WORKSHOP REPORT

The role of media in fostering a prepared and resilient society, and acting as a critical lifeline during disasters, was the focus of a recent workshop organised by the Public Media Alliance and UNESCO. The online event took place on 3 June and was attended by dozens of media outlets from Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America.

The event presented UNESCO’s Model Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan for Media Institutions (the Plan). The document was published last year and was produced by UNESCO in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, with input from other organisations, including PMA.

Introducing the Plan

With the threat and devastation of environmental disasters increasing, the role of media as an essential pillar in building resilient and prepared societies and assisting with any response efforts – including via the provision of urgent and critical life-saving information – is only becoming more pronounced.

“Resilience is not simply a matter of resources, but of planning, cooperation, and also leadership.” – Carlos Lauria, executive director, IAPA

Across seven chapters, the Plan highlights specific actions or steps that media institutions can take to ensure they are prepared, resilient and responsive to any disaster. This includes sections on business continuity planning, editorial policies, programming, and stakeholder engagement.

The Plan also presents a five-step process which media institutions can take to develop their own disaster preparedness and response plans. For it to be effectively implemented, it requires a whole-of-organisation effort. “It cannot be done just by one single journalist or editor,” said Xu Jing, UNESCO programme specialist. “It has to involve the different parts of a media organisation. So, the first step would be to constitute a task team to draft a plan. This should involve the editorial team, but also the media executives, and maybe your HR department, and if it’s a bigger media organization, your programming department, and your legal department, etc.”

Case study: UNESCO and IAPA project in Central America

The Plan is already being rolled out across regions, with UNESCO working with local partners to deliver further training and awareness raising. One such project, focussed on climate reporting, disaster risk communication, and newsroom preparedness, has taken place in Central America, in partnership with the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).

In his keynote address during the workshop, the IAPA’s executive director Carlos Lauria, said the project was successful, as not only did it build the strength of environmental reporting, but it encouraged media organisations to “prepare for crisis before they occur … evaluate the risks, strengthen internal procedures.” It also led to greater cooperation between media organisations in different countries.

In Central America, as across many parts of the world, Lauria said countries face shared vulnerabilities, yet trusted local media are facing challenges to their viability. The project serves as an example that “Resilience is not simply a matter of resources, but of planning, cooperation, and also leadership. … They demonstrate that preparedness can be integrated into the newsroom culture, and show that collaboration and cooperation can strengthen reporting and reduce isolation.”

“We’ll be working continuously, consistently, collaborating with all the actors, strengthening the relationship, and then I think we’ll mitigate this issue and address it better.” – Luqman Cloete, senior reporter, NBC

Beyond the Plan

During an expert panel, moderated by PMA’s head of content and engagement, Harry Lock, the broader role of the media was explored, as well as various themes that are relevant to disaster preparedness and response today.

One such issue is the way in which crises and disasters are being exploited by malicious actors to spread disinformation. As explained by Fanny Langella, head of content and channels at UNDRR, “the impact can be severe, because it can delay protective action, it can delay the response, it can crowd emergency response system with fake calls. So it can really disrupt the response operation on many levels and have real-life, serious impacts.”

A solution to this pressing challenge is building fact-checking capacity within media organisations, while also encouraging the authorities to be responsive and open with the media, and ensuring communication lines are open, so information-vacuums don’t arise. “If media can’t get a line from you, they will get it from somebody else. And so, if you want trusted information, credible information, to be on air, you need to be ready to communicate, even when you don’t have all the information.” All this requires preparation to ensure those communication channels are open and well-developed, before a crisis even begins.

Senior reporter at the NBC, Luqman Cloete, also highlighted a real example of when this had happened, when flooding hit a southern region of Namibia, and the authorities were slow to pass over critical information. “We need to first get these people on board, and they must be part of our planning, and then we exactly know whom to call, when to call, because this will be a continuous thing. It will not be only once when the disaster strikes, but we’ll be working continuously, consistently, collaborating with all the actors, strengthening the relationship, and then I think we’ll mitigate this issue and address it better.”

A related point around the availability of information was made by freelance multimedia specialist and journalist, Esther Jones, who participated last year in a PMA UNESCO-funded project on how data journalism can be used to bolster disaster preparedness. This form of journalism is essential for disaster preparedness, as it interrogates weak spots in a country’s response, ensures accountability, and that lessons are learned.

Jones said freedom of information laws were essential, ensuring transparency and availability of data, to enable data journalism projects. Yet, even in countries that do have FOIA, “it tends to be difficult to get the information you need. Sometimes it’s hard to obtain. People kind of slow down the process, make it as hard as they can for you to get the information.”

Given the parlous and precarious state of the media industry, in-depth data-driven journalism is increasingly hard to fund. Jones said one solution was cross-border collaboration, so such stories could be financially viable.

Implementing the plan

The workshop closed with the attendees splintering off into different breakouts. Each group was assigned a specific chapter of the Plan, and then given a disaster scenario. Each group was then tasked with developing two preparedness actions, and two response actions – based off the Plan’s guidance – to deal with the hypothetical disaster.

Following this, each group then presented their actions to the rest of the group, after which feedback was given from disaster response expert Anthony Frangi, from the ABC. “There’s a genuine willingness to embrace the UNESCO model, not simply as a prescribed approach, but as a framework that can be adapted to local needs. What’s particularly encouraging is the way organisations are taking the model and shaping it to suit what works best for their communities. That’s an important point. The UNESCO model provides a foundation and a set of guiding principles, but its real value comes from how communities and organisations apply it in ways that reflect their own circumstances, priorities and aspirations.”

Frangi is now working with PMA on delivering one-on-one follow-up clinics with PMA members who attended the workshop, to provide tailored advice and guidance on the next steps.

These clinics are being funded through the PMA Trainer Grant, which is made possible by the support of the Grace Wyndham Goldie (BBC) Trust Fund.