Points to Poynter

In March 2014, the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, a leading journalism school in the United States, dipped its feet in Indian waters through three workshops, one each in Chennai, Kochi, and Bengaluru. In turn, in each of these three-day collaborative workshops, mid-career Indian journalists and journalism teachers got a taste of contemporary journalism and journalism education in the United States.

The Hack

In 1955, eight crew members of a Colombian naval destroyer in the Caribbean were swept overboard by a giant wave. Luis Alejandro Velasco, a sailor who spent ten days on a life raft without food or water, was the only survivor. The editor of the Colombian newspaper El Espectador assigned the story to a twenty-seven-year-old reporter who had been dabbling in fiction and had a reputation as a gifted feature writer ...

കുനിയാന്‍ പറയുംമുമ്പേ ഇഴയുമ്പോള്‍

മനുഷ്യചരിത്രത്തില്‍ മാധ്യമങ്ങള്‍ ഇത്രയധികം ജനജീവിതത്തെ സ്വാധീനിക്കുന്ന കാലംമുമ്പ് ഉണ്ടായിട്ടില്ല. അതേ സമയം മാധ്യമലോകത്തിനുള്ളിലാകട്ടെ അഭൂതപൂര്‍വമായ മാറ്റങ്ങള്‍ അരങ്ങേറുകയാണ്. അതിലേറ്റവും പ്രധാനം അച്ചടി മാധ്യമങ്ങളുടെ ഏറെക്കുറെ ഉറപ്പായ അസ്തമയമാണ്. പടിഞ്ഞാറന്‍ ലോകത്ത് വ്യവസായമെന്ന നിലയ്ക്കും പ്രചാരത്തിലും സ്വാധീനത്തിലും പ്രാധാന്യത്തിലും പ്രസക്തിയിലുമൊക്കെ അച്ചടിമാധ്യമങ്ങള്‍ കാലഹരണപ്പെട്ടു ...

Social Media as a Powerful New Communication Tool

Information is power, and communication is the art of transmitting information effectively for the empowerment of society. Media as a tool plays an important role in communication.
The media in its current form has broadly evolved over three phases: traditional media, mainstream media of the 20th century, and the emerging social media of the 21st century.

Mobilization and Democratic Participation

It is essential in any country to get people’s support and cooperation for collective action. This is especially true in ‘developing’ countries engaged in developing new systems of administration and modes of economic and political action aimed at the removal of bottlenecks in popular participation in developmental action. Mobilizing people towards socially productive activities that lead to the overall betterment of people’s................

Reporting on Religion

Before the election season kicked in this year, in February and March, a major topic of news discussion was freedom of expression. The trigger story was publisher Penguin India’s decision to withdraw the book The Hindus by Wendy Doniger on the ground that the book allegedly offended Hindus. Justifying their decision to discontinue the legal ...............

Day-old news won’t cut it in print anymore

If you asked me what are the three main challenges of any newspaper company today, my answer would be:
first, to evolve from mono-media companies to multimedia information engines;
second, to integrate all your editorial and business resources into an open multimedia newsroom;
and third, to rethink and reinvent the editorial models of your print products in this new multimedia landscape.

The Future of Journalism (As We Know It)

From 23–25 March 2014, Florida-based Poynter Institute, in partnership with the Kerala Press Academy, organised a collaborative learning workshop on ‘Strengthening Journalism’ in Kochi. On the sidelines of the workshop, senior Malayalam journalist K. Rajagopal spoke to Howard Finberg, Director of The Poynter Institute and leader of the visiting delegation, about the future of journalism and journalism education. Excerpts:

'ഉത്തരവാദിത്വമില്ലായ്മ'യും മാധ്യമങ്ങളുടെ ഉത്തരവാദിത്വമാണ്‌

അമേരിക്കന്‍ പ്രസിഡന്റായിരുന്ന തിയോഡര്‍ റൂസ്‌വെല്‍റ്റ് 1906 ഏപ്രില്‍ 14ന് നടത്തിയ പ്രസംഗം, സമൂഹത്തിലെ കൊള്ളരുതായ്മകള്‍ക്കെതിരെ പൊരുതാന്‍ ശക്തിയുള്ള മാധ്യമത്തിന്റെ ആവശ്യകതയെക്കുറിച്ചായിരുന്നു. രാഷ്ട്രീയ, സാമ്പത്തിക, പൊതുമേഖലകളിലെ ദുഷ്ടശക്തികള്‍ക്കെതിരെ യാഥാര്‍ത്ഥ്യം വിളിച്ചുകൂവാന്‍ കരുത്തുള്ള വ്യക്തികളുടെ ആവശ്യവും അവര്‍ മുന്നില്‍കണ്ടു. അന്വേഷണാത്മക പത്രപ്രവര്‍ത്തനത്തിന്റെ ആദ്യരൂപമായിരുന്നു റൂസ്‌വെല്‍റ്റ് മുന്നോട്ടുവെച്ച മക്ക്‌റേക്കിങ് ജേണലിസം.........

Structural compulsions of crony journalism

Here is the situation on which we begin the ideas of structural compulsions of crony journalism. Here is a supreme Court judgement of enormous importance, which directly affects the future Indian journalists who come under the Journalist’s act, and how come the newspapers are so silent about it? This SC judgement upholds the Majithia Wage Board for journalists. Look at the extent censorship is exercised to the point there is no discussion when the SC says it is valid, and the complaints by the newspapers against it are not, and dismiss the petitions by Newspaper owners.

Media - A Bilingual Monthly Journal of the Kerala Press Academy

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