Representing Childhood and Forced Migration: Narratives of Borders and Belonging in European Screen Content for Children

This article explores representations of childhood and forced migration within a selection of European screen content for and about children. Based on the findings of a research project that examined the intersections of children’s media, diversity, and forced migration in Europe (www.euroarabchildrensmedia.org), funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, the article highlights different ways in which ideas of borders and belonging are constructed and deconstructed in a selection of films and television programmes that feature children with an immigration background. Drawing on ideas around the “politics of pity” (Arendt), the analysis explores conditions under which narratives of otherness arise when it comes to representing forcibly displaced children within European-produced children’s screen media. It also examines screen media that destabilize borders of “us” and “the other” by emphasizing the agency of children from migration backgrounds, and revealing both the similarities and the differences between European children with immigration backgrounds and White European-born children. It is argued here that, operating according to the notions of living “together-in-difference” (Ang), “narratability” (Chouliaraki and Stolic), and “the struggle for belonging” (Kebede), these representations destabilize narratives of borders and otherness, suggesting that children with a family history of immigration “belong” to European societies in the same ways as White European-born children

Managing for sustainable journalism under authoritarianism: innovative business models aimed at good practice

In the repressive political climate prevailing in Egypt in 2013-15, news ventures aspiring to high standards of reporting were forced to innovate in their business models and management techniques in order to underpin ethical journalistic practice that served the public need for information. This chapter explores the interactions between media business innovation and sustainable journalism by analyzing how a number of Egyptian start-ups experimented with novel revenue streams and news services during that period. In the process it compares different criteria for assessing sustainability and concludes that, under political repression, narrow economic measures of media profitability and survival may give a misleading picture as to the sustainability of the kind of journalism conducive to democratic practice. Operating collaboratively, transparently and ethically may slow productivity and profitability in the short term while laying stronger foundations for durable relations among media teams, as well as with readers and advertisers, in the long run

Good Practice in EU Public Service Media and Contemporary Practice in Jordan: A Comparative Analysis

UNESCO Amman Office Foreword: UNESCO Amman office is pleased to publish a comparative analysis between good Public Service Media (PSM) practices in Europe and the contemporary practice in Jordan. The study is part of the Support to Media in Jordan project, funded by the European Union, aiming to increase media freedom, media independence and journalistic professionalism in Jordan. The state owned broadcaster, Jordan Radio and Television (JRTV), has informed, entertained and educated Jordanians for decades. JRTV reaches almost every corner of the Kingdom and has the potential to serve all Jordanians with balanced, impartial and accurate news and programmes relevant to their day-to-day lives.Based on this potential there has been a long standing ambition to transform the JRTV from a state broadcaster to a public service broadcaster; from a TV and radio that predominately serves the state, to a broadcaster that serves the public and is independent from the Government of the day. This ambition is expressed also in the Support to Media in Jordan project, agreed between the Government an the EU, under which UNESCO has been asked to produce two studies: The comparative PSM analysis and a broader media landscape assessment based on UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators (MDI’s). The Jordanian MDI assessment was carried out by a team of national and international researchers during the first six months of 2015, and builds on the rich flora of recent studies on the Jordanian media landscape, as well as on original research. The study is available in Arabic and English. Professor Naomi Sakr carried out the comparative PSM analysis parallel to the MDI study, and in close cooperation with the MDI research team and UNESCO Amman office

Growing PSM Organically: International Initiatives to Support National Conversations in New Contexts

With an international debate under way about how to resolve the financial and political crisis affecting independent media everywhere, can international efforts enhance the prospects for promoting the principles of public service media (PSM) in national contexts where they have never been applied? Informed by discussions that contributed to a CAMRI Policy Brief published in March 2020, recommending incremental, non-media-centric approaches to laying the groundwork for PSM in challenging environments, this article considers how internal and external interests mesh in underpinning mechanisms to foster PSM values. It shows how regional and international mechanisms, including for example the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16, along with proposals for an International Fund for Public Interest Media and Social Media Councils, rely for their credibility and effectiveness on national institutions and national representatives working with them towards the principles that underlie PSM

Media ‘Globalization’ as Survival Strategy for Authoritarian Regimes In the Arab Middle East

Sakr challenges the notion that transnational media technologies have forced states in the Arab Middle East to cede ever more control to non-state players since the 1990s. Taking account of a long history of foreign political engineering in Arab countries, she probes the realities of Arab broadcasting privatization, intra-regional harmonization of government communication policies, and external financial support for media freedom and reform, to show how Arab governments were large successfully in harnessing forces implicated in media globalization in a way that entrenched authoritarian elements of the status quo. The findings validate an alternative to globalization theory that places a dual focus on the agency of national ruling elites and the international structures that underpin the power of those elites today, as in the past

‘Smarter, stronger, kinder’: Interests at stake in the remake of Iftah ya Simsim for Gulf children

