Report to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on the Development Strand of the World Conference of Science Journalists
The conference was held on 29th June – 3rd July 2009 in London
Abstract
The Development Strand at the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists aimed to deliver sessions on the role of the media in reporting on development issues, including food sustainability, climate change, and tropical diseases, and their importance to policy and capacity building.
The strand was intended to be of particular benefit to journalists from emerging and developing countries where these issues are acutely relevant to their audiences and these journalists need to be equipped to cover such issues accurately and critically. The Development Strand also aimed to focus attention of the UK media and journalists from around Europe and North America on development issues. The Strand was to be an opportunity to showcase DFID's ongoing support to the World Federation of Science Journalists' peer-to-peer mentoring programme (SjCOOP) and to the Science and Development Network (SciDev.Net), through discussion panels and in workshops.
More broadly, the strand would highlight DFID policy and projects, and DFID's goal of supporting comprehensive media development (DFID briefing paper \"Media and Good Governance\" (May 2008)).
This report outlines the sessions of the Development Strand at WCSJ2009, the results of evaluations done by questionnaire and interviews on the day of pre-conference workshops (Monday 29th June) and by post-conference questionnaire on Thursday 2nd July and online survey. It also includes individual comments from conference delegates and scholars, including those directly supported by DFID via the World Federation of Science Journalists peer-to-peer science journalism mentoring programme (SjCOOP), and transcripts of the Development Strand podcast by Naked Scientists, and the lunch session organised by DFID on Thursday 2nd July, \"Friendship or Friction: How the media relates to the research community\".
Citation
World Conference of Science Journalists (WCFJ). Report to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on the Development Strand of the World Conference of Science Journalists 29th June – 3rd July 2009, London. (2009) 74 pp.
Links