The Drum Beat - Issue 520 - Media, Research, and Impact
November 30 2009


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This issue includes:

* The BBC WST Research & Learning (R&L) group's APPROACH.
* Research to MAP MEDIA use: e.g., in Cambodia, 2/3 of respondents reported
encountering HIV and AIDS information on both radio and television.
* Assessing MEDIA FOR INCLUSION: e.g., all evidence suggests that international
climate change discourse is inaccessible to most Africans.
* Join a DIALOGUE on strategic implications of a 17% HIV reduction.
* RECOMMENDATIONS for media approaches: e.g., in Burundi, 44% of respondents
said that they were not satisfied with the media's reporting on transitional
justice.
* Media IMPACT illustrations: e.g., listeners across Afghanistan could recall
the disaster risk reduction messages very clearly and some of them had taken
action inspired by the drama to prepare for disasters in their respective
villages and families.
* Future research: COMMUNICATION STRATEGY REFLECTIONS: e.g., the audience's
moral judgement appears to affect their retention of educational messages; moral
cues may transcend cultures.
* Vote in a POLL on newspapers and democracy.


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From The Communication Initiative Network - where communication and media are
central to social and economic development.

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One of The Communication Initiative (CI)'s Partners is the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) World Service Trust (WST), an international non-governmental
organisation (NGO) promoting social development through the use of media and
communication. Research underpins all the BBC WST's work, informing each stage
of project delivery and helping to capture evidence of impact. To that end, the
Research and Learning Group (R&L) has delivered research in 22 languages across
39 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

This issue of The Drum Beat shares insights from just a few of these research
endeavours in various contexts around the globe.

For more information on the work of the Research and Learning Group please
visit: http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=30f673dad1f798870755e79fa03f95f3


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THE R&L GROUP'S COMMUNICATION APPROACH


1. A Question of Research at the BBC World Service Trust
by Gerry Power

This April 2009 article by the Director of Research and Knowledge Management at
the BBC WST explores the rationale and approach behind the R&L's work. R&L
specialises in gathering data from rural, remote and hard-to-reach populations.
It most commonly employs face-to-face methods in the form of in-depth
interviews, focus group discussions, surveys, and content and discourse
analysis. The data are analysed using a variety of software packages,
qualitative tools, and statistical techniques. The 4 stages of research -
formative, pre-testing, monitoring phase, and impact - are outlined here and
illustrated with cases from the field in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and
Cambodia. The final section of the paper highlights a few of the conceptual,
methodological, and operational challenges that R&L has faced in its work over
the past 4 years.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/306017


MEDIA MAPPING


2. Making Condoms More Acceptable: Harnessing the Power of Mass Media to Turn
Audiences into Participants
by Anurudra Bhanot and Radharani Mitra

R&L conducted research to assess the relevance and impact of a yearlong
multimedia behaviour change communication (BCC) campaign launched in December
2007 to promote condom use among young men in India. The integrative BCC model
used to structure the "Condom, Condom!" campaign is outlined - the theoretical
models, formative research, and statistics strategically selected to shape the
campaign's messages, strategies, and communication vehicles. In the end, the key
message to emerge: a condom is just another (personal) product. But BBC WST's
creative strategy looked beyond the message - at trends, insights, and change
points - and provided stimuli to turn audiences into participants by making the
campaign as interactive as possible. "Besides comments on the website, blogs on
sites like 'you tube', demonstrate how the medium was leveraged in starting a
dialogue on a taboo topic. Over 200 portals have written about the condom ring
tone..."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304232/347


3. Understanding Media Consumption Patterns and Preferences: Topline Findings of
Baseline Research in Kathmandu Valley & Terai Districts of Nepal
by Anurudra Bhanot, Romi Gurung, and Shashank Poudel

