adolescents: 21 million

– Brazilian children and adolescents represent 1/3 of

all the country’s inhabitants

– They also represent1/3 of Latin American and

Caribbean population under 18


* IBGE and UNICEF Report 2006


• Economy

– GDP: US$ 1,067 trillion

– 10th world economy

* World Bank – 2006



• Income concentration

– GINI Index: 0,593

– 8th most unequal country

– Richest 10% owns 46,9% of income

– Poorest 10% owns 0,7% of income

* UNDP – 2005



• Human Development Index

– Since 1990, Brazil increased 14 positions (177 countries)

– 2006: 69th position (HDI = 0,792)

– 2007: Brazil joined the high Human Development

group (HDI = 0,800)

– President Lula’s effort to fight poverty are beginning

to show results


Background – Media

• Latin America: recent democracies

– Public media groups are rare and rather

government- and not public-oriented

– Regulatory apparatus tend to be weak

– Highly concentrated media ownership structure

– Many journalists are poorly educated and work

under difficult conditions


Background – Media

• High degree of media freedom and some strong private groups

– Improved technical quality

– Impoverished content – particularly in the loss of

cultural, educational and developmental content*


* DFID. Mass Media. Keysheet, n. 22./ August 2003

Background - Media

• Concerns on media ownership

– Eight in ten Brazilians agree that increasing

ownership concentration is a major issue because

owners’ political views often emerge in news

reporting


* BBC World Service (Globescan poll of 11,344 people across 14 countries / December 2007)

Background - Media

• Absence of pluralism / biased coverage

– A recent research by ONADEM found an homogenous

approach in the way 15 Bolivian newspapers covered

the debate around the country’s new constitution

– Besides that, it was noticed that the same editorial

could be published by two or even three different

papers (owned by rival media groups) – all the

editorials criticized the new legislation proposal


* ONADEM (Observatorio Nacional de Medios). Lineas de Opinion en torno al Proceso Constintuyente - 2007

The need for a strong Media System• Press freedom is an essential condition, but not a

sufficient one for the media to play a pro-active role in

democracy, governance and developmental processes.

Some other conditions must be fulfilled:

– A sound regulatory framework (media groups + access to

public information)

– Media groups that are relatively independent of political and economic interests

– Constant capacity building and institutional empowerment

of journalists who cover these issues

– An well established and diverse Media Accountability

System - M.A.S. (Who guards the guardians?)


Good journalism

Three main characteristics

• Provides the citizenry with trustworthy, contextualized

information regarding their rights (empowerment of

citizens / building of social capital)

• Sets and frame the agenda around relevant issues in a

pluralistic manner (Agenda-setting theory)

• Exerts social control over government officials and

public policies (the watchdog role)


The Media System

• Government (regulatory framework)

• Media groups (serious CSR policies - including journalism)

• Journalists

• Universities and other training institutions

• Journalistic unions, associations, federations

• Sources of information

• Educational system (media literacy)

• Alternative media (community radios, blogs, etc)

• Citizens

• Media Accountability Systems (M.A.S.)


Media Accountability Systems (M.A.S.)*

• Civil Society Organizations + Academic Institutions

whose mission is to improve the accountability,

responsiveness and capabilities of the media

• If the media are to contribute to governance, they must

be subject to similar checks and balances as those that

constitute the division of powers in the state


* Claude-Jean Bertrand, Professor Emeritus at the French Press Institute (University of Paris 2). An Arsenal for Democracy: Media Accountability Systems, 2003.

Media Accountability Systems (M.A.S.)

• Monitor editorial content on a regular basis

• Provide critical overview of the coverage

• Develop methodologies that raise the

awareness of the public, of journalists and of

media companies

• Watch media structural problems


ANDI’s case

• ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights

• ANDI Brazil Network

• ANDI Latin America Network


ANDI - Three Strategic Pillars

• Mobilization– To articulate journalists, media outlets, news sources,

journalism students and other social actors in order to mainstream children’s and adolescents’ rights in the media

• Media Monitoring– To collect, archive, and classify the editorial content

concerning children published by large set of Brazilian and Latin American newspapers, magazines, and, more recently, TV newscasts

• Capacity Building & Editorial Analysis– To analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the stories

collected and based on the results to provide journalists, news sources, and journalism students with tools and opportunities to enhance their skills and develop new ones


ANDI as a Social Technology

• Social Technology

A concept used in Brazil and other Latin American

countries to identify a set of tested, structured and

replicable methodologies that can be adapted and

applied in other geographical and/or social contexts.


