Communication event report

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Reporting on violence and emergencies: regional media conference for

Southeast and East Asia (Senior Editors' Conference)
13-14 October 2011
Heritage Hotel, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Internal
Allison Lopez, Cynthia Lee (MAN_COM) and Philippe Stoll (CIM_COM_PR)

Document Nr:

MAN 11/1006

I. INTRODUCTION
The ICRC organised this first ASEP senior editors conference, which was a rare opportunity
for the organization to engage with media agenda-shaperssenior editors and
veteran journalistson humanitarian issues pertinent to the region. The event
focused on themes where the ICRC could add value and expertise as well as learn from. These
were:
reporting on violence and emergencies opportunities and challenges;
the role of the media in protecting vulnerable people; and
the safety of journalists on dangerous assignments.
In line with the vision of the ASE Regional Strategic Framework (RSF) 2011-2014, the ICRC
must strengthen its understanding of the region and enhance its acceptance and anchoring.
With a limited volume of operational activity and relatively few traditional conflicts (the
Philippines being one of the few exceptions), the ICRC is not well known and its added value is
often difficult to demonstrate. Therefore, it rarely appears in the media, and outside acute
emergencies, the ICRC is not portrayed as an important actor in the region. At the same time,
humanitarian concerns related to violence and lack of respect for existing norms remain.
As part of the ICRC's strategy to confront and eventually overcome these challenges, it seeks to
engage with different stakeholders on issues relevant to them and of regional interest, including
through the media. Being recognised as a relevant humanitarian actor will allow the ICRC to
give voice to the victims of violence and other vulnerable groups and shape public opinion
though ethical reporting. Equally important, the ICRC needs to enhance its knowledge of the
challenges and priorities of the mediaitself representing a diversity of views and reflecting
different societal intereststo inform its overall understanding of the contexts in ASEP.
Objectives of the conference
The profile of the ICRC and the RC/RC Movement is raised among media agenda-shapers in
ASEP. Specifically, the ICRC showcases its long history in the region and the added value
of its role today.
Media representatives share best practices and provide recommendations related to the
reporting on violence and emergencies. These are to be shared and followed up at the
national level in each country.
ICRC delegations in ASE advance their engagement with their local media.
Participants - please see ANNEX 1 for complete list
From RC/RC Movement:
ICRC: 12 from MAN; 5 COM from other ASE delegations; 1 GVA_CIM_COM_PR
PRC: 4 Com staff and Chairman Richard Gordon
IFRC: Philippine Country Representative and Regional Communications Manager
External:

 21 media contributors from ASEP

21 editors/journalists from the Philippines
2 representatives from major associations of communication and journalism

II. ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

Pre-event
As invitees were expected to play a role in the conference, the careful selection
of contributors was a key factor in the success of the event, particularly to help
facilitate best practices and discussion. Ideally, they required a certain public profile
or have specific expertise to share related to conference themes. The selection of
contributors was managed by the COM unit of each participating delegation,
choosing from their own contexts.
The overall selection of contributors was satisfactory to meet the aims (and in some
specific individual instances, outstanding). There was a mix of contributors: some
were known supporters of the ICRC; others had little familiarity of the organization
but had rather good knowledge about the conference themes or were important
media stakeholders in their contexts. The attendees included several rather wellknown, high-profile contributors, which helped raise the standard for the event and
created a number of excellent opportunities to promote the event. While not all
contributors were necessarily as renowned, it was important that each delegation
had ownership of the process of selection for their own contextualized reasons,
particularly for the follow-up phase.
Slightly more than a month before the event, each of the delegations was asked to
gather recommendations related to the conference themes to be collated for the
event, which would later serve as the initial working document for a hoped-for
declaration or joint public statement.
Day 1 - See ANNEX 2 for complete two-day programme
Starting from the late afternoon, this closed session was designed to be less formal
and promote ICRC networking opportunities with the invited media contributors,
including icebreakers as a tactic. After welcome remarks were delivered by MAN
HoD crafted to provoke discussion, participants were divided into three groups to
discuss recommendations related to the three conference themes. To promote
ownership of the recommendations, these groups were led by three well-known and
well-respected contributors themselves (Peter Cave, Veronica Pedrosa and Red
Batario) who had been selected both based on their familiarity with the ICRC and
their expertise in the respective themes. This session laid the groundwork for what
would later form the draft of the Manila Declaration, one of the major conference
outcomes on the second day.
As a backdrop, a customized slideshow was specially prepared to showcase the
ICRC's long presence and activities in the Asia-Pacific, one of the main points
of the ASE RSF desired identity. The set up for cocktails and dinner (around round
tables) were aimed at promoting more in-depth discussions one-on-one with the
senior editors. COM staff from ASE delegations were present to take advantage of
this unique networking opportunity.
Day 2
With an expanded audience including editors and veteran journalists from the Philippines, this
more open session took the format of three panel discussions on the conference themes
(with Q&A opportunities as well):
reporting on violence and emergencies opportunities and challenges;
the role of the media in protecting vulnerable people; and
safety of journalists on dangerous assignments.
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Al Jazeera's Veronica Pedrosa delivered a keynote address on the role of social media in
contemporary conflict. Her speech drew significant discussion on social media's impact (both
positive and negative) on the media landscape, as well as the differences in social media
among ASEP countriesall issues that have been of interest to the ICRC and the way the
institution communicates in the region.
After the panel discussions, time was allotted for the preparation of a "conference summary"a
session that gathered all the contributors and observers in attendance and, in group work,
followed up the recommendations drafted the previous. This exercise resulted in the Manila
Declaration (see ANNEX 3 for text), which was a public statement on from this group of media
leaders to:
commit to working towards "responsible and responsive" journalism;
promote ethical reporting on violence and emergencies as well as IHL among media;
promote the safety of journalists by supporting a safety code for media working on
dangerous assignments;
further work with organisations like the ICRC to achieve these aforementioned goals; and
set up an online forum to further discussions that began at the conference (now hosted on
Facebook see section below for more detail).
Veronica Pedrosa was subsequently selected by the group as their spokesperson, which now
called themselves the "Manila Club", and presented the declaration during the closing
ceremonies, which was open for press coverage. Along with ICRC MAN DHoD, closing remarks
were delivered by Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon (himself a media and public
personality) and Herminio Coloma Jr., Secretary of the Philippine Presidential Communications
Operations Office and of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information.
Event supporting materials and tools
Conference program booklet (custom-made) print and digital version
Conference tarpaulin
Three ICRC pull ups and 1 social media pull up
Press kit contained: news release, ITW on conference, ICRC standard promotional materials, Staying Alive
book, Hotline for journalists; ICRC notebooks
Photo slideshow on ICRC Asia and the Pacific

Some key points / messages arising from the conference:

As expected, perspectives from speakers from rather diverse media contexts were varied
and responded to their local realities and experiences. Despite this, the group was very
committed to enhancing responsible, ethical journalism and was critical of the tendency of
the media to sensationalize or oversimplify issues while reporting on conflict, violence and
emergency situations.
Concerns on the impact of social media on the journalism landscape were the dominant topic
of discussion by the participants. Criticism was directed at the competition of "citizen
journalism" and rumours resulting in propagating less accurate, more biased information.
On the other hand, some participants lauded the rise of beneficiary communication and the
role of social media in offering some vulnerable groups a way to speak up for their needs.
It was acknowledged by some foreign correspondents who had been sent abroad to cover
emergency situations that the challenges faced by local journalists in the same context are
different.
Ethical issues on reporting on violence and vulnerable groups remain a concern for these
media leaders. Emphasis was placed on the role of media companies and organizations in
setting standards related to these issues.
Participants stressed the need for media companies and organizations to continue measures
to prioritize the safety of their personnel.
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 Participants were interested in finding ways to collaborate further with the ICRC in their
respective countries (in particularly, workshops on IHL, the Hotline service, and the pilot
project for a pocket card addressing issues related to the safety of journalists).
The event maintained a good feeling of connectivity among the different participants both
from the Philippines and around Asia. Interaction was good, especially on such a specific
topic.

