Part III Human rights education in practice This approach ensures that NHRIs have a regular place in the media to talk about human rights issues, to invite community feedback and to describe what people can do to take practical action to uphold their own rights and protect the rights of others. Many NHRIs report that these initiatives can be very effective in reaching out to different groups in the community, such as older people and people living in areas where, because of staff and financial resources, the NHRI might not be able to visit regularly. Delivering information by radio and television is also an effective and accessible way to overcome barriers around literacy. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission prepares short information “spots” and longer programmes on human rights issues for broadcast on radio and television. The programmes address a range of issues – for example on the rights of women, children or people with disabilities – and may include interviews with Commission members or staff, representatives of civil society groups and victims or relatives. They also include case studies that depict the reality of human rights violations in the country. The Commission has established partnerships with many television and radio stations across Afghanistan, which broadcast the Commission’s programmes free of charge. The Commission says that television and radio is a valuable way of communicating human rights information to men, women and children in a country where there are high rates of illiteracy. NHRIs should also be aware of the changing media environment in their respective countries and the opportunities this provides to develop “media-ready” content for news outlets, which are increasingly operating on smaller editorial budgets. Affordable, accessible and easy-to-use technologies – such as digital cameras, smart phones, video cameras, audio recorders and editing software – allow NHRIs to prepare broadcast-quality material for journalists to include in their reports. It also provides NHRIs with a degree of editorial input that can further promote and protect human rights; for example, by ensuring that images taken of people who have experienced human rights violations do not expose them to retaliation or further discrimination. While some journalists and editors will accept and use this material, others may be justifiably wary of accepting pre-packaged resources from NHRIs or other human rights groups, concerned that the material they are providing is “biased” towards their advocacy or interests. To address these concerns, the NHRI should be “transparent about its aims, about the provenance of the material it is distributing and about the standards it uses in its own information-gathering”.166 166 Whose News? The Changing Media Landscape and NGOs; Carroll Bogert, Human Rights Watch; January 2011; p. 7. Chapter 10: Working with the media | 99