ANDI Brazil Network - 2000

• Amazonas• Bahia• Ceará• Distrito Federal• Maranhão• Mato Grosso do Sul• Minas Gerais• Paraná• Pernambuco• Rio Grande do Norte• Sergipe

ANDI – Agência de Notícias dos Direitos da Infância

11 STATES

ANDI Latin America Network - 2003

• Argentina• Brazil• Bolivia• Colombia• Costa Rica• Ecuador• Guatemala• México• Nicaragua• Paraguay• Peru• Uruguay• Venezuela

ANDI – Agência de Notícias dos Direitos da Infância

13 COUNTRIES

Mobilization

• Permanent help desk: one-on-one assistance for journalists

• Daily news summaries to more than 1,500 journalists countrywide

• Monthly bulletins of in-depth suggestions for news coverage

• Child-Friendly Journalist Project: recognition of media professionals (346 so far, from all over the country) who champion issues related to children’s rights

• Tim Lopes Award for Investigative Journalism Projects on Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents

• Online Information Sources Directory (3,500 entries)ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s

Rights

Mobilization

• Independent Survey – Child-Friendly Journalist Project

– 38% are influential professionals from the media: editors or newsroom chiefs

– 97,54% agree that the Project improved quality of coverage

– 97% agree that the initiative has influenced media editors and owners to devote more space to children’s issues

– 85% frequently use the Direto ao Assunto (news themes suggestion bulletin) as a source for their stories


*Independent Evaluation of the Child-Friendly Project, conducted by John Snow Brazil - 2004.

Mobilization

“If any child is out of school, any youngster has no

access to professional training, and if a boy carries a hoe

instead of a pencil in order to help his family have

something to eat, it is a responsibility of the media to

portray this reality and ask whether it is what we want

as a society. The answer will be given by each citizen.

But it is us, journalists, who have to tell this story.” *


* Luciana Constantino, reporter, Folha de S.Paulo (Brazil)

Child-friendly Journalist

Media Monitoring


• Daily press clipping and classification: 55 newspapers (from 1996 on)

• Daily clipping and classification of 5 TV newscasts (from 2006 on)

• Monitoring process focusing, among other aspects:– Main Social Issues - Sources of information– Public policies - Legislation– Statistics - Gender, disabilities, ethnicity

• Reports presenting the findings of the research

• Ranking portraying the performance of newspapers,

based on 18 variables

Increase in Coverage – Children and Adolescents Issues ANDI Brazil + Network (1996 - 2004)

Year

Number of articles:

newspapers and magazines

Number of newspapers monitored

Number of magazines monitored

Increase in the number of

articles for the 45 newspapers

monitored every year

Annual percentage

increase in the number of

articles for the 45 newspapers

1996 10,700 55 - 10,540 -

1997 16,740 50 7 14,105 33.82%

1998 27,114 51 9 23,061 63.50%

1999 48,639 48 8 44,919 94.78%

2000 64,396 50 8 59,243 31.89%

2001 76,928 49 10 72,580 22.51%

2002 93,581 50 10 86,231 18.81%

2003 115,869 54 10 102,264 18.59%

2004 161,706 60 10 131,617 28.70%

Total increase for the period 1996 - 2004 (45 newspapers monitored) 1,148.74%

Media Monitoring


Most Covered Topics – Newspapers and Magazines (1996-2005)

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Rights &Justice

Rights &Justice

Education

Education

Education

Education

Education

Education

Education

Education

Health ViolenceRights &Justice

Health Violence Violence Violence Violence Violence Rights &Justice

Violence Health Violence Violence Health HealthRights &Justice

Rights &Justice

Rights &Justice

Violence

Sexual Abuse &Exploitat

ion

Education

Health Rights &Justice

Rights &Justice

Rights &Justice

Health Health Health Health

Education

Sexual Abuse &Exploitat

ion

Third Sector

Organizations

Third Sector

Organizations

Third Sector

Organizations

Third Sector

Organizations

International

International

Culture Culture

ANDI Brazil + Network (1996 - 2004)

