11 May 2017 Information about WACC Europe’s most recent activities

 Photo: Daniel Posthuma

WACC Europe: News Update

Dear colleague in WACC

WACC Europe has been very active in recent months and we want to take this opportunity to offer information about our most recent activities:

RefugeesReporting.eu

This unique project is being undertaken by WACC Europe and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants for Europe, with funding from the Otto per Mille fund of the Waldensian Church of Italy, the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, and World Council of Churches, and with support from the Conference of European Churches and WACC UK.

This one year project (1 December 2016-30 November 2016) includes:

• media monitoring, which will assess the representation of refugees by national media of selected European countries with a particular focus on how much space refugees are given in the news. The methodology is adapted from the highly respected GMMP (www.whomakesthenews.org);
• a survey of refugee-led groups, to assess the current communication practices and engagement with the media, collect good and bad practices, and suggestions on how to improve engagement and a proper representation;
• engagement with media professionals, to understand what type of guidelines exist and to draft a good practice guide on how to engage with refugees in the media and how to make sure that refugee voices are adequately represented and listened to.

The Refugees Reporting media monitoring will take place in June 2017 and will cover three days of news related to refugees and migration issues. Seven European countries are participating: Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Sweden, Norway and the UK.

The media monitoring project brings together advocates, activists and researchers in a newly founded European network, dedicated to documenting and changing patterns of portrayal in the news.

The results of the project will be launched in Brussels during the next meeting of the WACC Europe Steering Committee, 16-17 November 2017.

For more information about the project, you can refer to: http://www.refugeesreporting.eu/ or contact Francesca Pierigh, the Refugees Reporting Research and Communications Consultant, francesca.pierigh@ccme.be

Paris 2017: European Television Festival of Religious Programmes

The 19th European Television Festival of Religious Programmes takes place in Paris from 14 to 17 June 2017. Supported by WACC Europe and SIGNIS Europe, the festival takes place every 2-3 years. This year’s festival in Paris is being hosted by the Comité Français de Radio-Télévision (CFRT) and WACC founder the Fédération protestante de France (FPF), which produce Roman Catholic and Protestant programming for the French public television network France 2.

For more information about the festival and registration see: http://www.tvfest.eu/en/

Remembering Murri Selle

Murri Selle, who was Secretary of the WACC Europe Region for nearly three decades, and WACC Secretary from 1990 to 1993, died at her home in Munich in February. Born in 1936, she studied in Germany and Brazil, and upon completing her studies, Murri became Director and Editor of the International Information Service “Vereinigung für christliche Publizistik” (Association for Christian Communication). During this time, Murri became the assistant to Robert Geisendörfer, the Commissioner for Radio and Television of the Protestant churches in the Federal Republic of Germany, and WACC Treasurer. During her long-standing association with WACC, Murri travelled worldwide as a member of WACC’s board of directors, advocating Christian broadcasting and greater equality for women.

Full tribute here: http://waccglobal.org/articles/in-memoriam-murri-selle-1936-2017

News from WACC Global

WACC has a new strategic plan (2017-2021) that renews and builds on its Vision and Mission and its commitment to communication rights. The plan links grassroots development communication projects with the promotion of communications rights, and advocacy for gender equality in media, a communication rights index and a communication rights charter.

More information here: http://www.waccglobal.org/who-we-are/our-organization/strategic-plan

Membership and Fees

All members – personal and corporate – should have received information at the beginning of April concerning their membership fees for 2017, and reminders, if necessary, for 2016. Please help us by keeping your membership payments up to date. Your contributions are appreciated and are an important sign for external funders of WACC members’ commitment to the organisation. If you have any problems or questions in connection with your fees, please signal them to the WACC global staff liaison for Europe, Sara Speicher (ss@waccglobal.org) or myself, Stephen Brown (stephen.brown@wacceurope.org).

And don’t forget to follow us on social media!

Facebook:
@WACCglobal
@WACCEurope
@Global.Media.Monitoring.Project
Twitter: @waccglobal
Our webpage
WACC Kaleidoscope Blog

Stephen Brown
President, WACC Europe

WACC Europe Officers: 
Stephen Brown (President), Marianne Ejdersten (Vice-President), Ralf Peter Reimann (Secretary), Juha Kinanen (Treasurer)

Other committee members: 
Freddy Dutz, Ivar Kupics, Julia Helmke, Erin Green, Michel Kocher, Tuomo Pesonen

WACC Staff Liaison: 
Sara Speicher