This presentation shares details of a R&L baseline research study carried out in
Nepal in August 2007 in order to: understand the media consumption patterns and
preferences across various segments of the population, with reference to mass
media and other media (internet, mobile phones, and local/folk media); assess
the performance of United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) programmes such as "MaHa Sanchar" and
"Nepali Chautari"; understand the values, beliefs, perceptions, and other
socio-cultural factors that contribute to social inequalities in Nepal;
benchmark the current levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) with
regard to key indicators related to social inclusion and political engagement;
determine the factors that would lead to a positive shift in attitudes and
behaviours towards issues like equality, social inclusion, and political
engagement; and identify communication cues for creating messages!
aimed at improving political engagement and social inclusion among
marginalised and less privileged communities.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/303972


4. Cambodia Sentinel Survey 2008: Media Consumption (Radio, Television, Internet
and Mobile Phone) and HIV and AIDS Information in the Media
by By Ratana, Chiv Linna, and Lizz Frost Yocum

This R&L report presents a picture of young Cambodians' use of radio,
television, mobile phones, and the internet - highlighting short-term trends in
key media habits. It was conducted as part of a 3-year project, launched in
October 2006, to focus on HIV prevention through BCC using mass media. "While
this study only highlights short-term trends (2007 to 2008) in key media habits,
many changes are significant and substantial....The multi-platform approach
resulted in two-thirds of respondents reporting encountering HIV and AIDS
information on both radio and television....Virtually all television viewers had
seen at least one of the Trust's TV spots. Similarly nearly all radio listeners
had heard at least one radio format....The phone-in audiences express that their
engagement with the programmes is similar to their friendships, and that they
extend the knowledge and confidence from that listening experience into their
other social interactions."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304281/347


5. Cambodia Sentinel Survey 2008: Media and Discussion, Knowledge, Attitudes and
Practices About Sexual Matters, HIV and AIDS, Risks, Condoms, VCCT (HIV
Testing), People Living with HIV and Men who have Sex with Men
by By Ratana, Chiv Linna, and Lizz Frost Yocum

This research was conducted as part of the 3-year project referenced in #4
above. Based on the results, R&L strongly recommends mass media as an effective
method to continue communication about HIV and AIDS. To ensure reaching as many
young Cambodians as possible with HIV and AIDS messaging, R&L envisions a
variety of programme outputs that meet their tastes and lifestyles. As such, a
multi-format, multi-media approach is recommended: looking generally at the
recall of HIV and AIDS information in the media over the past year, the reach of
television formats (86%) was greater than radio (73%), but many respondents had
encountered HIV and AIDS information on both television and radio (67%).
"Consider extending the variety of programmes and platforms with some
longer-format television outputs."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304320/347


AMPLIFYING EXCLUDED VOICES: STRATEGY ASSESSMENT


6. Political Crisis, Mediated Deliberation and Citizen Engagement: A Case Study
of Bangladesh and Nirbachoni Sanglap
by Veena V. Raman and Anurudra Bhanot

This research examined the role of the media in Bangladesh during political
crisis through a look at television and radio debates designed to foster
awareness and conversations among citizens and to engage them politically.
Face-to-face interviews carried out in August 2008 led R&L to conclude that
"...Bangladesh Sanglap [or, BSanglap] influenced people's perception about major
problems facing Bangladesh...People who were politically engaged had higher
exposure to BSanglap (18%) compared to people in the satisfied and indifferent
(14%) and resigned (13%) groups. In keeping with this trend, levels of political
engagement were higher among those exposed to Nirbachoni Sanglap. Finally,
respondents felt that Nirbachoni Sanglap helped them make decisions based on the
issues."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304122/348


7. The Impact of the BBC World Service Trust's Afghan Woman's Hour - Results
from a National Survey in Afghanistan
by Anurudra Bhanot and Emily LeRoux-Rutledge

In 2007, R&L evaluated the Afghan Woman's Hour (AWH), a weekly radio magazine
which seeks to empower women by broadcasting programming on gender issues.
Through AWH, a group of 20 BBC-WST-trained female journalists from all over the
country gather original stories, conduct interviews, and record folkloric songs
- contributing to the creation of 100 programmes per year. According to this
2009 report, R&L researchers suggest that, in order for AWH to help women
translate their aspirations into action, it could facilitate agency by:
showcasing the successes of other women in specific small-scale endeavours that
could be replicated by listeners; providing practical information that will
enable women to replicate what they have heard about; focusing on developing
women's decision-making and leadership skills; and bringing women together into
collectives to listen to the programme.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/305109/348