ANDI – News Agency for Children’s Rights

Media Monitoring

Editorial Analysis and Capacity Building


• In depth Thematic Media Analysis +

Publications portraying the findings

– Historical background and theoretical information regarding the issue at hand

– Interviews with and articles by experts and journalists

– A directory of information sources

– A comprehensive section with tips on how to improve the coverage of this topics

– Focus on other social and environmental topics(CSR, Poverty, Public Policies on Communication, Social Technologies, Climate Change)



Books, reports and other publications



• Capacity Building

– Seminars to debate the most important aspects revealed by the studies

– Interactive format applied to these meetings encourages journalists and news sources to strengthen the ties among themselves

– Half-day or one-day workshops, held in the newsrooms premises, designed to provide intensive training on specific subjects

– E-learning courses will soon be offered (First one: coverage of public expenditure and associated issues)



• Academic Interface (Journalism Courses)

– Development, in partnership with universities, of elective

courses on social policies

– Scholarship Program for final Under-graduate dissertations

– Awards granted to final Under-graduate dissertations,

Master’s dissertations and Doctoral theses that excel in

explaining the links between communication, journalism,

and development

– National seminars comprising communication

researchers who focus on social issues

ANDI as a M.A.S.

ANDI struck me as being an original M.A.S., a remarkable “media accountability system”. What I call an M.A.S. is any non governmental, non-state, means of inducing newspeople to be “ethical”, in other words, to serve the people well. (…) ANDI is an efficient and very original one. That kind of M.A.S. should exist in every country.


Claude-Jean Bertrand. Facing the Challenge – Children’s rights and human development in Latin American news media, 2006.

Theme (*)

Use of statistics or

indicatorsReferences to

legislationDivergent opinions

Participative Democracy / Councils 17,6% 24,2% 11,3%

Disabilities 15,3% 19,1% 4,2%

Poverty, Inequality, and Human Development 58,8% 9,9% 11,2%

Human Rights 23,3% 35,1% 11,0%

Drugs 25,4% 11,8% 8,4%

Education 19,3% 15,2% 10,3%

Early Childhood Education 20,9% 25,5% **

Commercial Sexual Exploitation 13,5% 13,4% **

Public Policies on Communication 16,0% 34,8% 15,7%

Corporate Social Responsibility 30,0% 12,8% 4,5%

Children’s Health 39,4% 5,1% 7%

Adolescents’ Health 34,5% 3,0% 5,2%

Tobacco & Alcohol 55,2% ** 6,7%

Social Technologies 27,2% 6,4% 3,1%

Child Labor 44,6% 1,4% 6,6%

Genetically-modified organisms 40,6% 70,9% 36,5%

Violence 10,7% 4,4% **

Average 29,0% 18,3% 10,1%

Strengthening the watchdog role


*SOURCE: ANDI

Position Theme (*) News published inReferences to public policies

1 Education 2004 66.0%

2 Genetically-modified organisms 2004 63.9%

3 Early Childhood Education 2000 58.0%

4 Human Rights 2004 54.1%

5 Poverty, Inequality, and Human Development 2001/2002 52.2%

6 Children’s Health 2002 47.0%

7 Child Labor 2002 40.2%

8 Participative Democracy / Councils 2003 36.0%

9 Communication Public Policies 2003/2005 32.7%

10 Adolescents’ Health 2001 30.0%

11 Tobacco & Alcohol 2001 28.9%

12 Disabilities 2002 26.3%

13 Drugs 2002/2003 26.2%

14 Social Technologies 2004 21.0%

15 Commercial Sexual Exploitation 2000/2001 9.9%

16 Violence 2000/2001 4.8%

Average - 37.41%

*SOURCE: ANDIStrengthening the watchdog role


,

PositionTheme(*)

