MEDIA TRAINING PROGRAM


Indian media trainees film on location in Chandigarh.

 

 

In 1994, CECHE inaugurated its Media Training Program, aimed at filling the gap in trained human resources in the mass media in Central and Eastern Europe. The program focused on professionals from media and from health -- both of whom share the responsibility for effective communication of health and environmental issues to the public. The major transition underway in this region at that time demonstrated a strong need as well as an opportunity to make a worthwhile impact in this field.

The primary goals of the Media Training Program are to train gifted young specialists in television, print, and radio and in environmental health to effectively use media for health-related issues. This process aims to create teams of trained media and environmental and health professionals who can train others, collaborate among themselves within the region, and with CECHE and others, to produce and broadcast mass media public education programs focused on health promotion and disease prevention.

Training Across Central and Eastern Europe

In 1994 eight media fellows from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia were selected by CECHE and its growing network of partners in the United States and the region. The group comprised TV reporters and producers, journalists and spokespersons, health educators and physicians, all active in the media or in health and environment-related communication. The fellows participated in a 36-day training program in the United States. The program comprised health -and media-related workshops and seminars at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in Syracuse and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in New Jersey, site visits, discussions and presentations, and short, focused internships at production studios in New York including CBS, NBC, the Children's Television Workshop, HBO, Time Warner International, and the New York Times.

For 1995-1996, ten media fellows from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia were selected by CECHE for participation in this program. These professionals, selected partly because of their affiliation with potential broadcasters with whom CECHE was working in each country, included TV producers, directors and journalists, all active in health and environment-related television programming. The fellows participated in two one-week training sessions at Skyscraper Productions, a U.K.-based production company in London during February and April 1996. The program comprised health and media workshops and seminars at Skyscraper Productions, and included site visits, discussions and presentations at the BBC, the Royal Television Society and the British Academy of Film and other production studios. In addition, the fellows worked with footage from CECHE's five-part television series, A Family Year, filmed in and featuring families from each of their countries. They critiqued the material and provided editorial input to ensure that the series would most effectively address pressing health and environmental issues in their countries.

The 1996-97 training used hands-on experience complemented by substantive discussions to convey the latest concepts in the production of health and environmental television programming. The two-week training consisted of four basic components. First, television programs were screened and critiqued, field visits to production facilities and broadcast organizations were conducted, rushes from A Family Year were viewed and edited, participants discussed five-minute sequences from A Family Year and then edited them, and participants presented and discussed sample programs that they had produced in their own countries. Next followed meetings with professional documentary producers, screening their selected programs followed by discussion, field visits to the Royal Television Society, Museum of Moving Image and other specially arranged visits, a production practicum developing program ideas, scripting narration for the opening sequence of A Family Year, learning interviewing techniques, using music for health and environmental programming and planning a follow-up program to the series, and the use of media to promote health-information. The participants also learned first-hand how western media companies conduct research, design effective programs, and compete for audience share.

The evaluation of the media training yielded rewarding results as summarized below.


Media Training in Ukraine

CECHE's 1997 Media Training Program focused on production of targeted messages for specific audiences in a single country - Ukraine. CECHE selected six television professionals; five from Gravis TV 35, a private television company, and one from the National Television Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Government's premier television station, both in Kiev. The training took place in Richmond, UK at the production offices of Skyscraper Productions.

The two weeks of training included screening and critiquing television programs, presentations by Skyscraper Productions president Karl Sabbagh regarding CECHE's series, A Family Year and health promotion using humor as a tool, guest presentations about formative research, message strategies, health promotion audience-share competition through non-broadcast videos, a field visit to a recording of KILROY, Britain's most watched breakfast talk show. A production practicum consisted of screening the program series and unedited rushes, developing short messages based on video footage from A Family Year, and editing and producing these messages in the form of public service announcements using off-line and on-line state-of-the-art equipment, and screening and discussing the participant's recently produced Ukrainian video programs concerning smoking, diet, and environmental health.