III. PROMOTION AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATION SET UP

With the aim of raising the event's profile and also to maximize the reach of its content and
message to audiences beyond the physical location in Manila, a number of innovations in
promotion and public communication were planned and implemented. This effort was extensive
and required considerable human resources, equipment and a well-designed set up.
Social media
For the first time in a public event, the ICRC decided to use social media extensively for several
objectives:
to publicise the activity beyond traditional public communication (that is, news
releases/press conferences/media advisory)
to report discussions live from the event and to monitor the "conversations" with those
outside that conference who were engaged
to connect with participants and those interested in the conference especially in this part
of Asia where social media is now a standard tool of organizations, businesses,
government and general public
to engage in five different languages (English, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa
Malay, Thai)
to establish and maintain the network of participants
to create a forum for discussion beyond the event
It is important to note that all these tools are interconnected and that the special web section
created on the ICRC website (http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/event/philippinesevent-2011-10-05.htm) serves as the main reference. The supporting rationale was to create an
institutional base, linking to related information on many different platforms.
To document the proceedings, the decision was deliberate to opt for video and electronic
format rather than using the traditional printed publication with the aim of having broader
outreach and accessibility, particularly for the tech-savvy target audience(s).
The chart below summarizes the use and eventual reach of the different tools used:
Tool

www.icrc.org

Twitter
@icrc_english
@icrc_jakarta
@icrc_kl
@icrc_tok

Function / com materials

Home base for official documents and
public communication materials
(programme, Manila Declaration, profile of
the speakers, feature, news release, photo
gallery and links to materials on other
social media)
Instant news, live "reporting" and
connecting with the participants and those
interested in the event, using the hashtag:
#mediamanila2011

Reach (as of 31.21.2011)

The main page was viewed 856 times.
The NR announcing the conference
was viewed 217 times.
#mediamanila was used 540 times
mainly on 14.10. Tweets were all
uploaded on the AlertNet website:
http://www.youtrust.org/search/?
keywords=mediamanila
@inquirerdotnet (newspaper in the
Philippines) was the biggest and most
pertinent account that cited
#mediamanila2011 (more than 210'000
followers)

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@icrc_english posted 27 tweets

before, during and after the conference
all have been retweeted (RT)
between 2 and 12 times. Profile of
those who sent RTs: many with less
than 100 followers and eight of them
with more than 1,000. One RT was
sent to more than 6,500 followers.
@icrc_kl posted 105 tweets: 56
original; 46 RTs and 3 modified tweets
(MTs). 15 were subsequently RT'd.
Profiles of those who RT'd: one with
7,700 followers, another with 3,800
followers, and four with between 500
and 1,000 followers. The delegation
noted a 10% increase in followers
during the event.
@icrc_jakarta posted 31 tweets: only
two followers RT'd, but one sent 2 RT
to its 21,019 followers. Note: the
delegation also uploaded an article on
the topic on its blog which triggered
one comment.
@icrc_tok posted 14 tweets before,
during and after the event; 11 RTs in
total, including one account with 819
followers RT'd 3 posts. The event
(including live Twitter coverage) was
announced on TOK's website
beforehand; the Manila Declaration
was translated into Japanese and
uploaded after the event.

Aimed at enhancing discussion on

issues raised at the conference
Provide a space for media
professionals to exchange their
experiences and share advice.

Facebook
www.facebook.com/
ReportingOnViolence. The administrators of the page are, at
present, five ICRC staff (MANx2, DJA,
AsiaPacific
BAN and CIM_COM_PR) and two senior
media leaders (Veronica Pedrosa, Peter
Cave). Other administrators representing
the media will be added in the future as the
forum grows.
Created albums with good quality pictures
(particularly highlighting media
Flickr
personalities at the conference)
http://www.flickr.com/p
accompanied by useful and meaningful
hotos/icrc/sets/721576
captions. Tagged and intended to be
27859456564
searchable online for future reference.
Lightly edited videos of the all the
speeches, media contributors'
YouTube
presentations, and some interviews with
http://www.youtube.co
participants. Intended to be "for the record"
m/user/icrcfilms#g/c/5
documentation, but also as a tool that
30F6031C5C130D2
could be used as material for journalism
Playlist "Media Manila
schools and other communication
2011"
initiatives in teaching, training and
research.

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The community has 155 fans. After a

slow start, the number of posts has
grown (now almost one post a day).
Altogether, these posts have so far
generated a total of 16,808 views and
135 other forms of feedback (likes,
comments).

20 pictures were uploaded. The photo

illustration resulting from collaboration
of BEJ and MAN was viewed 250
times while others between 35 and
138 times.
Altogether, 31 videos were produced
and uploaded within two weeks after
the conference. The videos altogether
were viewed a total of 1350 times. Two
videos received significant attention:
Mr. Isangani, Philippine Daily Inquirer
publisher (409 views) and the Q&A
session of the first panel (378 views).

