Summer Academy
A training programme on Freedom and Responsibility in the Media
May 10–24, 2009
The Asian College of Journalism in association with the International Institute for Journalism, Berlin, conducted a Summer
Academy on Freedom and Responsibility in the South Asian Media for young journalists from the SAARC countries.
The aim of the programme was
to enhance the quality of journalism in
South Asia. 23 young journalists from newspapers, news agencies and online media attended the academy. The twoweek programme covered a range of
issues in journalism:
Citizen Media Workshop
August 21–22, 2009
The Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, in cooperation with
the Asian College of Journalism, organised a two-day workshop
in Citizen Media from the 21–22 August, 2009 consisting
of seminars on new media technologies such as Twitter
and YouTube and how ordinary citizens could use them to
disseminate information and opinions that concerned them.
Students received hands-on training in developing new
media technologies, such as digital camcorders, mobile phones,
user-friendly editing software in order to use the internet as a
platform through which anybody could express, disseminate
and discuss opinions. More and more, snapshots recorded
by ordinary people and stories and events narrated by nonmedia
professionals are beginning to influence public debates
and political decisions. The workshop was predicated on this
development which has seen the line between professional
journalists and citizen journalists becoming increasingly
blurred.
Workshop on Public Health and Mass Communications
16-17 September 2009
Bindu Bhaskar, Mohan Ramamoorthy, and Dr. Jayalakshmi
Shreedhar of the ACJ faculty conducted a workshop in media and
communication for doctors enrolled in the Master’s in Public
Health programme at the Sri Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical
Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. The workshop
sponsored by the National Institute of Epidemiology was held
on 16 and 17 September. The sessions included:
Mass communication: Introduction, merits and drawbacks.
Media advocacy and communication network: An overview of
media advocacy on health communication. Press relations:
Identifying key agencies, contributing to press activities,
preparing press releases, organizing and addressing press
conferences. Practical exercises followed by presentations
by the teams of participants.
Workshop on Human Rights and Refugee
Protection
August 30, 2009
Conducted by Nayana Bose, Associate External Relations
Officer and R. Vidjea Barathy, Associate Repatriation Officer,
of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
The objective of the day long workshop was to provide
an orientation for journalists on international human rights
principles of refugee protection, particularly issues relating to
who is a refugee, how refugees are different from economic
migrants and allied categories, rights and treatment to be
accorded to refugees in the country of asylum, and durable
solutions for refugees. The workshop employed a mix of
lectures, case-studies and short films to help understand anddiscuss national and international law, policy and practice on
refugee protection.
Best of INPUT — International Public Television
December 5–6, 2009
Seven films chosen from the International Public Television’s (INPUT) annual collection were screened at the Asian College
of Journalism.
INPUT, an organisation made up of and meant for professionals in television, was launched in 1978 to provide a
platform for independent filmmakers working in public interest. INPUT actively promotes films which challenge and redefine
broadcasting.
An 18-member panel selects a limited number of films from over 600 entries, based on innovation in form and content,
originality or daring in subjects, and creativity and imagination in the use of technology.
The films screened at the ACJ covered a wide range of subjects from the rise of Saddam Hussein to the plight of gays and
transgenders in the Islamic Republic of Iran, from a documentary on Palestinian women in an Israeli jail serving extended terms
for “terrorist” activities to a Canadian documentary by web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor exploring issues of copyright
in the information age, revolutionising the media landscape of the 20th century and breaking down the wall between users
and producers.
Sangam House Writer’s Discussion Forum
January 29, 2010
In an interactive session with students of the ACJ, writers in residency at Sangam House in Puducherry addressed issues of
censorship and freedom of expression in different cultures and nations around the world. Among the concerns raised, the forum
discussed how writers were affected by the law, if there was an internalised method of self-censorship, how the media dealt
with sensitive issues when they were expressed in literature and the arts, what the relevance and impact of guerilla/underground
writing were, and if graffiti was a similar subversive space for free expression.
The writers who attended the Forum were:
• Claus Ankersen (Denmark, poetry)
• Carlos Magalhaes (Brazil, fiction and
publishing)
• Stephan Thome (Germany, fiction)
• Mr Haam (Korea, poetry)
• Madhulika Liddle (India, fiction)
• K Srilata (India, fiction and translation)
• D.W.M. Gibson (USA, fiction and
non-fiction)
Arshia Sattar of Sangam House and Prof. N.
Kalyan Raman of ACJ moderated the session.
Sangam house is a writer’s residency that operates
out of pondicherry for 10-12 weeks every year bringing
together as many as 15 writers from across the world to
live and write in a secluded and secure environment.
