Teaching Radio Best Practices

At was December 2003 and Dennis Israel took a suitcase and all he knows about radio and boarded a plane for Azerbaijan. Two weeks earlier, he was in Macedonia. His mission was to train broadcasters in the practice of radio.

“These people need ideas and ways to make things work, “ he said. Israel, media management director of InterMedia, is not the only person delivering this message, nor is media training in developing regions completely new.

Exchange programs

Dozens of organizations send experts into the field, bringing radio best practice to places where radio, more than other media, can reach wide audiences.

Washington, D.C.- based InterMedia has conducted media and opinion research worldwide since the 1970s, first as part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), then as part of the Soros Open Society Foundation and, since 1996, as a private, not-for-profit nongovernmental organization.

International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) is also headquartered in Washington, D.C. Media training is an outgrowth of its broader mission of developing independent media, higher education and civil society through exchange programs with United States universities.

First organized in the late 1960s, IREX now runs media projects in 15 countries in central and eastern Europe and in parts of Eurasia. It publishes a Media sustainability Index each year, analyzing media development in countries of central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia, western Eurasia and southeastern Europe.

Another Washington-based organization, Internews network, has been training radio and television broadcasters since 1982 and is now established in Eastern Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union.

Its funding comes from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the European commission (EC) and several foundations.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) established Integrated Regional Networks (IRIN) in 1995. Its primary focus is providing radio content through a network of broadcasters in Africa and central Asia. IRIN Radio provides training for community-based, privately owned and public radio.

Major international broadcasters provide local training as an outreach to target regions. “We organize training sessions according to the needs of our radio partners, “ said Georges Lory, director of international affairs for Radio France International (RFI).

The Khuluma Radio Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in which RFI trained local broadcasters, is noted as one of the major successes in developing local community radio in Africa. RFI also provides training in Latin America.

BBC World Service and the World Service Trust have also been active in training. The BBC managed the Media Skills Training Centre in Yekaterinburg, Russia, between 1997 and 2002. Renamed the Eurasia Media Centre, it is now self-sustaining under Russian management, although BBC personnel continue to train journalists from the former Soviet Union.

The BBC World Service Trust separately supports training programs in the former Yugoslavia and Africa. The Euriopeans Centre for Broadcast Journalism (ECJB) in Belgrade, Serbia, was developed with the Radio Nederland Training Centre.

Fostering media voices

The BBC School of Broadcast Journalism participates in the Sarajevo Media Center, established in 1996. The World Service Trust also funded training in Somalia and Nigeria.

Funded by the German foreign ministry, the Deutsche Welle (DW) Radio Training Center was established in Cologne, Germany, in 1965. One of its current projects is training journalists in Afghanistan.

Joan Mower, spokesperson for the US Broadcast Board of Governors (BBG), explained that basic journalism is often the focus for its media training efforts. “Since 1983,” she said, “the Media Training Center has provided training to over 7,500 communicators and technicians from more than 135 countries.”

No single organization has been more prominently active in media training and development of independent broadcasting in transitional countries than the network of foundations funded by philanthropist George Soros. The Soros Foundation, the Open Society Institute and the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF) are perhaps best known. The MDLF actively supported B2-92 in Belgrade. The MDLF-funded Media Training Center in Prague, Czech Republic, trains managers of independent media.

The UK-based Thomson Foundation funds and supports several media development and training programs around the world, often using BBC personnel.

Latin American media development is the focus of the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung foundation. It has been active in training radio and television journalists in Peru for 30 years.

Smaller, highly focused organizations are also worthy of note. Two in particular are based in Switzerland. Chimera started out in 2000, working in the field of governance in the Caucasus, primarily in Armenia.

Chimera Program Director Vicken Cheterian said that, in developing regions, media development and good governance are inseparable.

According to Cheterian, owners of big enterprises dole out money to newspapers and b broadcasters based on the coverage they receive. They give money directly to the journalists for favorable reporting.

“You cannot fault the journalists,” he said, “because they are rarely well paid by their employers.”

Chimera trains journalists and managers thorough the Caucasus Media Institute, which it founded in Yerevan, Armenia.

Among observers in humanitarian and aid organizations, Fondation Hirondelle is legendary.

Established in 1995 and funded by Swiss and other governments, its primary mission is organizing and operating radio stations in crisis zones.

Fondation Hirondelle operated Radio Blue Sky in Kosovo and Star Radio in Liberia. It currently operates Radio Okapiu in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Radio Ndeke Luka in the Central African Republic.

Fondation Hirondelle takes responsibility for training local staff in all aspect of radio.

Aid organizations, governmental and nongovernmental, have been eager to encourage change within developing and transitional countries, fostering media voices independent from state control.

Sometimes there were shocking consequences. In 2003, Chimera Media Trainer Mark Grigorian was seriously wounded by a grenade attack in Yerevan. The army regularly threatened employees of Star Radio in Monrovia, Liberia, during the recent civil war there.

The emphasis in media training in these regions is changing. Sustainability is now the watchword.

“This is the key word today,” said Israel. “Far too much time has been spent on journalism training and too little on sustainability. Many nongovernmental organizations are leaving soon or have recently left the Balkans and former Soviet Union.

“We teach business; we teach sales; we teach some marketing,” says Nouneh Sarkissian, managing director of Internews Armenia. “Media training for us means everything which could be useful for media professionals. There is no independent media without financial independence.”

Jonathan Marks, an independent media consultant formerly with Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, points directly to one problem with the way much media training is conducted: by “parachuting” trainers.

Most organizations are aware of the problem. Training programs are increasingly based and staffed in target countries.

“We also believe that only episodic training is not effective,” said Sarkissian. “That is why we try to be very close to all our clients and work with them on a daily basis. We change our training ideology according to the needs of the market.”

“One-off group training we find less useful unless it is part of a longer-term plan with follow-up,” said IREX Development Director Mark Whitehouse.

Taking individuals out of their work-place has its advantages, he said, but a major disadvantage is that editors and owners do not allow people to apply the skills they learned when they return.

Originally published in Radio World International, March 2004, in a slightly different form.

ftm Follow Up & Comments

Dennis Israel Joins WMET/Washington DC as General Manager - March 17, 2006

from WMET press release

WMET 1160AM announced today that it will be changing it's format from talk radio to paid-programming beginning Friday, March 24th. The powerful and popular "The Greaseman Show" will continue to headline WMET 1160AM's schedule, broadcasting live from 6 to 10 am EST Monday through Friday, with repeats on weekends. "It's a hybrid solution and a unique opportunity to reach emerging and affluent ethnic groups," said Dennis R. Israel, the new General Manager of WMET 1160AM.

Jerrold Rapaport, CEO of WMET 1160AM, declared, "We are delighted to have someone of Dennis Israel's caliber to capitalize on this significant market opportunity. Mr. Israel's knowledge and experience will bring this station to an new level of performance."

Dennis Israel has over thirty years of radio management and communications experience with an extensive background in international communications, and assignments all over the globe. "Not only am I excited about running a station that is going to reach diverse ethnic groups," said Israel, "I am confident that the new format will draw in a larger audience, bringing in Latin American, Mexican, Asian and Eastern European listeners."

Mr. Israel has lived in Europe and traveled regularly to consult government and private sector clients on media matters worldwide. He is a former advisor to the Voice of America, and the United States Information Agency and has taught at New York University, Barry University in Miami and City College in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

"WMET 1160AM is poised to capture a larger audience across all key ethnic groups in Washington, D.C." said Israel. "Our current blueprint for success will maximize our continuous growth and financial future."