All speeches and presentations were

uploaded on Scribd, including the Manila
Declaration. Intended to be "for the record"
Scribd
documentation, but also as a tool that
http://www.scribd.com/ could be used as material for journalism
ReportingOnViolence schools and other communication
initiatives in teaching, training and
research.

1910 views in total, including the

Manila Declaration 82 times and Mr.
Isangani, the most popular (408
reads). The number of views nearly
doubled since mid-November, which is
a good indicator that this reference
material has a shelf-life far longer than
the event itself.

During the conference, the organizers used www.visibletweets.com to encourage live tweeting
by participants of conference proceedings, displaying on a screen all tweets related to
#mediamanila2011. The site, www.hashtags.org, was used to monitor the discussion and to
evaluate the number of tweets and retweets mentioning #mediamanila2011.
Production set-up during conference
Creating the public communication content required for the wide range of tools envisioned
required an extensive set up and public com plan for the event.
With many ICRC COM staff on hand, a newsroom/production station was created as the base
for public com activity. It was crucial to clarify from the beginning the different tasks and roles for
each member of the conference organizing team, particularly because several individuals had to
juggle other event-related responsibilities leaving some functions requiring more than one
person to ensure it ran smoothly.
Role
Production station manager
Reporter 1
Reporter 2
Photographer 1 (professional)
Photographer 2
Twitter / social media (2)
A/V producer (2)
Videographer (professional)
Public com editors (2)

Function
manage incoming content
follow and capture conference proceedings
follow and capture conference proceedings
document conference proceedings and interactions
document conference proceedings and interactions back up
tweet live updates on the conference in different languages on ICRC
accounts / coordinating content for social media of several ASE delegations
direct hired videographer; coordinate video interviews with participants
document conference proceedings and interactions
coordinate "newsroom"; decide on content that is published, ensuring
consistency of key messages and in line with institutional communication
one staff member designated to handle various ad hoc issues

Troubleshooter / admin
Equipment
5 laptop computers (3 for production/social media, 2 for projecting on screens)
2 projectors and screens
venue sound system
portable printer

IV. OTHER IMPACT / OUTCOMES

It is still too early to fully measure the impact of this exercise in terms of image, positioning,
recognition and influence. That said, the ICRC clearly showed to important stakeholders of the
region a contemporary face suitable for the current context.
Making social media a part of the discussion during the conference, and that ICRC had strong
presence in that domainincluding dealing with challenges of perceptions for the organization
gave some credibility to the ICRC and also was a good topic for informal discussion during
breaks.
Feedback from participants
Generally the conference and the Manila Declaration received positive feedback from other
contributors, PRC and IFRC, in addition to positive press and renewed networks. Going beyond
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the Declaration and sustaining discussion on these issues now becomes the challenge. Social
media will be employed in this regard; while key journalists who attended the conference may
be tapped to stir discussion in their own countries.
While not at all the general sentiment of participants, one complaint was received from two
veteran Philippine journalists after the Manila Declaration was finalized. Noting that they had
been engaged in intense debate with other conference participants, they claimed their inputs
were not included in the final document, and the process seemed too rushed for them. They
gave the examples of their wish to drop "neutrality" from the Declaration (they said journalists
should not be forced to become neutral like ICRC) and the issue of accuracy vs. time
constraints (accuracy must never be sacrificed, they said). MAN_COM will work on
opportunities to address the complaint of these two journalists in the near future, and explain
that the Declaration was only a starting point for discussion and that their input could be helpful
in future ICRC initiatives related to these issues.
Media coverage
As for the media impact, pickups were beyond our initial expectations and were noted in four
major daily newspapers (one of which was a front-page story in The Philippine Star)) and three
news websites in the Philippines within three days after the conference. No TV reporter/ crew
arrived to cover the event although there were inquiries after the media advisory was issued.
Move.ph, a growing site advocating social issues using social media, also promoted the
conference and the Manila Declaration on their Facebook account (6,168 fans), leading some
journalists to post comments.
There was also a sprinkling of online news about the conference outside the Philippines.
Australia and New Zealand had a couple of pre and post-event news; while Malaysian media
also generated one newspaper and one TV broadcast on the conference.
While the event itself is seen as a good step by the journalists, it may not have been seen as
very newsworthy due to the lack of a specific concrete outcome other than the non-binding
Manila Declaration.
The speakers themselves contributed to media coverage by writing, reporting and blogging
about the event. One such example is Uni Lubis of Indonesia
http://unilubis.com/2011/10/21/manila-declaration-on-reporting-on-violence-and-emergencies/
Post-event
Anecdotal feedback from some attendees from the Philippines (particularly among in more
academic settings) that they have used the materials available on social media as examples for
training and teaching.