A pre- and post evaluation of the training once again demonstrated that such targeted training was well worth the effort and cost.

Media Training moves to India

CECHE's first Media Training Program in India took place in the spring and summer of 1998, following on the heels of the opening of its branch office in Chandigarh, Punjab in October 1997. In collaboration with the Punjab Ministry of Health, the Technical Teacher's Training Institute in Chandigarh and Skyscraper Productions of the UK, CECHE undertook a two-part Media Training Program for 6 professionals: two health communications experts from the Ministry of Health Services and Family Welfare and four television producers/directors from the Technical Teacher's Training Institute. CECHE's Local Representative Captain Rohit Mahyera coordinated the program.

US ambassador to India Richard Celeste opened the first week-long workshop in Chandigarh that began with filming local footage and culminated in formulating messages that address high priority health problems in Punjab. Participants gained hands-on production experience and practical skills through persuasive strategies, Socratic dialogue, planning exercises, production expert presentations, screening and critique of CECHE and other messages and programs and visualization and design of health messages for local audiences utilizing an appropriate persuasive strategy.


US ambassador Richard Celeste opens CECHE media workshop in Chandigarh.

 

 

Training in filming, production and post-production techniques was conducted in a second workshop in London in July 1998 by Skyscraper Executive Producer and former BBC-TV science editor Karl Sabbagh, producer Belinda Aird and Media and Evaluation Specialist Dr. Fiona Chew. In London, the six professionals participated in an intensive hands-on post- production workshop in groups of two to three. A total of five Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and a five-minute song were produced. They encompassed reproductive health, child nutrition or environmental health. These programs are scheduled for broadcast throughout the region.

Evaluation of Impact

Two research approaches were used to assess the effectiveness of the Media Training Program and to determine future program design -- quantitative surveys and focus group research. Quantitative data were obtained with two instruments: a pre- and post-program measure of the comprehension of ten health-related production concepts, and the participants' evaluation of each of the program's components at the end of the program. A focus group comprising the participants was conducted during the wrap up session. These pre-and post-program evaluations indicated substantial increases in the participants' knowledge and awareness and skills in innovative production techniques. The participants also indicated a strong desire to participate in future training programs and in collaborating with CECHE in the production and broadcast of additional television series. The results also showed that the training experience was helpful in meeting participants goals and that they intended to use the experience in their future work.

Media Training in District of Columbia Schools— “Garfield Presents”

CECHE next group of trainees is 4th grade students from Garfield Elementary School. And, the focus -- production of public service announcements (PSAs) devoted to the “Five-a-Day” nutrition guidelines and smoking prevention and cessation.  Six PSAs are targeted for completion during 2000 for broadcast by television and other media outlets throughout the city and surrounding metropolitan area.  The PSAs are slated to be placed on the school and community web pages and made available to other schools to use in the classroom. A sourcebook and curriculum materials, to be simultaneously developed, will help incorporate the PSA content into the school curriculum.


Garfield Scholars “Prepare” for Media Training

 

 

The “trainees”— to be trained over a six-week period by the DC Cable channel—DCTV— will learn pre-production: how to use visuals to convey a message; use a camcorder; script a message aimed at changing attitude and behavior; and film “in the field”. Post-production will cover making the “fine cut”. Content training on nutrition and anti-smoking for the PSAs is part of CECHE’s after-school enrichment program at Garfield. The student trainees will no doubt introduce their peers to the newly acquired skills.

Program evaluation will assess the impact on the child ”producers,” their motivation and learning, the stresses and rewards of the production process, the reactions of children and adults who view the PSAs, and the impact the program on the school curriculum. 

Many more PSAs and longer TV programs will follow—CECHE hopes and aims that Garfield students will become a model, and set a standard for other area schools.

This program has been supported by grants from Rockefeller Financial Services, The Central European Development Corporation and anonymous philanthropic sources in the United States and by cash and in-kind contributions from CECHE and its US partners. Planning for additional training is underway, and CECHE is seeking $100,000 in additional funding.


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