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

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3.12 Current availability of trainingAs has been noted elsewhere in this report, there is a growing recognition amongst statutory and nongovernmentalorganisations of the importance of media and communications in relation to these fourpopulations. However this does not always fi lter through to people at the ‘grass roots’, and when itdoes, it is not always seen as a top priority.Priority given to media and communications training tends to relate positively to the size andprofessionalism of the organisation. For example the Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic churchorganisations have sophisticated media/communications strategies and training programmes. SinceSeptember 11th 2001, Islamic organisations have placed increasing emphasis on the need to developtheir own strategies and training.In rural areas, many groups contacted were local branches of national organisations that similarly rantheir own media and communications programmes. In some areas that have received large numbersof new migrants, local authorities, trade unions and support organisations have launched initiatives toequip different nationalities to speak and communicate for themselves.Infrastructure and community organisations supporting refugee and migrant worker, isolated rural,some faith and BME organisations provide occasional training in this area. However, those sectorsthat organise their own training programmes do not necessarily attach high importance to media andcommunications; indeed, one reported a diffi culty in attracting participants to sign up for this type oftraining.Development agencies, employers’ organisations and trades unions are particularly aware of thepolitical, economic and social sensitivities around migrants and are looking at ways to address them.One way is through media awareness training and another by developing websites that can be portalsfor information about and for different categories or nationalities of migrants. These approaches arealso taking account of the sensitivities and attitudes of the host community, focusing on ways ofdefusing community tension and exposing myths.Consideration should be given to ways of incorporating media and communications training intobudget proposals, whether organisation-wide or for specifi c projects. One government offi cer pointedout that not long ago organisations had to be persuaded to include a budget for IT support, whereasnow it is generally included without question. If organisations are convinced of the relevance ofcommunications to other aspects of their work such as fundraising and promotion they might be moreprepared to do this.3.13 Previous training experienceIt is interesting to note that a majority of refugee and migrant worker organisations in the survey havereceived media/communications training given that so few have communications strategies or are incontact with their local media. As mentioned earlier, this may mean that the training was not useful;it could mean they don’t have the capacity to carry out the tasks recommended to them e.g. staffnumbers or language disadvantage; that it was useful but they had no reason or desire to engagewith the media; or the training was poor or inadequate.A similar proportion of isolated rural organisations have undertaken training but appear to havedeveloped better relations with the media.The results suggest that BME organisations are more successful at contacting the media despitehaving less training in this area. This may be because they have more staff and are more likely tohave better language skills than refugees and migrant workers. Training targeted at this sector shouldtherefore build on existing knowledge and competence.26 Uncovered: assessing media and communications needs and capacity of marginalised communities
Fig 9.Individuals across all sectors reported a heavy reliance on informal contacts or family members inhelping overcoming media skills shortages. This was reported particularly amongst BME individualsand people living in rural areas. The former are said to be likely to pay £50 for one-off assistance indesigning a website, while retired IT, design or media experts are much in demand in rural areas.3.14 Available resources for media/communications trainingAs found in relation to organisational resources, refugee and migrant groups have the least resourcesavailable to fi nance media and communications training, while those responding as ‘isolated rural’have the most. However those with funds available may be rural infrastructure organisations;responses from participants in the rural focus group and interviewees from isolated rural areas weremore in line with groups from other sectors, with little funding available for such courses.Signifi cantly, most organisations surveyed reported that they do not have the resources to pay fortraining. This may be because they do not think it is important enough to prioritise when drawing upbudgets and may have implications for the way Media Trust market and promote its courses. It alsosuggests there is a need for awareness-raising among these groups about the relevance of media andcommunications to other aspects of their work, for example in raising funds and attracting volunteersand clients.At national level, interviewees reported a greater interest in training. Some, particularly in faith andBME organisations, have received Media Trust training and spoke highly of it.“Voluntary organisations tend to be traditional in setting budgets. But even within their limitedresources if they understood the importance of the media they could include it when planning theirfi nances” – (civil servant)3.15 Access to the internetAll faith and isolated rural groups that responded to the survey and the vast majority of all respondentshave access to email and the internet (only a few BME, refugee and migrants do not) and only slightlyfewer to broadband. This illustrates how crucial the internet is as a means of communication. The factthat fewer refugees and migrant workers (only 76.7%) said they had a direct broadband connectionmay be attributable to individual respondents whose living conditions are likely to be less permanent.Uncovered: assessing media and communications needs and capacity of marginalised communities27
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Page 11 and 12: ABBREVIATIONSACRE Action with Commu
Page 13 and 14: 1.2.3 DefinitionsFor the purposes o
Page 15 and 16: A further recent report for the Cha
Page 17 and 18: 3 FINDINGS3.1 IntroductionThis sect
Page 19 and 20: Fig 2.3.4 Current sources of news a
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Page 23 and 24: “Publicity can be quite scary for
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Page 29 and 30: This enthusiasm was also refl ected
Page 31 and 32: Local infrastructure organisations
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Page 35 and 36: 3.21 Knowledge of Media TrustMost o
Page 37 and 38: Case study 2: Rural Community group
Page 39 and 40: Isolated rural organisations• Und
Page 41 and 42: A common theme in relation to train
Page 43 and 44: • Computers for beginners - untan
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