“We Have a Message Project” implemented by Dipnot TV under the Civil Society Dialogue Program organized a workshop on September 30, 2015 at Kadir Has University for the media and civil society workers on the collaboration between media and civil society organizations, jointly with Happy Idea (England), Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (Turkey) and Turk Journal (England).
“We Have a Message Project” has been active since October 2014 and is funded by Civil Society Dialogue III Media Grants Program. The project aims to improve the perception in Turkey and EU relations, to increase the mutual understanding and social participation.
Speakers from significant CSOs and media institutions came together in the workshop. Some of the subjects discussed are as follows:
- CSOs’ visibility in media
- Ways to increase CSOs’ visibility on different media platforms
- Best practices on media and CSO collaboration from Turkey and England
- Increasing CSOs’ access to media
- Strengthening the dialogue between CSO and media workers
- Developing effective communication and media plans
During the first session titled “An Overview of Media and Civil Society”, Tevfik Başak Ersen and Cüneyt Özdemir talked about the civil society’s need for visibility, the perception of CSOs in Turkey, advantages and disadvantages of media visibility, the importance of developing a communication plan for CSOs, the media being unfamiliar with CSOs, and ensuring visibility through alternative communication ways. The above mentioned subjects were examined through questions received from Emiyra Yılmaz and the participants.
The speakers of the second session titled “Collaboration Examples from CSO & Media Workers” were Gülden Aydın, Pelin Cengiz, Pınar Çelikel and Esen Özdemir. Gülden Aydın from Hurriyet mentioned that the priority for the journalists should be the newsworthy topics. She emphasized that it is important for the CSOs to have the newsworthy topics forwarded to the reporters of the news agencies and television channels. She also suggested that the CSOs use the online newspapers as well. Aydin said that CSOs can reach out to more people in this way and Ozgecan’s case was visible in media due to CSOs’ efforts.
Esen Ozdemir from Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter stated that Ozgecan case’s visibility in media increased public sensitivity. However, she also said that femicide should not be discussed over Ozgecan and likewise the problems of refugees should not be discussed over a child’s body who washed ashore. Pelin Cengiz from Taraf Newspaper mentioned that CSOs should increase their dialogue with the journalists and it would be easier for CSOs to have news made about their projects through the established relationships. She said that, once such a communication network is established, projects can be considered as “news” and documents at hand can be forwarded to the journalists who they are in contact with. Pınar Çelikel from Sen de Gel Derneği talked about the sustainable development activities they carry out in Africa and said how they ensure the visibility of projects. Celikel, who is also a journalist, talked about their communication plan for social media and said that they used social media accordingly and increased their visibility and supporters. She suggested that CSOs can reach out to people who their target group respects if it is hard to reach out to celebrities.
For detailed information: http://www.dipnot.tv/medya-stk-isbirligi-calistayi-sona-erdi/85938/