July 8th - The Media as a Tool for Activism / Andreas Zumach, Tom Hyland and Didi Remez The question on most activists' lips is how do we get more attention? How do we get our message out? The answer is almost invariably the media but the media is a tool which activists need training to use. It was exactly such a training session which took place on Peace Boat in the Mediterranean with three high profile journalists and activists leading the session with six key representatives of the NGO sector from conflict regions such as the Balkans and Israel/Palestine. Andreas Zumach, former activist and UN journalist of the Year, presently works at the UN reporting primarily for Tages Zeitung, a Berlin-based newspaper. Together with two activists, Tom Hyland, the director of East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign, and Didi Remez, the press spokesperson for Peace Now in Israel, Andreas directed the group through controversial subjects surrounding this subject. "There is no such thing as unimportant media", said Didi Remez summing up his view that NGOs have to woo the media in order to get the coverage the organisation needs. Tom Hyland countered that "you do not have to be a slave to journalists. This approach will inevitably erode your organisations principles." Whilst not being a slave to the journalists however, there are several key issues which can be addressed to encourage the media to show up to your organisation's events. Was your organisation quick enough off the mark or is it old news already? How many people attended the event? Was it visual enough to grab the attention of the photojournalists? Is there a media bias operating which runs contrary to your organisations principles? "Journalists are hand-picked to cover a story based on their sensitivities towards the official level of politics dished out by governments. This is particularly true of foreign and security policy and events relating to them," replied Andreas Zumach outlining the methods which establishment media selects coverage. "This amounts to little more than censorship." With recent commercialisation [read privatisation] of the media this situation has become even more acute thus reducing the chances of NGO coverage even further. The final advice left for activists was not to dramatise, hype and sensationalise to such an extent that the issues being advocated are diluted. Despite the need to get coverage, making the event visual should not go to the extreme of violence because it displaces the coverage on a sidetrack and reduces the chance of issues being covered in any meaningful depth. Finally, collaboration is also essential. NGOs must make more links with each other in order to be able to show a united front and be 'large' enough for the media not to be able to ignore you. Duncan Trevan This week at sea