RSS

There is a broad understanding that media literacy has become an obligatory skill for communication and information processes around the world. It is a necessary competence both in our business as in our private lives and it is essential for understanding, especially when communicating over long distances or with people located in another country. The world in the 21^st century is globalized, media skills have become as important as language skills; without them we won’t get the job. Media competence therefore is clearly part of today’s education standard, in our efforts to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds it serves as the basis of intercultural communication. It is no utopia to predict that the globalization process will produce new demands for further generations.

But how do we prepare young people for a life in a world community? Are we offering them enough opportunities to learn from each other, to interact with young people from different cultural backgrounds, knowing of the importance of media and intercultural competences? Are we providing enough sources of information to protect children from building up prejudices towards people with different skin color or religious backgrounds? Are we satisfied with the kind of media offers available to our children?

The children or the next generation on the other hand have a huge desire in learning and in expressing themselves. But their desires are neglected by a media landscape dominated by commercial interests, neglected by public media organizations or even infiltrated with ideological messages displayed in their media offers. Children have a right to access of information, to suitable media offers and most of all to (media) education. This right is certified in the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (see article 17, 29) and yet, opportunities for children to gain national and international information for their social and cultural benefit and to express themselves remain rare.

At the Berlin based NGO Radijojo journalists and educators organize intercultural media initiatives designed exclusively for children. In bi- or multilateral projects children from different cultural, ethnical or religious backgrounds learn to produce their own media program. Radijojo focuses in its projects on Radio as a key media because children learn to use their own voice, to speak up, express themselves but also listen to what the other child has to say. They talk about music, literature, child rights, environmental or health issues and about their daily lives. In video telephone sessions they even meet face to face and discuss the project they were working on together. It is often their first intercultural experience and they are very excited and curious to learn about each other. Many times participating children become friends and remain in contact long after the project was finished. The output of these projects are songs, poems, pictures, paintings, videos and audio messages like podcast or radio shows which are all displayed at World Children’s Radio Network, an international children’s media platform.

In 2008 Radijojo launched Across the Ocean, the Transatlantic Children’s Radio Bridge, to connect children from Germany and Europe with children in the USA and in Canada. By now, thousands of Transatlantic Radio kids have shared songs and poems, have learned about environmental challenges and peace while interviewing United Nations messenger Jane Goodall, talked about the anti-war and civil rights movement with folk legend Joan Baez, have gained political insights about transatlantic relationships when talking to the Ambassador of the USA or discovered that a voice is an instrument when listening and talking to Bobby McFerrin. The produced radio shows are aired through Radijojo’s Internet radio platforms as well as via cooperation with Pacifica or PRX radio in the USA and are always accessible to the children or schools in all participating countries and around the world.

Many other activities continue to display the demand children have for this kind of intercultural media experience. The early intercultural contact is a benefit for the transatlantic relationship and will shape the personalities of the children for the rest of their lives. A good start for understanding each other and to become (transatlantic) friends.

While the Transatlantic Children’s Radio Bridge is only funded until 2012 by the German government, Radijojo is looking for further support to be able to take the next step: to open the US based office for the World Children’s Radio Network. Radijojo USA will be available to every K-12 school, every youth and culture centre, every community or public radio station all across the States is invited to join in at any time. With your donation, our first regular US kids radio crews can go on-air in 2012: Live and direct from Ohio and New York City, giving a voice to millions of kids from marginalized communities throughout the country.

Wolfgang J. Fischer is a freelance journalist and project manager at Radijojo World Children’s Radio Network, which hosts radio programs by children from more than hundred countries around the world, along with Across the Ocean, a program linking kids from Germany, Europe and the USA. You may donate to the program here. The author is co-founder of the international media projects EUCHIRA (European Children’s Radio) and The Transatlantic Children’s Radio Bridge.