Development Media Groups - UK

The Centre for World Development Education (CWDE) was founded in 1977 to raise the level of awareness and understanding in Britain of major development issues in the Third World. It grew out of the longer-standing education unit of the Voluntary Commititee on Overseas Aid and Development, which came into being in 1966. The CWDE has attempted to serve the needs of those who work in the field by organizing and servicing the Development Journalists' Group. This informal group was first founded in 1972 under the name 'DD2' (United Nations Second Development Decade), and two years later widened to become the Development Journalists' Group UK. Frequently individual interviews are arranged between members and guest speakers, and this results in press articles and radio broadcasts. However, CWDE's director Derek Walker explained to SPORE that much of the advantages experienced by members came from contact with one another, and from the use of the membership list by those wishing to get in touch with journalists specializing in development. The Group is also able to access CWDE's photo library, which was considerably strengthened recently by a gift of 1500 black and white prints from the World Bank. A more recent initiative to serve members of the media interested in Third World development issues has come from Baroness Judith Hart, a former British Cabinet Minister responsible for Overseas Development. It is a novel bilingual (English and French) centre for journalism about Third World affairs to be known as the World Press Centre London (WPCL). WPCL is neither a news agency nor an on-line database nor an advocacy centre; it is a passive clearing house which enables media from Third World and Western countries to tap into news material, which agencies produce for them, and enables under-resourced press officers to distribute material internationally within minutes to those seeking it - which is not now possible. The Centre takes advantage of DOS software to permit any of the approximately eight million IBM-compatible micro-computers worldwide and most larger computers to serve as 'World Press Centre terminals'. Agencies and journalists are testing the software, to make it easy-touse in practical conditions in as many countries as possible. Press, radio, TV and others get direct access to press releases through the terminals. The clearing house service is self-supporting at modest subscription prices and is highly cost-effective for information flow in and out of the system. Profits from the press centre support a trust the Third World Educationai Clearing House, which make educational and briefing materials available for use internationally in education. For more details, contact: Development Journalists Group Centre for World Development Education Regent s College London NW1 4NS UK or The Secretary World Press Centre London 3 Parolles Road London N19 3RE UKThe Centre for World Development Education (CWDE) was founded in 1977 to raise the level of awareness and understanding in Britain of major development issues in the Third World. It grew out of the longer-standing education unit of the Voluntary..