What
The course is designed as a weekend programme. It will be conducted at the Journalism Mentor Centre at Andheri East, Mumbai, every Saturday morning. Each session will be for about three hours with a comfort break. Specialists from areas connected with the content of this course, professionals and domain experts would be conducting the training and information exchange programme.
Why
Increasingly, the citizen is being asked to contribute to the news gathering process, either through write ups, pictures, video or information. Moreover, there are issues which need to be reported about. Be it environment, transport or water conservation. Often, it could be something as critical as an inadequacy we notice in the state’s performance.
But how does one go about it. How does one gather facts? How do one verify these facts? If one needs to seek information, does one know how to avail of the Right to Information (RTI) process? What are the basic laws which one is governed by, or which one sees being violated time and again, and against which one can raise a voice? Does one know the basic traffic and civic laws and redressal mechanisms, the penal code and basic constitutional rights. Does one know the process of seeking redressal? How do the courts in India function? Can I be heard there and how?
This and much more could be the reasons a citizen should avail this programme.
Who
Just anyone. There is no age barrier. No qualifications to compete with. You need to have a basic understanding of reading and writing.
Course Contents
Some of the key areas covered in the course include Citizen Journalism backgrounder and how it is practiced globally, basics of reporting, news gathering, presenting the story through words and pictures, ethics including accuracy and fairness, laws including slander and privacy, introduction to Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Criminal Procedure Code, civic laws and use of technology in Citizen Journalism.
Every student will be provided an email id and their work will be put on a portal dedicated to citizen journalism called CitizensReport.in
Eligibility
Anyone interested in doing citizen journalism. Basic language skills in any Indian language and English needed.
Fee
Rs. 3000/- (Includes reading material, year-long access to email [email protected] and posting privileges to www.CitizensReport.in, the Citizens Reporting portal being launched by JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism.)
Sessions in Mumbai –
July 22nd to 24th at St. Andrews College
Queries
Call 022-40155197 or email Shishir Joshi/Aloke Thakore at [email protected] and [email protected].
Programme Directors
Shishir Joshi and Aloke Thakore
Shishir Joshi was till recently the Group Editorial Director of the Mid-Day group of publications, which includes Mid-Day (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune), Sunday Mid-Day, Gujarati Mid-Day and Inquilab. Prior to Mid-Day, Joshi was with the TV Today group, where he was executive editor. He has also been editorial consultant for the Sahara group, helping set up TV channels across India as well as recruiting and training professionals for them. Prior to that he was with NDTV as its sole business news correspondent based out of Mumbai. He has worked with CNN.com, written for Reuters and AFP and has contributed to UK based ITN-Channel 4 News and has been the South Asia Representative of Peter Arnett’s Broadcast News Network (BNN TV). A law graduate, he is a Chevening Scholar. He is the co-founder of Journalism Mentor.
Aloke Thakore is a journalist, researcher and teacher. He has worked in print and television. At various times he has reported, written columns, authored academic articles, anchored programmes, taught at university and colleges, and coached in news rooms. He has also helped launched newspapers and magazines both as editorial and management consultant. He counts many journalists and media professionals among his students and trainees. A Media Leadership Fellow of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, he has a Ph.D. in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an AM in International Relations from the University of Chicago, an MS in Journalism from the University of Kansas. His first degree is from Calcutta University. He is the co-founder of Journalism Mentor.
Background
Citizen Journalism with its variants in Public Journalism or Civic Journalism acquired the accoutrements of a movement in the early 2000s, particularly in the United States. But the origins of Citizen Journalism are as old as journalism, when pamphlets and reports were issued by citizens. Some of the most powerful pieces of journalistic writing can be traced back to individual initiatives of citizens as reporters not reporters as professionals.
The need for citizens as journalists and for citizen journalists has been increasingly felt as media companies with their business and professional news gathering models do not necessarily commit enough resources to covering issues that beset a democracy such as ours or do not have any incentive to cover problems from a wide swathe of society. But not covering these problems and issues does not wish away the reality. And that is precisely where citizen journalists can reclaim the conversation. It needs to be remembered that the freedom of the press in India is an extension of the freedom of expression given to each citizen.
JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism believes that India needs vigorous citizen journalism since it is well nigh impossible, for various reasons, for the news media organizations to cover all issues that need to be brought into the public eye. Hence, we have launched a Citizen Journalism initiative, which will both train citizen journalists and also provide them with a forum where they report.
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