Bird, William

William Bird is director of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), which promotes democracy and human rights through the media, and an Ashoka and Linc fellow, based in South Africa. He started as a part-time researcher for the MMA forerunner, the Media Monitoring Project, in 1995. Bird has been in involved in more than 95 media monitoring projects on subjects ranging from gender-based violence, HIV, and racism, to children and the media and public broadcasting. He believes the media has a significant role to play in ensuring the realization and protection of children’s rights. Since 2003, he has systematically monitored the coverage of children in print and electronic media and equipped media professionals with the necessary tools to ensure the well-informed reporting of children and children’s issues. He also teaches children to monitor media. Through his strategy Empowering Children and the Media (ECM) he engages journalists and equips them to become more responsible in their reporting. Most recently, as a direct result of the work done by MMA and Bird, the Press Code in South Africa now has a specific section focused on children. Bird regularly appears in the media with expert views on a range of matters including media ethics and reporting of children.