Stories in which the government is pressed to respond or pointed as

responsible for rights violations on a given issue

1 Poverty, Inequality, and Human Development 27.6%

2 Human Rights 15.3%

3 Adolescents’ Health 13.0%

4 Disabilities 10.1%

5 Children’s Health 9.4%

6 Drugs 9.0%

7 Child Labor 8.8%

8 Commercial Sexual Exploitation 8.0%

9 Communication Public Policies 6.0%

10 Participative Democracy / Councils 5.9%

11 Education 4.0%

12 Corporate Social Responsibility 4.0%

13 Social Technologies 3.7%

14 Violence 2.3%

15 Tobacco & Alcohol 1.4%

Average 8.57%



*SOURCE: ANDI


• In-depth analysis of the coverage of Sexual ViolenceANDI Brazil + Network

Coverage of Violence in general vs. Sexual Violence* Search

for Solutio

ns

Denunciation

Cites ECA*

*

Cites legislation in general

Cites public

policies

Violence in general

3.99% 14.84% 0.90% 5.06% 0.45%

Sexual Violence 16.89% 36.10% 4.99

% 12.35% 5.23%


*Source: Relatório Infância na Mídia 2003/2004

** ECA – Brazilian Bill on Children’s Rights

,



ANDI: Rights, Childhood and

the Public Agenda, 2006

Public Policies(% for Brazil relative to total of news stories on Children and

Adolescents in 2005)*

References to Public Policies 16.08%

References to infrastructure policies 4.59%

References to public compensatory policies 2.33%

References to public welfare policies 1.31%

References to other policies 7.86%

References to Public Expenditures 2.90%

References to corruption and embezzlement of public resources 1.36%

References to Public Budgets 0.99%

References to the absence of public resources 0.56%

Portrays Youth Participation Actions 0.47%

,



Protagonists in the news(% for Brazil of total of news stories on Children and Adolescents in

2005)

General coverage of

Children and

Adolescents

Coverage Focusing on Public Policies

Institutions 41.04% 82.12%

Government 29.74% 75.40%

Organized Civil Society 5.17% 2.15%

Company / Business Foundation 3.87% 0.81%

Partner Institutions 1.64% 3.23%

Multilateral Organization / Agency 0.62% 0.54%

Individuals 36.26% 5.17%

General Population 5.86% 4.23%

Stories of a Thematic Nature or without Protagonists

16.84% 8.47%

ANDI: Rights, Childhood and

the Public Agenda, 2006



• Public Policies - Argentina

– In 2004 the Provincial Government of Neuquén

presented a draft bill that would have changed

the Law on the Full Protection of Children and

Adolescents to permit the incarceration of

adolescents under 18

– The government dropped the initiative following

a barrage of critical news stories and editorials,

much of it inspired by background information

and analysis provided by the local ANDI NGO



“Government Cuts Funding for Children and

Adolescents at Risk by 30%”

• Public Policies - Brazil



“Lula CutsFunds to Combat

Child Laborby 80%”




“GovernmentReinstates Funding

to CombatChild Labor”


The Climate Change coverage


• 50 Brazilian newspapers

• 24 months (July 2005 – June 2007)

• Composite month methodology (62 days)

Good news…

The coverage presents an impressive level of

contextualization:

– 40% display statistics – 36% cite legislation– 32% contain scientific data– 24% made references to public policies

The Climate Change coverage


And bad…

• Less than10% of the texts presented divergent opinions

• In just 3% of the stories the government is pressed to

respond or identified as accountable for violations of

rights concerning the issue at hand

• Only 15% of the material establish relations between

climate change and the development agenda (or model)

“When you warn people about the dangers of climate change,

they call you a saint. When you explain what needs

to be done to stop it, they call you a communist.”

George Monbiot, The Guardian (Dec 4, 2007)

What lies ahead


– Mapping and supporting the strengthening of M.A.S.

in Latin America (institutions which work for the

improvement of the media system)

– Stimulating improvement of media regulatory

frameworks

– Stimulating improvements in the corporate

governance status of media firms

– Fostering increase in quantity and quality of the

coverage of social public policies

– Developing specific indicators on media,

democracy and development

Partners - Latin America Network


SM

Sponsor

Other Partners

• ANDI and ANDI Brazil Network


- Ford Foundation- W. K. Kellogg Foundation - World Childhood Foundation - International Labor Organization (ILO)

- Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente (Conanda)- Subsecretaria Especial dos Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República- Ministério da Educação- Ministério da Saúde

- Fundação Banco do Brasil- Instituto C&A- Instituto Alana


Thank you!

[email protected] (+5561) 2102-6508

Documents

ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights