Seminar on Citizen Journalism

EXPRESS FEATURES SERVICE Posted: Jul 29, 2008 at 0250 hrs
The concept of citizen journalism did not have much effect on the media or the citizens a few years ago. However with the Right to Information Act, and media taking the initiative citizen journalism has become a significant trend. The Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication organised a seminar in collaboration with MeriNews.com, a news portal for citizen journalists, on Citizen Journalism. Ramesh Menon, winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism and Director of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Mass Communication, Vipul Kant Upadhyay, CEO, Merinews.com, Shefali Sagar, Director (Editorial), Merinews.com, Raja Bellare and Prof. Ujjwal Kumar Chaudhary, the Dean of Symbiosis International University interacted with the students during the discussion.

Prof Chaudhary raised the issue of commercialisation of news. Citing his opinion Chaudhary said, "There are two kinds of audiences that a newspaper caters to- primary and secondary. The primary audience consists of its readers, the people who trust the newspaper to give them the correct news while the secondary audience is that of the advertisers, who make the newspapers rich by buying the ad space. Now the problem with today's media industry is that they have started giving more importance to the secondary audience and are neglecting the primary ones, which are actually the true audiences."

The speakers stressed that citizen journalism was not to be confused for a platform to write anything and everything. Talking on the trend Ramesh Menon winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism said, "Truth can never be subdued." Pointing out to his documentary, which brought the side effects of fertilisers to the forefront. "Fertiliser companies, lobbied and the producers of the documentary pulled out midway. But my dedication and the support of my friends helped me complete the project and it was able to reach mass audiences thanks to the Internet and the impact was tremendous," he added.