8. Africa Talks Climate (ATC): Briefs on Climate Change in Africa
by Miriam Burton and Anna Godfrey

Africa Talks Climate (ATC) is a research and communications initiative
undertaken by R&L in partnership with the British Council. The African-led
research explores the public understanding of climate change in Africa. As part
of ATC, between May and October 2009 R&L conducted focus group discussions with
more than 1,000 citizens from all sectors of society across 10 African
countries, as well as interviews with nearly 200 policy-makers, business people,
religious leaders, journalists, and civil society representatives. Research
briefings for the first 5 countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and
Uganda) include the following recommendations: the information and communication
needs of citizens must be at the heart of Africa's response to climate change; a
successful information provision strategy should recognise that that citizens'
response to climate change will be determined by the availability and quality of
information; of immediate concern are the needs of informat!
ion-poor rural communities already struggling with the challenges posed by
climate variability and poverty; and all evidence suggests that international
climate change discourse is inaccessible to most Africans.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304604/2754


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JOIN A DIALOGUE on the Strategic Implications of a 17% HIV Reduction
http://groups.comminit.com/

Question: In the light of the recent UNAIDS and WHO report that in the eight
years since 2001 new HIV infections have fallen by 17% globally, what are the
implications for effective strategies and action on HIV/AIDS?

We would welcome you sharing your perspectives, analysis, and ideas.

Go to The CI's Development Networks Groups website - http://groups.comminit.com/
- and either Log In (if you have already registered) or click on "Register" to
register and enable your participation in this and other Groups.

When you receive your username and password, to join and contribute please go to
the Public Groups Directory - http://groups.comminit.com/og/all - Log In (top
right), scroll down to "HIV/AIDS Strategy: Future Directions" and click on
"Request Membership".


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LESSONS FOR THE MASS MEDIA


9. Least Responsible, Most Affected, Least Informed: Public Understanding of
Climate Change in Africa
by James Deane

Selected communication-related policy conclusions, from research carried out to
date as part of ATC [see #8 above]: "African citizens need better information on
climate change, but they also need far better ways of communicating their
reality and perceptions on the issue to those principally responsible for
causing it." R&L asserts that the media in Africa, together with schools, are
critical sources of information on climate change. But "Nearly all the measures
proposed to address international climate change are devised and debated at
international fora which - at least until very recently - have barely been
reported in Africa, and are conducted in language unlikely to resonate with the
vast majority of people on the continent." Civil society in Africa is reportedly
increasingly strong and focused on the issue, but climate change is being
debated more on Africa's behalf rather than by and within Africa itself. An
important repercussion of this is that a problem that will a!
ffect Africa more than any other continent is being framed in language and
terms that are largely divorced from African reality.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304947/306


10. Ready to Talk About the Past: A Survey of Knowledge and Attitudes toward
Transitional Justice in Burundi
by Julia Crawford and Ed Pauker
This survey, from 2008, was part of the Communicating Justice project, which
aims to raise levels of public awareness and debate around transitional justice
issues in 5 post-conflict African countries - in part by training groups of
journalists. Only 44% of those questioned had heard about the upcoming national
consultations on possible transitional justice mechanisms for Burundi. This
suggests that both the local media and the authorities need to do more to
explain the process and ensure public buy-in. Nearly half (44%) of respondents
said that they were not satisfied with the media's reporting on transitional
justice. When those who were not satisfied were asked why, the majority (61%)
cited a dearth of information in the media on transitional justice issues. "As
the country prepares for national consultations on a possible Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and Special Court, journalists...will need to break
down the complex issues so that ordinary people can understand !
them. Clarity and simplicity have been the central themes of the training and
mentoring delivered in Burundi by the Communicating Justice project."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/303968/348


11. Somali Girl's Education (ISPABE Project): Qualitative Research Findings
by Jamal Abdi, Leah Matthews, and Lizz Frost Yocum

