The ‘Media 21, journalism and climate change’ project
The COP21 or 2015 Paris Climate conference, which will take place from 30 November to 11 December 2015, is a crucial event because it must lead to a new international agreement on climate that is applicable to all countries, while respecting the principle of differentiation, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.
An agenda and political impetus are needed in order to change society’s views on climate issues and to work for a paradigm shift such that climate change comes to be considered as an opportunity to create jobs and wealth. It is also necessary to communicate and explain these messages to all citizens in order to present them with the key issues and challenges, as well as the roles that everyone can play.
To this end, the media plays a central and essential role in promoting ownership of the objectives by as many people as possible.
The media is an essential component for the success of the preparations for and running of the conference and, more importantly, for the effective implementation of the policies that will arise from it.
The aim of the Media 21 Asia project is to help one media organisation from each of the ASEAN countries to develop an editorial strategy incorporating climate change issues and to investigate local climate change initiatives with a view to highlighting a positive response to climate constraints.
The beneficiaries
Media 21 Asia is aimed at media organisations (newspapers, television, radio, online media or blogs) which already have some experience with climate change issues that they are seeking to develop.
Media 21 Asia is exclusively for organisations based in ASEAN countries, namely: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Media 21 Asia project
The aim of the Media 21 Asia project is to support the development of coverage of climate change issues in the media landscape. In order to achieve this objective, it focuses on helping the editors-in-chief of the media organisations selected to establish an editorial and economic strategy around this theme. The project is also designed to help journalists of those media with an interest in these issues to master investigation techniques on specific examples of positive local initiatives.
The Media 21 Asia project will select one media organisation from each ASEAN country with a view to providing guidance and consolidating experience on the theme of climate change and the key issues of the 2015 Paris climate conference, which will take place in late 2015.
Interested media organisations are requested to submit a joint application form completed by the editor-in-chief and one or more journalists with a particular investigation project relating to a local initiative that highlights climate change issues, specifically positive changes.
The media organisations selected by a panel of professionals will then benefit from guidance in the form of group training and individual monitoring. At each training session both the editors-in-chief and the journalists will be invited to work on their individual focus area (editorial strategy and investigation methods respectively). Joint sessions will be organised to enable people to come together and pool their experience.
For the editors-in-chief, the sessions will be arranged on the following themes
Session 1: Writing about key climate issues: subjects, angles and aims
Duration: 2 days – May 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Experts: 1 scientific expert specialising in climate issues and 1 referring expert (journalist) specialising in how these issues are dealt with in the media
1.1 Activities relating to the scientific aspect of climate change and its consequences + how to introduce these issues in the media (subjects, angles and editorial strategies) – practical exercises
1.2 Individual interviews – situational analysis of how climate issues are dealt with in their organisation and recommendations
1.3 Discussion on the investigation subjects of all the other selected media organisations; presentation of subjects during a joint day with the investigative journalists
Session 2: Writing about key climate issues: how to make this field stand out. Making the most of a new audience and different angles on societal subjects.
Duration: 3 days (2 of which will coincide with the ASEAN Regional Forum on Climate Change http://www.rfcc2015.ait.asia/) – July 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Experts: 1 referring expert (journalist) specialising in how these issues are dealt with in the media and the conference experts
2.1 Activity – interview preparation. How to make the most of an international conference?
2.2 Preparing to disseminate investigation subjects through their media organisation; each editor-in-chief will publish his/her team’s investigation and those of the other organisations involved in the project using his/her own editorial strategy.
Session 3: Writing about key climate issues: capitalising on the COP21 in order to improve your approach to key climate issues and your network.
Duration: 5 days – December 2015 in Paris, France
Experts: 1 referring expert (journalist), 1 expert specialising in how these issues are dealt with in the media and COP21 conference experts who will be on hand to provide support.
3.1 Interview and subject preparation. How to make the most of an international conference.
3.2 Presentation of the investigation reports
For the journalists working on the investigations, the sessions will be arranged as follows
Session 1: Investigation into a positive local initiative in response to the effects of climate change: definition of subjects
Duration: 5 days – May 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Experts: 1 referring expert (journalist) specialising in how these issues are dealt with in the media and how to write about these subjects + 1 expert with knowledge of the climate change themes focused on in the investigations.
1.1 Presenting and writing the investigation reports proposed
1.2 Raising awareness about themes dealt with under these subjects
1.3 Preparation of the schedule for conducting the investigation
1.4 Remote monitoring of progress made with the investigations
Session 2: Investigation into a positive local initiative in response to the effects of climate change: promoting the reports, redefining and fine tuning.
Duration: 7 days (2 of which will coincide with the ASEAN Regional Forum on Climate Change http://www.rfcc2015.ait.asia/) – July 2015
Experts: 1 referring expert (journalist) and 1 ‘illustration’ expert specialising in the subject
2.1 Attending the conference to gain an understanding of the scientific aspects of the themes in focus
2.2 Activity on investigation methodology (creating a portrait, highlighting a subject, interviewing the right people, etc.) – mid-term review
2.3 Preparing the follow-up to the investigation with the on-site French advisor on the basis of progress made
2.4 Planning the presentation of the reports to other media
2.5 Remote monitoring with an advisor from a French media organisation to ensure the investigations are making good progress and completed by early October.
Session 3: Investigation into a positive local initiative in response to climate change: presenting subjects
Duration: 5 days – December 2015 in Paris, France
Experts: 1 referring expert (journalist) specialising in how these issues are dealt with in the media and expert advisors for each subject
3.1 Presenting the reports
3.2 Pitching the subjects to international media
A review session will take place in February 2016 with a view to capitalising on this experience and providing the Southeast Asian media involved in this project with further guidance on climate change issues.
