Towards inclusive media production: Training workshops for media organizations and media educational programs at Lebanese Universities
About
The project advocates and raises awareness about the notion of disability. It offers tools and trainings to enable media producers, TV reporters, and journalists to adopt inclusive portrayal and representation of people with disabilities in their work and to produce media content that uses inclusive language, correct disability terminologies based on the social model of disability, in addition to producing inclusive media content whether audio-visual, softcopy written format, or other.
- Funded By: Disability Under Siege- Birmingham University Fund contract
- Timeline: May 01, 2022 - March 31, 2023
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Persons with disabilities face barriers that hinder, restrict, and prevent them from exercising their rights on an equal basis with others, which constitutes a violation of their dignity. Disability rights are human rights, not special rights. These persons have the same rights as all people to non-discrimination, equality of opportunity, accessibility, inclusion, and full participation in society. Yet physical, attitudinal, and institutional barriers, often entrenched in prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, continue to marginalize persons with disabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut port explosion, and the difficult economic and financial crisis heightened this marginalization. The international system for the promotion and protection of human rights has taken on the challenge of overcoming this reality, through the United Nations CRPD, with the establishment of the human rights model based on the social model of persons with disabilities, which emphasizes the interaction with the barriers that prevent or hinder the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in society. Consequently, the State has, as its main obligation and priority, to eliminate barriers and create conditions for equal opportunities, notwithstanding contributions made by society. But unfortunately, the Lebanese parliament has not ratified the CRPD yet, and the government did not grant persons with disabilities their rights. These persons and their organizations are in urgent need of capacity building and training. Besides that, the media in Lebanon still uses inappropriate and insulting language when it comes to disability, knowing that several training workshops that targeted media personnel have organized in Lebanon during the last 20 years. But with the great number of universities graduates who join the media field every year, there is an urgent need to train this new generation of reporters and journalists on different matters related to disability, especially on the use of appropriate terminology and ways to produce inclusive media content that is accessible for a diverse audience including people with disabilities.
Moreover, the project aims to build local and regional networks between educational institutions, disability-led and cultural organizations. This will enable us as Disability Hub to strengthen the capacity of a diversity of disability activists to engage in defining, supporting implementation, and monitoring strategies for achieving sustainable development goals in line with the CRPD, at all levels.
Activities
- Literature Review of the Disability knowledge training workshops at media organizations, and media and communication university programs in Lebanon to identify the gaps for delivering inclusive training workshops.
- Several training materials have been produced with the collaboration of specialists with and without disabilities. This includes posters, videos, different case studies, vignettes, worksheets, and assignments.
- Workshop course: The training workshop is composed of two workshops delivered by specialists with and without disabilities (where each participant is required to attend the two workshops to complete the training course. Total number of Workshops: 3 workshops (workshop I and II) are delivered for 3 groups of participants (20 participants). Training workshops among audio-visual media focal point employees (local TV reporters, broadcasters, infographic reports, local newspaper editors, local social media newspaper platforms, staff with disabilities from local and international disability organisations, and communication and media academic program committee/ faculty members, program coordinators at three Lebanese universities).
- Write an inclusive policy with the collaboration of specialists with and without disabilities from local and international organisations in drafting the policy that will be used by different media organisations and media departments at universities, to ensure that they use the policy in their staff career development program to ensure that the communication and media they produce are inclusive.
The training project is developed as an integrated, continuous, and coordinated approach, which aims to:
- Building local and regional networks between educational institutions, Disability-Hub, students with disabilities and media and communication organisations.
- Train media personnel especially TV and newspaper reporters, people with disabilities, on all human rights for all persons with disabilities with an emphasis on inclusion, inclusive design, and the use of appropriate terminology.
- Build a critical mass of skilled disability activists and workers from diverse constituencies.
- Strengthen international and national organizations in their advocacy to make government and donor agencies respect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities and make development policies inclusive in line with CRPD.