July 2004 - Victoria Carpenter

July was quiet again after the excitement of documentary making, which gave me a chance to catch my breath and begin the next project - Media Presence. The first thing was getting on top of the Muscular Dystrophy Association media database and coming to grips with its potential. I had some special training from the staff at MediaPeople, who showed me how to make the most of sending out media releases and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with the press.

Furthering my relationship with The Aucklander was first up, and a journalist and photographer came round to write a lovely article about me! I don’t know who came up with the title “Dad’s Girl fights Muscular Dystrophy,” which I suppose is the truth, but it was a little embarrassing!

Next on the media hit list was radio. I rang the producers of One in Five, the National Radio documentary program about disabilities, and put the story of the documentary to them. They were enthusiastic and suggested that myself and one other person from the documentary head to the Auckland Studio where we would have a phone interview and talk about some issues facing those with neuromuscular conditions.

After all the excitement we made our documentary and later that week I took on my next media battle: the NZ on Air Symposium on Disability in Television at Te Papa in Wellington. Well, if I thought I was coming to terms with the issues, I had another thing coming! So much diversity: who should make the programmes and what format should they take? Should they be exclusively for a disabled audience or mainstream? When should they air?

We have our own views about the answers to these questions, but we certainly aren’t in the majority. I was actually surprised that there wasn’t a universal voice from the disabled sector, but I suppose that is part of the journey. Some commentators likened the situation to that of the feminists in the 70s or gay issues in the 80s.

The final media challenge for the month is print. I took the opportunity to contact John Wolk of ‘Without Limits’ magazine and very swiftly found myself with a three-article commission for the next three editions. My first topic? You guessed, it the documentary!! Well, you can’t keep a good story down.

Until next month, Ka kite.

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