JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism
supported by
Press Club of Bangalore & St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Brigade Road.
presents
a wonderful opportunity to become citizen journalists
The three day certificate workshop will be held from Jan 21 to Jan 23, 2011, at St Joseph’s College of Commerce, No. 163 Brigade Road, Bangalore. Eminent journalists and trainers will be involved in the mentoring.
What participants will be taught:
• Skill-sets to gather and verify facts
• Laws which impact their life and newsgathering (Civic Law, Police law, Press laws, Consumer and Human Rights laws)
• Basics of Right to Information Act (RTI)
• Writing skills
• Hands-on training on use of technology in writing
• Session on ethics and values.
• International and Indian perspective/practice of Citizen Journalism
Speakers for the Citizen Journalism Programme
Dr. A. Ravindra | Advisor to Chief Minister of Karnataka
B. H. Veeresh | Coordinator of RTI Activists State Forum
Dr. D. V. Guruprasad | Director General of Police (CID), Karnataka
K. Sadashiva Shenoy | Secretary, Press Club of Bangalore
M A Ponnappa | President, Press Club of Bangalore
Ramakrishna Upadhya | Senior Editor, Deccan Herald, Bangalore
Dr. Sakuntala Narasimhan | Consumer Protection Activist
Justice Santosh Hegde | Lokayukta for Karnataka
Adv. Sarim Naved | Alternative Law Forum
Meera K | Co-Founder, Citizen Matters newsmagazine
HOW TO REGISTER: Send your CV to citizenjournalism@journalism.org.in or call on 022- 40158250/ 0 98209 85853
REGISTRATION FEE: 3000 rupees per person. (For students and senior citizens 65 years and above 1250 rupees per person)
FEE INCLUDES: Reading material, a permanent email id and access to the citizens initiative website www.citizensreport.in and food on all days
REGISTRATION PROCESS:
1. Send an e mail of your intent to register on citizenjournalism@journalism.org.in
2. Send a draft or cheque favouring “JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism” and a hard copy of your CV to 302, Shubham centre “A” CHSL, Cardinal Gracias road, Chakala, Andheri East, Mumbai 400099.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: January 13, 2011
NO AGE OR QUALIFICATION BARRIER
ABOUT JM FOUNDATION
JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism is a not for profit institution. JM stands for Journalism Mentor. The Foundation is an initiative of senior journalists Shishir Joshi and Aloke Thakore who are also the course directors. JM also conducts a one-year mentorship program: www.journalismmentor.in.
We believe 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.
The citizen journalism initiative will train citizen journalists and also provide them with a forum where they report. JM is committed to taking the citizen empowerment programme across India.
For further details visit: www.citizensreport.in
www.journalismmentor.in
www.journalism.org.in
CITIZEN JOURNALISM: A PERSPECTIVE:
The JM Foundation is committed to taking the citizen empowerment programme across India. It launched its Citizen Journalism workshops in Mumbai on August 1, 2010. It had another workshop in Goa in November, followed by a workshop in Mumbai in January 2011. In the coming months, the Foundation will travel across 20 cities.
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.
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.
