State Media Schools' Summit in Lucknow

Lucknow will for the first time play host to a summit of media schools of Uttar Pradesh on 21 January 2010. UNICEF and Amity school of mass communication, Lucknow, are the joint organizers of this unique event. Cine star Ms Sharmila Tagore, will open the summit, while actor Farooq Sheikh will conclude it. The Member Secretary of the National Commission for Protection of Rights of Children will chair the concluding session. Read more

Ms Usha Rai (Senior Journalist and Media Advisor to National Commission on Protection of Rights of Children), Pamela Philipose (Director Women's Feature Service), Sangeeta Rajeesh ( Press institute of India, Chennai) and Radhika Nanda ( NY Media School) are the other experts expected at the forthcoming Media Summit.

Dr Sanjay Mohan Johri, Director, Amity mass communication department, gave this information to the media persons at the fortnightly media event "Media for Children" organized by Media Nest with the support of UNICEF at the Uttar Pradesh Press Club. Present was the communication specialist of UNICEF, Mr Augustine Veliath.

Stressing on the great role of media students, the future media professionals Mr. Veliath said that Uttar Pradesh has the largest concentration of children so it is vital that media should help create a pro-active culture for children of the state.

He said every day children, especially poor children are being sacrificed on various alters in the name of development, foreign exchange. He quoted the example of child carpet-weavers.

"I am happy that in their journey of professional discoveries Amity media school has taken the lead, I am confident that other media schools will follow. I am happy that these media students have discovered children" said Mr. Veliath. Earlier addressing the audience Dr Johri shared with the media glimpses of the programme that will take place on January 21. A 30 minute film on the compilation of photographs taken by the students and photographer Trilochan, Amity faculty on the various moods of children was screened.

“From zero to 18 the children shot reality in the rural background of mango orchard of the world Malhiabad. The results were unbelievable. There were 3000 photographs. The most difficult task was to select 50 from them,” said Mr Johri. He said this photo-exhibition will be a part of the summit. He invited responses on www.mediasummit.tripod.com

Mr Durgesh Shukla, senior journalist, said that the media students and faculty must ensure that if they get some monetary benefit from the photographs of the children whom they have clicked they must share that with these children too.

"This will ensure that you also do not fall in the category of exploiters," said Mr Durgesh sounding a voice of caution.

Earlier welcoming the media students to the fold of professionals, the general secretary of Media Nest, Kulsum Talha said that for a vibrant and socially sensitized Fourth Estate it is essential that we sensitize the media students first.

"Media for Children, will equip you to deal better with development issues concerning children. You will learn to give a voice to the voiceless and that is what journalism is all about" said Ms Talha.

Photo credits: Akshay, Ambreen and Trilochan

Kulsum Mustafa (The author is a senior journalist and Secretary-General of Media Nest. She is a Fellow of Citizen News Service (CNS) Writers' Bureau)

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