Program Boosts TV News Production, Educates Viewers on Local Issues
“Problems/Solutions” is a USAID-sponsored television production conceived by a local television station manager in Tovuz and implemented by IREX to explore issues that affect Azerbaijan’s citizens while honing the skills of local journalists, camerapersons and editors. Local television stations are tasked with exploring instances of corruption, abuse of power, lack of social services and then recording those infractions using fact-based material. Tapes are submitted to the program producer for authentication and critique and, if accepted, a panel is assembled to discuss the problem and offer a resolution. The original conflict footage and the panel discussion are then packaged as a single program for distribution to the regional television stations.
To date, the USAID’s Media Advancement Project has produced twenty-four episodes with input from each of the regional broadcasters covering subjects ranging from marked regional differences in access to reliable electrical power, to the availability of food specifically marked for consumption of the military in the local bazaars, to the growth of narcotic addiction among the young.
As the project continues, the quality standards have gradually increased, forcing station staff to improve both reportage and technical skills. The “Problems/Solutions” program producer remains in constant contact with the local stations, offering constructive criticism to support the continual need to improve. And there is a strong financial incentive to succeed: this “learn as you earn” project compensates stations only for packages that are accepted.
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| Ms. Ilhamiyya Rzayeva, the program producer (on the left), Famil MammadoV, the lawyer of the 4 Legal Advocacy Center and Hafiz Hasanov, the chief of the Legal and Development Union discuss the problem presented in the tape and offer a resolution in the Problems/Solutions television production, which is supported by USAID's Media Advancement project and implemented by IREX. |
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