NMT launches resource for media educators
2021-11-15
Journalism and media education are facing a number of challenges, one is that of creating a broad understanding of the media ecosystem, which needs to be underpinned by solid policy.
The Namibian Media Trust has therefore developed the ‘Teaching Media Policy in Africa: A handbook for media educators’ to help them address this gap. It systematically takes educators through the process of media policy creation.
Legislation enacted nationally in various contexts can impact media freedom and freedom of expression. Activists, and anyone interested in the sustainability of media, need to understand the international agreements that impact these crucial pillars of democracy to defend the sector and truth as a whole.
While some of the principles and practice of media policy are covered in journalism qualifications to different degrees (normally under a media law module), the full breadth of these policies in the international context, and how freedoms can be curtailed, is seldom covered. This handbook provides a holistic overview with associated case studies and examples from African contexts.
It is the culmination of five years of work by top African media policy experts, who helped develop and deliver a massive open online course hosted on edX. The handbook, as well as the course that inspired it, is in honour of Jeanette Minnie, a media activist who helped shape media policy in southern Africa and died in 2016.
This handbook was developed in partnership with the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) and fraycollege.
Download the full PDF publication here.
Individual modules are available for download at the above link.
Introduction
Module 1: Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom and their Contributions to Democracy and Sustainable Development
Module 2: The Building Blocks for Ideal Media Environments
Module 3: Media Pluralism and Content Diversity
Module 4: Media Regulation and Democracy
Module 5: Access to Information and Democracy
Module 6: Civil Society and Policy Making
Module 7: Understanding Civil Society Campaigns