Reporting Diversity Network

Exploring if and how MDI could engage with Indonesia involved exploring Indonesian people's ideas for solutions to those problems, talking to people about solutions that MDI and others have tried in other places, and asking which of these ideas they think might be able to be adapted to their region, and how. The project also aimed to determine whether MDI should work on a particular diversity theme across the entire region, or work with various themes but limit that work to a particular geographical region. The project also aimed to introduce the Indonesian media, media educators and relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to MDI's concepts and practises of reporting diversity and the work of the its Reporting Diversity Network, make contacts, and possibly develop - in conjunction with potential beneficiaries in the field - a media diversity programme for that country.

The project was divided into three phases.

1. Research - initially United Kingdom-based research, followed by a fact-finding mission to Indonesia to conduct research in the field amongst three groups:
• journalists and editors from both the state and non-state media, from both the broadcast and print sectors;
• teachers and professors who train journalists;
• leaders of minorities groups representing ethnic or racial minorities, religious minorities, women, refugees, people with disabilities, sexual minorities, migrants, refugees, homeless people, children, the elderly, etc.
2. Consultation - an Indonesian-based conference on media diversity, in which the most dynamic and solution-oriented of those of potential beneficiaries will meet to assess the regional applicability of MDI's concepts of reporting diversity, and to share their ideas for media diversity change strategies. The initial emphasis on reporting diversity problems in Indonesia will shift, as the conference progresses, to a focus on generating solutions for change. The is aim to produce a series of strategies and tactics for tackling reporting diversity problems in Indonesia.
3. Project preparation - depending on the outcome of the first and second phases, a possible third project preparation phase, in which a comprehensive, long-term plan for the development of media diversity in Indonesia is designed, based on detailed analysis of the information and change strategies collected and collated during the fact-finding mission and conference. The bulk of any solutions included in that plan will be ideas created by local people, or variations on those ideas. In this way MDI aims to create a media diversity programme for Indonesia that addresses the needs of people in the region.

Media Diversity