UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

04/19/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/19/2021 05:15

UNESCO and the youth take to radio with 'Sawt Jdid'

At the premises of the VDL radio station in Achrafieh, in the heart of Beirut, discussions are lively on this Friday afternoon and preparations are going well. In the middle of a coaching session, the general manager of the radio, Assaad Maroun, is busy explaining to four young people the dos and don'ts of hosting a radio show, and for good reason: they were chosen by UNESCO - Beirut to produce and present a weekly program on the airwaves of the VDL, starting May 7, as part of UNESCO's commitment to promote freedom of expression and access to information.

This interactive radio program titled Sawt Jdid ('New Voice'), which will run for nine months, will indeed aim to establish a broader engagement with marginalized or hard-to-reach groups within the Lebanese community, in order to allow an integration of their views and perceptions into planned discussions. Especially with regard to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which is accompanied by a massive disinformation campaign, knowing that UNESCO has developed a comprehensive strategy to provide communication resources, implement projects, disseminate campaigns, and mobilize media, societies and governments in countering disinformation and promoting media literacy during the crisis. The program will feature debates, vox pops, and interviews with special guests and experts, to counter the creeping scourge of fake news, while giving particular importance to the theme of freedom of expression.

'We are going to talk about topics that matter to us as young people and move away from stereotypes,' says Amani Bou Diab, 23, a graduate in advertising, marketing and communication from the Lebanese University (LU). I think it's important for us to be close to our audience and that the show resembles us in its segments, its subjects, its music. I think radio is on the decline today because it no longer keeps up with the lives of young people and their aspirations, and the four of us are very enthusiastic about working together. '