EVENTS: Bush Radio Hosts 9th Annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence (SOUTH AFRICA)

Cape Town Friday, December 5, 2008  Bush Radio Hosts 9th Annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence  Bush Radio will host the 9th annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence (MKK) from December 8 through December 12, 2008, at St. Agnes Primary School in Woodstock. Young people between the ages of 12 and 18 will explore issues that are pertinent to themselves and their peers, as well as use different forms of media to develop a media campaign that will create social awareness.  Topics will include freedom of expression, child sexual exploitation, HIV and AIDS, the social identity of “mixed-cultures”, how gender is made, and global warming.  Following the success of MKK 2007, the project planning committee for Bush Radio’s CREW (Children’s Radio Education Workshop) began to work on content for this year’s conference.   >From the discussions with CREW facilitators and conference delegates, a few important issues were raised that they felt needed to be included in MKK, in particular global warming and how youth could be part of the solution. Another hot topic was the discussion around cultural and religious perceptions as it related to gender, and at what point "gender is made".   The issue of HIV and AIDS was also high on the list but at MKK 2008, they want to focus on how far the continent and world has come in providing solutions to the pandemic. Their aim is to highlight the success stories of individuals willing to share their stories through media, and their rationale: "If she/he can do it, so can I."   The final issue discussed was freedom of expression as a fundamental human right. They decided to explore how media freedom and access to information feeds into the wider development of empowering people, as well as the access young people have when it comes to media and information.  Another development that came out of these discussions is the need to broaden the reach of their message by including other forms of media, such as dance, graffiti and photography.  ----ends---  Visual and interview opportunities:  A) MKK opening ceremony – Monday, 8 December 2008 @ 10h00 – 12h00   B) The delegates will be doing production workshops from Wednesday, 10th December and these will be a good opportunity to get more visuals and interviews.  Themes and Content workshops are broken down as follows (medium used indicated in brackets):  1. Human Rights - Freedom of Expression - (Dance)  2. Labor - Child sexual exploitation – (Online)  3. Health - HIV and AIDS – (TV)  4. Arts and Culture - The Social Identity of ‘Mixed Cultures’ – (Photography)  5. Gender - How is Gender Made? – (Radio)  6. Environment - Global Warming – (Graffiti)  * For more information or media accreditation to the event contact: Adrian Louw Bush Radio Programme Integrator Tel: 021 448 5450 and cell: 082 3311 889 e-mail: adrian@bushradio.co.za     Background on MKK As part of a growing need for youth participation in the decision-making process and policy formulation around children's broadcasting, Bush Radio initiated a conference which would tackle these issues and also feed into this debate. The Kidocracy (Kid-democracy) name was created for the event to denote a form of society characterised by social equality and acceptance of young people with representation for and by young people.  The Media Kidocracy Konference aims to establish critical awareness and understandings among young people by exposing young people to information and experiences that will enable them to identify issues they feel are relevant, as well as explore the role of the media in creating an understanding of the social issue. MKK also assists participants in devising strategies for addressing the social issues by using the media as a tool to help resolve and address these issues.  Examples of previous MKK products:  http://www.mkk2007.blogspot.com/  http://www.zoopy.com/video/fi4/mkk-2007-tv-psa-culture  http://www.zoopy.com/video/fi5/bush-radio-mkk-tv-psa-global-warming   ------------------------------------------------------------------   Listen online: http://196.36.153.121/bushradio/bushradio_popup.htm   Join the Bush Radio facebook group: www.facebook.com   For news log onto: www.bushradionews.blogspot.com   Send us comments on our programming: feedback@bushradio.co.za