Low-tech solutions in a high-tech world

It's fascinating to me that we receive many inquiries from foreign news organizations, asking for assistance for journalism training, assistance with transportation to conferences, and good old-fashioned networking. I'm excited that there is so much interest to developing the craft of journalism in other countries (particularly developing countries).

But I'm curious why people are looking to the American media for assistance where the actual craft of journalism has remained stagnant for years.

Oh sure, we're playing with our electronic toys and boasting about the wonderful advances these toys will provide the world of journalism. We can now get the same stories from a myriad of different locations, written by the same news organizations, providing the same pop-culture drivel and personal opinion that the general public has told us they don't want to read in their daily papers or listen to on their television or radio news broadcasts.

I had an iPod salesperson try to convince me that I absolutely need to buy an iPod. "Where else can you have music available to you any time you want it? You can even download podcasts of news and information from anywhere in the world! You can carry the iPod around with you and listen in with wonderful high-tech earphones. It's the latest thing!"

The latest thing? I stopped the saleskid dead in his pitch by telling him that when I was growing up, we had the same thing -- back then, it was called "radio." Ooooh, what a concept. A transistor radio could fit into your shirt pocket, the hand-dandy ear piece would fit in one ear while you still could be aware of what was going on around you so you could actually engage in conversation with someone without blocking out the rest of the world with your environmental-sound-blocking earphones.

In my quest for a simply life where I can focus on trying to find solutions to some international media problem projects that I'm working on, I've been amazed at the low-tech approaches being shared through a group called the Communication Initiative. Their period e-mail messages provide information about usually low-tech solutions to problems that our high-tech journalists are ignoring.

In the recent edition of one of their newsletters, "The Drum Beat", they draw from "two of our knowledge sections - Programme Experiences and Evaluations - which illustrate how communication and media are being used for effective development action around the world."

1. Great Lakes Reconciliation Radio Project-Rwanda, Burundi and DRC

This regional reconciliation programme seeks to expand Radio La Benevolencija (RLB) activities in Rwanda into neighbouring countries like Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - an expansion which is seen as crucial for maintaining peace in the region. This project counteracts the role of hate media by developing radio material that sensitises the population to resist mass media manipulation and to focus on unbiased treatment of and critical reading of information. It involves radio programmes, listening groups, and grassroots activities that promote active bystandership, encouraging people to recognise and stand up in the face of incitement and to protest against wrongdoings in the name of hate. The campaign employs what are envisioned as popular and entertaining radio formats to make audiences aware of the similarity of mechanisms at work everywhere in the world where instigation to genocide has happened. The project also shows ways to deal with and heal trauma - thought to be a major factor in both the instigation and the consequences of violence.

2.Improving Breastfeeding Practices on a Broad Scale at the Community Level: Success Stories from Africa and Latin America

By Victoria J. Quinn, Agnès B. Guyon, Joan W. Schubert, Maryanne Stone-Jiménez, Michael D. Hainsworth, and Luann H. Martin

This article examines the strategies and successes of large-scale community-level, communication-centred programmes designed to improve breastfeeding practices in Bolivia, Ghana, and Madagascar. The case study illustrates the way in which sizeable improvements in optimal breastfeeding can be achieved at scale and within a relatively rapid time frame using a multi-faceted, communication-focused approach, tailored specifically to meet the demands of each specific country in which the approach was implemented. The authors suggest that a mix of activities, such as interpersonal counselling, community mobilisation, and mass media, contributes to behaviour change when these activities deliver consistent messages. Linking health workers and community health promoters (particularly for referral) is one strategy endorsed here for fostering mothers' receipt of consistent messages. The authors note that creating an overall positive policy environment for breastfeeding and nutrition through effective policy analysis is also key.

3. Theory and Practice of Participatory Communication:The Case of the FAO Project "Communication for Development in Southern Africa, by Paolo Mefalopulos

This dissertation was motivated by the observation that participatory communication - characterised by a horizontal flow of communication based primarily on dialogue - is increasingly being considered a key component of development projects around the world. Following an in-depth review and comparison on how participatory communication has been conceived theoretically, the paper presents a practical illustration: a case study analysis of Communication for Development in Southern Africa, a project that was launched in 1994 Harare, Zimbabwe, by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The project was intended to promote the sustainable and systematic use of communication in the development process to help ensure people's participation at all levels, as part of an effort to identify and implement appropriate technologies and policies for the prevention of poverty.

Based on a "Results" section, Mefalopulos argues that participatory communication is "a necessary component, consistent with a democratic vision of international development, needed to increase projects sustainability and ensure genuine ownership by the so-called 'beneficiaries'." Lessons and insights learned from this study are also shared.

There are many other examples of discussions on how local and regional problems are being resolved through a greater use of communications and the media.

Meanwhile, American media organizations are wringing their hands, wondering why people are leaving traditional news sources. News studies claim the public doesn't believe the news is relevant to them, especially when the only international news they hear about is coming from Paris [Hilton].

Alan J. Kania