V. LESSONS LEARNED / RECOMMENDATIONS / FOR ACTION

Follow-up requires as much energy as during the event and this should not be
underestimated. One person could be tasked only for this, giving him/her the possibility to
monitor the event and to have the necessary distance to provide pertinent input after the
conference.

The process of drafting the recommendations and finalizing them could be reviewed. While
recommendations were collated and circulated long before the contributors arrived, more
time could be dedicated to this prior to conference day. The contributors and participants
were already exhausted near the end of conference day though still dedicated to finish the
exercise despite time constraints and the added pressure of having to present it at a press
conference. Some members of the Philippine media were only present from Day 2, which
meant they had less time to give their inputs compared to the invited speakers/contributors.

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The seating arrangement during the conference could be changed to provide more
interaction between the foreign contributors and participants during Day 2. Contributors
were separated from the participants, leaving less chance for introduction/small talk/
feedback. Also, to introduce more ice-breaking sessions to liven up an otherwise serious
conference with speeches/presentations for the full day or to hold such an ambitious agenda
over a longer period of time.

About 16 Philippine journalists who had confirmed to attend the conference did not actually
show up due to various reasons, while some in attendance either arrived early and
eventually left; or arrived late. This illustrates the difficulty of having full-time journalists
attend and stay for a conference when they are not either reporters assigned by their editors
to represent their organization or freelance journalists who do not have daily work schedule.

An optional format to consider, if budget permits, would be to have a 2-3 day

workshop/conference with all participants roomed in a hotel/resort away from the city where
the only focus would be to participate in the conference. While it may mean higher costs,
this will ensure maximum attendance and participation from the contributors.

Unlimited WIFI Internet access at the conference room should be provided by hotel free of
charge upon contract signing. The internet setup was complicated and not always reliable
internet access at Heritage Hotel's conference room led to many challenges for the
organizers of the conference. At a time when social media is used to promote such a highlevel conference, it is important to have fast and stable connection to the Internet during the
event itself.

While taken seriously as a consideration and several options explored, it was logistically
difficult to organize a field trip for the 20+ senior editors to see ICRC operational activities.
However, such an opportunity should be explored again for future conferences with smaller
numbers.
Social media
Having such an important variety of social media tools requires time, resources and a good
level of organisation.

Most of the participants were connected on the social media

platforms we used. Interestingly, none of these tools were singled out as a preference,
contrary to what was expected (Twitter does not seem to be the absolute favourite tool for all
journalists).
Using www.visibletweets.com during the breaks and some parts of the conference definitely
encouraged people to tweet, but also spawned discussions about specific topics.
Further in-depth analysis could be done to explore and study the social media impact,
perhaps several months after the conference.
Networking must continue through online communication (Facebook, Twitter), and face-toface meetings with participant editors and journalists, to follow up the gains made at the
conference.
Event-related production
Simultaneous production and organization of the event took a lot of time, planning and was
challenging. Dedicating a team only for the ambitious production plan without having to
worry about organizational issues would have been ideal, but the human resources required
were not available.
Uploading all the prepared material took also more time than expected and planned.
The (low) speed of the hotel internet connection meant directly uploading videos from iPhone
to social media sites.

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 We could not upload as many of the photos during the event onto Flickr due to lack of
time/resources to manage the simultaneous content (photos required sorting, captions,
tagging and uploading).

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Senior editors conference and follow-up

Flickr / YouTube
Pictures and films
of high resolutions
for download and
reference

Facebook
forum/community
to maintain the
network and
broaden the
discussion of
issues link the
network with others

Twitter
#mediamanila2011 for "live"
news from the conference and
link with participants

www.icrc.org

AlertNet
Special section
created on
YouTrust.org

Scribd
All presentations
available for
reference and
downloadable

E-Newsletter
Summary of
conference, related
social media
material, and links
to ICRC social
media. Original
version in English
but available for
translation offered
to all ASEP
delegations

Promotion and referencing (Wikipedia entries created on

"Manila Declaration" and "Manila Club")

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