Conference > Key Speeches
Fritz Pleitgen, Director General WDR
and Vice President of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said it was the social responsibility of broadcasters to ensure that audiences had no explanations for not having known about the human needs behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
WDR would make its contribution by producing programming to cover the MDGs from September 2005 and would consider devoting a special day of broadcasts on the MDGs. He would place the television and radio platforms of the EBU at the disposal of the initiative.
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Marina Ponti explained why it was important that audiences held their governments to account in achieving the MDGs, given that they had signed the Millennium Declaration in 2000. In Italy the campaign was focusing on working with MTV to encourage youth audiences to develop more interest in the wider world.
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Kevin Watkins, Director of the Human Development Report 
shared with the conference some of the key trends relating to the MDGs for the 2005-2015 period. These were released on the eve of a UN Summit on September 10th 2005 to review progress on the MDGs. This data predicted that the goals would be missed in several areas.
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Hilde Frafjord Johnson, the International Development Minister,
Norway echoed the issue of participation. Without the involvement of the media, there was no way to tackle the MDGs or to address the primary interest in the poor in expressing themselves and in having "a voice."
The media could provide this voice to the poor and may, therefore, be the most powerful force in society. All the world's governments and the major institutions, the World Bank, IMF, WTO have signed up to the MDGs. The fact that poverty issues had risen to the top of the international political agenda was an unprecedented opportunity.
In the developing world, the role of the media could be to ensure that there is good governance in relation to government performance against the MDGs. The challenge for the Northern media was not to revert back to covering only domestic issues, but to hold their governments accountable for the fact that 189 countries signed up to the MDGs in 2000.
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Partners
'The MDGs in Focus' was made in association with:
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
For more information on the Millennium Campaign