Key dates
This call for applications will select one media organisation per ASEAN country to guide through to the 2015 Paris climate conference. The timeline is as follows:
– 25 February 2015: publication of call for applications;
– 31 March 2015: online platform application deadline: 13.00 (GMT) (no extensions);
– 10 April 2015: results announced;
– 13-24 April 2015: signing of commitment agreements and funding agreements between CFI and the beneficiaries selected;
– 11-15 May 2015: 1st training session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
– 29 June-3 July 2015: 2nd training session and ASEAN climate conference in Bangkok, 2 days of which will coincide with the ASEAN Regional Forum on Climate Change http://www.rfcc2015.ait.asia/, Thailand;
– July-October 2015: remote monitoring of investigations;
– 7-11 December 2015 (to be confirmed): 3rd training session and COP21 in Paris, France;
– February 2016 (to be confirmed): project review and prospects, in an ASEAN country to be confirmed.
Some dates are yet to be confirmed and the remote monitoring of investigations will be tailored to each media organisation. It will be jointly agreed by the expert advisors and the beneficiaries.
The Media 21 Asia partners
Media 21 Asia is a project launched and piloted by CFI (France) in collaboration with the Regional Delegation for Cooperation –ASEAN and the Communication and Press Department of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI), the French Embassies in the ASEAN countries and their audiovisual attachés, the Instituts français in the countries involved, the French delegation to UNESCO and UNESCO.
Support provided through the project
The media organisations selected will benefit from group and individual guidance on the setting-up of an editorial strategy relating to climate change issues and how to deal with such topics. The project will enable the media organisations to adopt a specific stance that ties in with the media landscape in their country and their audience. Lastly, it will help the teams of journalists to conduct investigations (professionalisation of investigation techniques), which will be published by their media organisations.
This guidance will be dispensed through group training sessions, during which individual interviews will be used to gauge the individual circumstances of each media organisation.
Group and individual remote monitoring will take place between training sessions.
All applicants selected will be funded for attending the 3 training sessions (flights, accommodation and meals).
Lastly, the project may be able to cover some logistics costs for producing the investigation report, up to a maximum of 50% of the total budget (excluding human resources – the media organisation will be responsible for paying journalists’ salaries). Only transport, accommodation and meal costs will be eligible for reimbursement upon presentation of invoices.
Selection panel and assessment criteria
Once the files have been verified and declared admissible, a pre-selection committee composed of members of partner organisations and a representative from ASEAN’s secretariat will meet to draw up a list of pre-selected projects.
A panel will then be composed of representatives from the organisers, a scientific journalist specialising in climate change issues and at least one representative specialising in climate change issues in Southeast Asia. The panel will select 1 media organisation per ASEAN country.
The assessment criteria for the projects will be as follows:
Motivation to participate in the project and experience of the media organisation on this theme (15/100):
– media organisation’s motivation to participate in this project and expectations for the project;
– journalistic experience of dealing with climate change issues in the media;
– knowledge of target audience, networks of influence and development strategy.
Editorial strategy on the theme of climate change (30/100):
– profile of the media organisation’s editor-in-chief, experience with these themes and interest in the project;
– editor-in-chief’s analysis and motivation as regards the editorial strategy to be developed on this theme;
– editorial project around the publication of the investigation through own media organisation;
– potential of the media organisation to develop new editorial or technological strategies.
Investigation subject (40/100):
– profile of journalists responsible for the investigation report and experience with these themes or investigation techniques;
– relevance of the investigation report proposed to the goals of the country, the media organisation and the project;
– presentation of the investigation subject: specific story to be produced, synopsis, angle, content, investigation methodology, investigation feasibility study. The above features should be used to answer the following questions: Who is the target public? What is the starting point? What sources are available? What assumptions can be made? What major difficulties can be expected? What is the potential impact? What is the schedule?
Provisional budget for producing the investigation subject (15/100):
– ability to draw up a reasonable budget;
– relationship between estimated costs and expected results.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants must be media organisations (newspapers, television, radio, online media or blogs, of any language) which already have some experience with climate change issues that they are seeking to develop.
In order to be eligible, each application must be made by a team consisting of the editor-in-chief and one or more in-house or freelance journalists who have a contract with the media organisation to produce and disseminate the investigation report.
The participants will need a sufficient level of English to be able to attend and follow the training courses and interact with the other participants and the trainers. Another language may be used by the media organisations and investigation reports.
The media organisations must:
– Have their head office in one of the following countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam.
– Make a commitment to publish the investigation through their media organisation from July 2015 and cover at least 50% of the production and investigation costs. The remaining 50% may be covered by the project subject to certain conditions (transport or accommodation logistics costs, upon presentation of invoices, up to a maximum of 50% of the total budget of the investigation). These commitments will take the form of a formal commitment letter, which will be included as part of the application file and will be formalised through an agreement pending final selection.
– Have a bank account in the name of the organisation, or be able to set one up without delay.
Composition of the application file
The file is to be drawn up in English – the language in which the training will be dispensed.
Only complete files will be considered.
Please keep a copy of your submitted file.
The file must include:
– The online application form (create an account);
– CVs (in English) of the members of the team of the proposed project;
– The media organisation’s commitment letter, in which it promises to publish the investigation and cover part of the budget (format attached);
– Copies of the most significant articles, editorials, video/photo reports, etc. (minimum 5) by the media organisations and journalists involved in the investigation on climate change issues;
– A visual illustrating the investigation subject presented;
– A detailed budget for the investigation (format attached).
Any questions?
If you have any questions, please send an email to the following address before 27 March 2015:
ple@cfi.fr