Heralding the imminent screening of a new series of Iftah ya Simsim (Open Sesame) for pre-schoolers on Gulf television in 2015, the managing director of the show’s production company described it as the culmination of ‘passion and commitment’ on the part of ‘dozens of individuals across international boundaries’ over four years. Joint efforts of individuals and institutions on that scale imply shared objectives. The publicly declared objective of Iftah ya Simsim partner, Sesame Workshop in New York, is to offer fun lessons that will make Gulf children ‘smarter, stronger and kinder’, which is a significant ambition given educational and health issues in parts of the region. Yet the reality of international collaboration makes the project even more complex. This study explores the interests at stake in making the series, on the part of Sesame Workshop itself, the Arab Bureau for Education in Gulf States, based in Riyadh, and Bidaya Media, the Abu Dhabi-based joint venture created to produce the shows. It finds that the challenge of collaboration was lessened because different institutions took responsibility for different phases of the project, public narratives about it played down culturally-sensitive concerns that informed the curriculum underlying it, and widespread nostalgia linked to a 1970s version of the show implied that Iftah ya Simsim is itself part of Gulf traditions

Children's Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration: Manchester Workshop Briefing

Fair and accurate representation of displaced children is a key step towards helping them and others around them deal with their new situation. This report summarises the proceedings of the first in a series of three one-day workshops taking place as part of a one-year project funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under the title ‘Collaborative Development of Children’s Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration Flows: Facilitating Arab-European Dialogue’. Based on input from content producers, television executives, audience researchers, child’s rights advocates and others working in European and Arab contexts, the Manchester Workshop Briefing reviews relevant material available for children under 12 along with issues relating to ethics, ‘othering’, diversity, children’s media use, structural limitations on production, regulation, commissioning, distribution and education and offers six recommendations. The Manchester workshop took place in December 2017. Other briefings in the series are based on workshops in Copenhagen (March 2018) and Munich (May 2018). The project ends with a symposium in London in September 2018

Evolution of Two Components of Pathogenicity in Plasmopara halstedii (Downy Mildew) under Sunflower Qualitative Resistance Selection Pressure

Evolution of pathogenicity, morphological, and genetic traits were analyzed in a local Plasmopara halstedii (downy mildew) population (including two parental and five progeny isolates) multiplied under sunflower qualitative resistance selection pressure for five years. The two components of pathogenicity developed in response to Pl resistance genes selection pressure. The emergence of new virulence in P. halstedii progeny isolates carrying several levels of aggressiveness was an important consequence of selection pressure. However, appearance of new virulence did get along with evolution of aggressiveness in progeny isolates as compared with parental ones. For progeny P. halstedii isolates, an increase in pathogen virulence had direct consequences on its aggressiveness. There was no influence of selection pressure on morphological traits, but an effect was observed on evolution of genetic architecture. However, arrangement of genetic traits did get along with evolution of pathogenicity. It is clear that qualitative resistance selection pressure plays an important role in the evolution of sunflower downy mildew population

Children's Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration: Copenhagen Workshop Briefing

Iraqi, Syrian and other refugees and migrants who undertake dangerous journeys to Europe are often viewed as a set of statistics. In thinking about how we reach young children with stories about migration, it is worth remembering that Europe has its own long history of forced migration, through invasion, persecution and deportation. This report summarises discussions at the second in a series of three workshops taking place as part of a one-year project funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under the title ‘Collaborative Development of Children’s Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration Flows: Facilitating Arab-European Dialogue’. Based on input from documentary film-makers, especially from Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as television executives, audience researchers, child’s rights advocates and Arab media practitioners, the Copenhagen Workshop Briefing summarises participants’ responses to films, news items, web series and advocacy videos dealing with children’s escape to Europe and their next steps. It looks in detail at the challenges of funding and distributing such material, the ethical risks in making it, and examples of content that shares cultural and political knowledge. Other briefings in the series are based on workshops in Manchester (December 2017) and Munich (May 2018). The project ends with a symposium in London in September 2018

Emergence of new virulence in Plasmopara halstedii (sunflower downy mildew)

The fast evolution of Plasmopara halstedii (downy mildew) remains a major risk for sunflower crop, as new races of the pathogen are bypassing the resistance of sunflower hybrids. In order to understand the processes which led a new virulence to appear in a local P. halstedii population, the genetic relationships were studied using 12 EST (Expressed Sequence Tag)-derived markers between five progeny isolates of races 300, 304, 314, 704 and 714 and two parental ones of races 100 and 710. All genetic analyses were carried out using five single zoosporangium isolates per P. halstedii isolate. There was no intra-isolate genetic variation among the seven pathogen isolates and five multilocus genotypes (MLG) were identified among the 35 P. halstedii single zoosporangium isolates. The single zoosporangium isolates of races 314, 704 and 714 had an intermediary genetic position between the single zoosporangium isolates of two parental isolates. The single zoosporangium isolates of three isolates of races 100, 300 and 304 were localized in the same genetic clade. Two genetic mechanisms could explain the emergence of new virulence in P. halstedii as a recombination between races and mutations in a clonal lineage