Complementing this newsletter theme of Engaging the Media, is our first campaign for 2008: Media Watch!

The Media Watch Campaign is designed to help you be an active media ‘watch dog’ – helping you become actively engaged in shaping media coverage in your community or country. So instead of staying silent and frustrated after reading poor coverage – or relieved and pleased with good coverage – express yourself! Let your feelings be known! 

The Media Watch Campaign of the GBV Prevention Network provides two types of postcards you can use to speak your mind to your local, national, or regional media houses: Red postcards when you want to raise your voice against insensitive and unethical coverage of women and GBV -- and to hold them to account.

Green postcards when you want to appreciate compliment and encourage timely, sensitive and ethical coverage on GBV. These green postcards give activists an opportunity to appreciate the positive (which sometimes we forget to do!) and build stronger relationships with the media – motivating and encouraging quality reporting. 

The media campaign will be carried out simultaneously in all 15 member countries of the Network. We call on all member organizations to actively monitor the media in your area and either reward or call to account the media houses for their coverage on gender-based violence. If there are multiple GBV Prevention Network members in your area and the media houses receive many postcards in response to a piece -- this will further strengthen our collective voice.

The post cards will have space for you to add full contact details of your organizations and a contact person whom the media house may contact for more information. Each member organization will receive ten post cards of each type. If you’d like to receive more of these cards -- just write to Jean at info@preventgbvafrica.org with how many you need and we’ll get them right out to you!

We are excited about the potential of this Media Watch Campaign and are hopeful that it can contribute to increased quality reporting on GBV in the Horn, East and Southern Africa. This campaign will also strengthen our relationships with the media and help us create strong allies for our GBV prevention campaigns. We look forward to hearing about your Media Watch campaign – send us feedback and stories on the response or impact your having – and we’ll share them with other members. Write to us at info@preventgbvafrica.org.

 Special thanks to Equality Now and the SOAWR Campaign on the Women’s Protocol from whom we’ve borrowed the idea of red and green cards!

Order a postcard here