The Drum Beat 607: Impact Series #4 - Journalistic Coverage of Sexual Violence against Children in Brazil

"The level of public awareness on sexual violence against children in Brazilian society has grown in recent years. More qualified media coverage played a strategic part in this process."

...ANDI cites as evidence some of the following: public awareness around the National Day to Combat Sexual Violence, May 18, has grown annually; President Lula made the issue a priority regarding his social policies; a congressional investigation panel on the issue was established; and there was a significant growth in the number of calls to the national hotline...

...News coverage on stories involving sexual abuse/exploitation of children was found to evolve 200% in 10 years - from 2,004 in the year 2000 to 6,024 in the year 2009...

...The impact of the Tim Lopes Journalistic Contest can be seen in the news media culture; it also influenced public policies/the state system...


 

This issue of The Drum Beat is the fourth in a series of 5 that highlight specific examples of the impact that communication is having on development in a myriad of ways. These examples are culled from presentations shared at a meeting hosted by UNAIDS and The Communication Initiative on March 29 2011 ("Social and Behavioural Change Research Results: Strategic Implications") in Geneva, Switzerland. You may notice that each of the Drum Beat issues included in this series is shorter than normal; our goal is to hone in on just a few illustrations of the most compelling impact data to emerge from the Geneva meeting - with the hope that you will delve deeper as your interests drive you.

In this fourth presentation, "Journalistic Coverage of Sexual Violence against Children in Brazil Impact: Social and Behavioural Change Conference", Ricardo Corredor Cure outlines the communication strategy of CI Partner ANDI Communication and Rights with regard to the media and sexual violence against children from the period 2000-2010.

For a more complete summary of "Journalistic Coverage of Sexual Violence against Children in Brazil - Impact: Social and Behavioural Change Conference" on The CI site, click here.

For access to the full presentation itself, click here.

 

BACKGROUND: ANDI'S HISTORY AND STRATEGIES


Formally established in 1993, although active as a volunteer organisation since 1990, ANDI is a Brazilian not-for-profit and non-partisan civil society organisation engaged in integrating initiatives in the area of media for development. The institution's strategies are based on promoting and strengthening a professional and ethical dialogue between news organisations, communications/journalism schools (as well as other higher education disciplines), government, and entities involved in the field of sustainable development and human rights. In recent years, ANDI has focused on coverage of themes as diverse as early childhood education, ethnic and racial inequalities, drug abuse, public expenditure on social policies, and climate change.

Regarding the journalistic coverage of sexual violence against children, ANDI's specific strategies are three-fold:

1.    MOBILISATION, including:

• The Tim Lopes Investigative Journalism Contest - the "backbone of the whole strategy". It has involved 5 editions, with the next one being implemented in 2012. Sixty-seven journalists have won in 5 categories (TV, Radio, Print, Alternative + Online, Special), resulting in 150 news stories focusing on issues related to children and sexual violence, such as sexual tourism, human trafficking, poverty, criminal networks, corruption, impunity, and internet use;
• Pitching stories for regional and national outlets;
• Daily help-desk for journalists and sources of information from civil society; and
• An online database of qualified sources of information.

2.    CAPACITY BUILDING, including:

• Workshops for journalists and civil society organisations;
• Grants for undergraduate dissertations; and
• Publications/websites - e.g., 3 guides/manuals on media and sexual violence: 1 for journalists, 1 for public officials, and 1 for information sources from civil society.

3.    MONITORING AND EVALUATION, including: regular monitoring of 50 newspapers (sexual violence as one of the main issues/keywords) and in-depth analysis of sexual violence coverage in 2000 and 2006.


 

IMPACT

 

• News coverage on stories involving sexual abuse/exploitation of children was found to evolve 200% in 10 years (from 2,004 news stories in the year 2000 to 6,024 in the year 2009).
• In 2009, 18% of stories in the Tim Lopes Journalistic Contest included references to legislation, as compared to other news sources sharing information on sexual violence in general (9.7%) or children's rights in general (5.7%). [See Slide 20 for more data]. Also, there was found to be an impact of this contest on the journalistic culture - e.g., winning journalists "gain a much deeper understanding of the problem and commit to it even if [they] change outlets/jobs" and they "become focal points within their newsrooms."
• The Tim Lopes contest has also been found to have impacted public policies/the state system. For example, there was an improvement of ECA (Brazilian Bill of Children's Rights) through Amendment 485 regarding child pornography on the internet.
• Although sexual exploitation is difficult to measure, due to the specific nature of the problem (e.g., it is an illegal activity, and many victims prefer to remain silent) and based on the "agenda setting" approach, ANDI believes that the level of public awareness on sexual violence against children in Brazilian society has grown in recent years due to more qualified media coverage.
• ANDI cites accomplishments such as the following: public awareness about the National Day to Combat Sexual Violence, May 18, has grown annually; President Lula made the issue a priority regarding his social policies; a congressional investigation panel on the issue was established; and there was a significant growth in the number of calls to the national hotline (4,494 in 2003, compared to 29,756 in 2009).

Where to go for MORE on children and media development issues/intersections:

 

• The Children, Equity, and Development Theme Site
• The DB Click: Children is an e-newsletter designed for people seeking to address development issues related to children. It updates you on recent children and development initiatives including programme activities, evaluation and research results, books and other materials, and other information recently placed on The Communication Initiative website. To subscribe, just send an email to children@comminit.com requesting to "Subscribe: Children" or click here.
• The Media Development Theme Site - where media rights, freedoms, capacities, and diversity are central to humanity.
• The DB Click: Media Development is an e-newsletter for people seeking to address media development issues and opportunities. To subscribe, please send an email to mediadev@comminit.com or click here.

For a more complete summary of "Journalistic Coverage of Sexual Violence against Children in Brazil - Impact: Social and Behavioural Change Conference" on The CI site, click here.

To access the full presentation directly, click here.


 

This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.


 

The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.

Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on communication for development at any time. Send to drumbeat@comminit.com

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

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