This June 2009 study explored Somali parents' attitudes toward girls' education,
as well as the cultural, economic, psychological, and logistical factors that
still dissuade them from sending their daughters to school. It was conducted to
inform "Radio Teacher", 30-minute educational programmes broadcast on the BBC
Somali service once a week that provide basic literacy and writing skills to
listeners and promote girls' education. Based on data from focus group
discussions, R&L recommends that the programmes present messages advocating
girls' education from both long-term and short-term perspectives. Also, the
researchers note that, where messages are similar to existing opinions and
experiences, the audience will readily agree with main points and accept the
ideas; where there is a range of opinions, audiences will debate the issue; when
the message contradicts their own experiences, audiences are likely to resist
the information. Thus, the researchers recommend that the pro!
grammes apply different approaches or treatments of the messages depending on
whether the audience is likely to accept, debate, or resist them.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/303980


IMPACT EXAMPLES


12. Media and Behaviour Change: A Case Study of the BBC World Service Trust's
'Stop HIV' Intervention in Nigeria - Midline Research Report
by Femi Akinlabi, Tim Cooper, Linda Nwoke, and Anna Godfrey

In March 2007, R&L conducted a midline survey to measure the awareness and reach
of the 3-year STOP HIV campaign, launched in April 2005 in an effort to raise
awareness and change behaviour around HIV and AIDS among Nigerians aged 15-24.
The project included 2 phone-in weekly talk shows, radio and television public
service announcements (PSAs), a weekly TV drama ("Wetin Dey"), and film outputs.
Respondents with high levels of exposure to the campaign were significantly more
likely to know about local HIV testing centres, more willing to take the HIV
test, and more likely to have ever been tested for the virus than those with no
or low exposure to the campaign. High exposure to the campaign was also
associated with accelerated decreases in discriminatory attitudes towards people
living with HIV and AIDS. "The midline study has demonstrated that mass media
has the potential to contribute to actual behaviour change, as well as gains in
knowledge and shifts in attitudes..."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304414/347


13. Media and Behaviour Change: An Endline Evaluation of the STOP HIV
Campaign in Nigeria (2005 - 2008)
by Femi Akinlabi, Tim Cooper, Linda Nwoke, and Anna Godfrey

Selected findings from the February 2008 endline survey of STOP HIV [see #12,
above] include: significantly more respondents with high or medium/low exposure
to the campaign at the endline reported being aware of the HIV virus (96%)
compared with those not exposed to the campaign (93%) and with baseline levels
(91%). Significantly more respondents in both exposure groups (high and
low/medium - 97%, 98%, respectively) at the endline reported being aware of
AIDS, compared with those not exposed to the campaign (95%) or respondents at
the baseline (96%). Awareness of methods of prevention reached 89% for both high
and low/medium groups, as compared to 86% among those not exposed. When asked,
"Do you want to be tested for the HIV virus", 54% of those highly exposed to the
campaign said "yes", as compared to 49% of those with medium/low exposure, 46%
of those unexposed, and 40% at baseline.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/305803/347


14. Building Disaster Resilient Communities: Evaluating the Impact of the BBC
WST's Radio Programme New Home New Life on Disaster Risk Reduction and Related
Messages - Results from a Qualitative Research in Afghanistan
by Anurudra Bhanot, Hayatullah Niaz, and Tamim Ahmed

In July 2009, R&L conducted research among listeners of the Afghan radio soap
opera New Home New Life (NHNL), finding that audiences "not only recalled the
characters and the storyline of the episodes related to disaster preparedness
and management, they also played back the messages related to disaster risk
reduction very clearly, narrating specific instances from the programme
episodes. Both male and female listeners across provinces could recall the
messages very clearly....[S]ome of them even reported taking actions inspired by
the drama to prepare for disasters in their respective villages and
families....By contrast, the non-listeners...gave very general and vague
responses [that]...ranged from lack of awareness to myths and misconceptions
about the causes of disasters and mitigation of the impact of disasters. While
the listeners sounded motivated and prepared to deal with natural disasters, the
non-listeners sounded despondent blaming the Government for not taking ad!
equate steps for disaster prevention and mitigation."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/305155


