Uncovered: assessing media and communications needs ... - ICAR

A further recent report for the Changing Perspectives campaign tackles media coverage of Africanpeople living with HIV 11 . It says that although African people account for the majority of newdiagnoses in Britain they are failing to come forward for testing or health care because of stigma anddiscrimination. It calls on African communities and others to publicly speak out to help reduce thatstigma.The Department for Communities and Local Government recently produced a ‘what works’ guidefor agencies working with refugees, asylum seekers and migrant worker in neighbourhood renewalareas 12 . The guide describes these groups as being isolated and marginalised from community lifeand highlights the role of the media in raising awareness. Some of the case studies mentioned in thereport have recognised the need for communications training and one, based in East Manchester hasalready run workshops on the subject.Elsewhere, a report by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion talks of the need for what it callsa ‘whole community’ approach – including all those who live at the margins, and not simply thosefalling into BME, refugee or other categories. 13 It highlights the effectiveness of campaigns such asthose by faith groups that have utilised the media to convey inter-faith partnerships and interaction athigh profi le, tense periods.A number of infrastructure organisations are trying to raise awareness of the role of media andcommunications. Refugee integration fora in London and the regions, for example, have runworkshops and training sessions on the subject and some are running dedicated schemes to increasemedia coverage of asylum and refugees.In rural areas geographical remoteness may be the most crucial barrier to participation. TheCommission for Rural Communities has sought to identify new approaches to, amongst other things,giving voice to people at the margins of society. 14 It uncovered a range of factors affecting successfulengagement. Another CRC report on migrant workers found that their ‘issues, needs and concernsare seldom articulated and represented by migrant workers themselves, rather than by others on theirbehalf’. 15Previous research into the media and the aforementioned groups has focused on the impact, andsometimes potential, of coverage in the print media. The growth of the internet as a communicationstool has brought with it new promise of breaking down economic and geographical barriers. Howeverresearch by Plymouth University found that IT needs amongst marginalised communities were notfully investigated prior to the development of services supposed to benefi t them – lack of participationin defi ning the problem by prospective users meant that ‘social exclusion became embedded in thevery attempt to challenge it’. 16Participation by refugee women in a community internet project illustrates how the medium can beused to empower this particular marginalised group, both in accessing information and as a mode ofself-expression. 1711 “Start the Press”: http://www.ahpn.org/downloads/campaigns/Start_the_Press_Press_Release.pdf12 ‘Connecting Communities in neighbourhoods’:http://www.renewal.net/Documents/RNET/Policy%20Guidance/Connectingcommunities.pdf13 http://www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/Our_fi nal_report.aspx14 ‘Voices at the Margins’ – a review of engagement strategies for marginalised groups. Prepared for CRC by Jayne Francis and LeightonMitchell of BMG research: http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk//projects/voicesatthemargins/overview15 http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk/publications/migrantworkersinruralareas16 ‘The Politics of Communication: information technology, local knowledge and social exclusion, by Matthew David, reported in Telematicsand Information 20 (2003) pp 235-25317 The internet, empowerment and identity’ by Asiya Siddiquee and Carolyn Kagan of Manchester Metropolitan University and reported inthe Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 16: 189-206 (2006)Uncovered: assessing media and communications needs and capacity of marginalised communities15