日本財団 図書館


MEDIA WORKSHOPS
Cultivating the Press
Media Partner Workshops are designed to show the Indian media that there is another way to portray leprosy ― not as a dreaded disease but as a source of inspiring stories.
 
In India, the need to sensitize the press on the subject of leprosy has been felt for some time. Participants at several workshops on “Advocacy Strategies and the Role of Media for the Elimination of Leprosy,” held in the high endemic states in 2004 and 2005, all urged that this be done.
 As a result, a number of Media Partnership Workshops have been held across India in the latter part of 2005, organized by communications consultancy ICONS Media in association with the International Leprosy Union (ILU) and IDEA India, and with support from the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation (SMHF) and The Nippon Foundation (TNF).
 
OBJECTIVES
The workshops have several objectives, among the most important being to familiarize the media with leprosy, raise awareness of the movement to attain the dignity and socio-economic integration of cured persons, discuss ways of fighting social stigma and discrimination, and discourage sensationalist coverage and the use of derogatory terms such as “leper.”
 They are also an opportunity for leprosy activists to network with journalists covering health, development and social issues; to create a support base within the mainstream media; and to put leprosy into the national “mind-space” via newspaper and television coverage.
 A short-term goal is to build up a groundswell of media interest in leprosy in the run-up to the first ever national forum of leprosy-affected persons scheduled for Delhi on December 19, where cured persons and colony representatives will discuss the possibility of forming a national network.
 
Media work-shops generate good coverage.
 
FORMAT
The media partnership workshops are typically divided into three parts. First, a documentary film is shown that gives a general introduction to the disease. This is followed by an inaugural session featuring the WHO goodwill ambassador, the state governor and the state health minister, accompanied by leading leprosy activists who address participants about the disease, stigma and the role that the media can play. Finally, doctors, cured persons and social activists address the audience on specific issues related to the medical and social aspects of the disease.
 
UNDERLYING MESSAGES
Underpinning the workshops are the three messages championed by the WHO goodwill ambassador ― that leprosy is curable, treatment is free and readily available, and that there is no place for discrimination.
 The workshops also take aim at myths and prejudices surrounding the disease, emphasizing that leprosy is very hard to transmit ― it can't be caught by touching or shaking hands ― and is not the result of a person's transgressions in a past life.
 The medical discussions include information about what leprosy is; signs and symptoms; treatment; the importance of early detection; self-care; prevention of disabilities; and reconstructive surgery.
 The discussions on the social aspects of the disease focus on both social and economic rehabilitation and ways of empowering persons affected by leprosy. Examples are drawn from the work of NGOs and experts in the field.
 In particular, the workshops stress the role the media can play in combating the stigma surrounding leprosy by creating positive, humanistic portraits of people affected by the disease.
 Backing this up are the personal testimonies of cured persons, giving participating media the opportunity to get to know first-hand the stories of those whose lives have been affected by the disease, the struggles they have faced and how they have coped.
 At time of writing, sessions have been held in Kolkata (110 participants); Patna (120); Guwahati (75); and Lucknow (170), with more sessions planned for Chennai, Jaipur, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, and Pune.
 Among those taking part have been government health department officials, representatives of WHO, ILU, IDEA India, local NGOs and ILEP agencies, cured persons, local representatives from most major newspapers and television stations, and contingents from the leading media schools in the state.
 Coverage of the workshops has generally been good, often featuring interviews with the WHO goodwill ambassador as well as leprosy activists such as Dr P. K. Gopal (IDEA India) and Dr S. D. Gokhale (ILU).
 
The goodwill ambassador (right) meets the Indian media
 
REACTIONS OF PARTICIPANTS
Archiman Bhaduri, a senior journalist with The Times of India in Kolkata, said that until he attended the Kolkata workshop, stories about leprosy had never been a topic of interest because they don't sell the next day's newspapers. “But the workshop opened my eyes to some harsh facts about our society. It also made me realize there are some very positive stories out there.”
 He said he appreciated the opportunity to speak both with cured persons and those working closely with them, and said that the workshop brought home to him the truth of the statement: “Half the world doesn't know how the other half lives.”
 Aneeta Tewari, senior sub-editor of the Hindustan Times Lucknow edition, was assigned to cover the workshop held in that city. “Initially it seemed like a routine assignment,” she said, “but the workshop provided me with a new insight and objective in life.”
 Exposure to the work of the WHO goodwill ambassador “shook my conscience as an educated journalist,” she said. Hearing of the way patients can be disowned by their own family members “made me to decide to contribute my own resources toward eradication of the disease and its associated social stigma.”
 
“The workshop opened my eyes to some harsh facts about our society.”
 
 She was also inspired by the “shining example” of Dr. Gopal, whose struggle with the disease as a young man interrupted his studies but who went on to become an activist in the worldwide fight against leprosy and discrimination.
 From starting out as a routine assignment, Tewari's report grew to fill over one page of her newspaper. “The story aimed at clearing myths about leprosy, providing confidence to affected persons in their fight against the disease and increasing social awareness to dispel the stigma associated with it,” she said.
 Hitendra K. Patel, a senior lecturer in the Department of History at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and executive editor of The Last Mile (a magazine to bring awareness of leprosy to India) admits he was not very interested when first introduced to efforts to improve the situation of persons affected by leprosy.
 But while acquainting himself with the literature on the subject he came to realize that the equivalent of 1% of India's population has been treated and cured of leprosy over the past two decades. Many of these recovered persons have led a marginalized existence on the fringes of society for no fault of their own, he said, and must be given “all possible help” to lead normal lives.
 In that regard, the Kolkata workshop was “a big help for me in understanding different aspects of leprosy stigma,” he said, and a meeting with Yohei Sasakawa was “particularly rewarding.”
 “I am a teacher, and the next time a student affected by leprosy comes to my class, I would treat him as any other student who is affected by a disease. Before attending this workshop I would not have dared to do so,“ he said. “I think this sums up what I have gained personally from this workshop.”
 
AUTHOR:
Professor Ujjwal K.
Chowdhury
Professor Chowdhury is a director of ICONS Media and a media advisor to the government of India (Ministry of Textiles).
 
 
 
BACK CONTENTS NEXT





日本財団図書館は、日本財団が運営しています。

  • 日本財団 THE NIPPON FOUNDATION