COMMUNICATION STRATEGY: FUTURE RESEARCH REFLECTIONS


15. Wetin Dey: Good Girls/Bad Girls in TV Drama in Nigeria
by Emily LeRoux-Rutledge, Linda Nwoke, Anna Godfrey, and Timothy Cooper

Drawing on a theoretical framework for the concept of audience engagement with
characters, R&L conducted a qualitative research study of the Wetin Dey
television drama [see #s 12 and 13 above]. They found that "engagement in this
study has not necessarily required similarity between character and viewer in
terms of gender, age, ethnicity and socio-economic group." The following 3
factors - perceived similarity, identification, and emotional involvement - were
found to be important to message retention. In addition, the perceived morality
of characters emerges as an important factor for the audience's perception of
and engagement with characters. "Critically...the audience's moral judgement
appears to affect their retention of educational messages....Such moral cues may
vary according to culture, or they may transcend cultures..." According to the
researchers, this type of finding highlights the fact that "subtle qualitative
measures, such as the ones used in this study, are !
needed to capture evidence of impact." R&L thus recommends specifically
designing and pre-testing characters according to engagement criteria, stressing
that triangulating quantitative research with qualitative studies enables better
understanding of the audience.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304342/347


16. The Importance of Interpersonal Discussion and Self-Efficacy in Knowledge,
Attitude, and Practice Models
by Joyee S. Chatterjee, Anurudra Bhanot, Lauren B. Frank, Sheila T. Murphy, and
Gerry Power

Analysing the use of the education entertainment (EE) strategy as part of a
particular effort to address HIV/AIDS in India, the authors of this June 2009
study ask: Is the KAP model adequate to capture behaviour change processes, or
is its explanatory power improved by the addition of measures of
HIV/AIDS-related self-efficacy and interpersonal communication? Looking
specifically at Jasoos Vijay, a weekly crime drama telecast from 2002 to 2007 on
India's national TV channel, the authors conclude that "Focusing on
interpersonal communication as a mediating variable may also enable us to
theoretically explore the complex interaction between individual-level (micro)
behavioral change and community-level (meso/macro) social change....Further, our
analysis suggests the potential for EE programs to role model a variety of
interpersonal communication scenarios in order to optimize the behavior change
outcomes..."
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/299757/347


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Please VOTE in our current poll:
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/288615/348

How central to democracy are newspapers - some of which are being lost to budget
cuts and other changes - as opposed to blogs, YouTube, emails, text messaging,
twittering, and the like?

* Pivotal - informed public debate is impossible without this kind of quality
platform and trained journalistic practice.
* Of some importance - we need both traditional newspapers and new media
voices/venues to sustain conversations conducive to transparency.
* Unimportant - the internet and other technologies have enabled participation
on the part of both citizens and journalists by trade, making open journalistic
debate both possible and popular. This is the essence of democracy.

VOTE and COMMENT at http://www.comminit.com/en/node/288615/348


~


RESULTS thus far (November 27):

47%: Pivotal - informed public debate is impossible without this kind of quality
platform and trained journalistic practice.

43%: Of some importance - we need both traditional newspapers and new media
voices/venues to sustain conversations conducive to transparency.

10%: Unimportant - the internet and other technologies have enabled
participation on the part of both citizens and journalists by trade, making open
journalistic debate both possible and popular. This is the essence of democracy.


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


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The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative
Partnership - ANDI, BBC World Service Trust, Bernard van Leer Foundation,
Calandria, CFSC Consortium, CIDA, DFID, FAO, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo
Iberoamericano, Ford Foundation, Healthlink Worldwide, Inter-American
Development Bank, International Institute for Communication and Development,
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication
Programs, MISA, PAHO, The Panos Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, SAfAIDS,
Sesame Workshop, Soul City, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation,
UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City
garth@...
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@...


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The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.

Please send material for The Drum Beat to The CI's Editorial Director - Deborah
Heimann dheimann@...

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