The World Media Academy Delhi graduated its first class of students on Saturday, May 26, all of them armed with the skills to become professional multimedia journalists in today’s high-tech, competitive news environment.
"This is your chance to make a difference in your profession," Knight International Journalism Fellow Siddhartha Dubey told students during his commencement speech. "It really is all about the love for journalism and reporting.
Knight International Journalism Fellow Siddhartha Dubey discusses his work at the World Media Academy Delhi. A veteran journalism with extensive experience in broadcast, print and digital media, Sid is leading the academy to be sure it continues to meet the evolving needs of today's global media landscape.
Shubranshu Choudhary's mobile news network has become known primarily through word-of-mouth. As a Knight International Journalism Fellow he developed CGnet Swara and trains citizen journalists to use the service to report news from their tribal regions. Activists, government officials, mainstream media and others can check for new reports by phone or online.
Not long ago, officials sent to work in India's rural Chhattisgarh region often viewed the assignment as a "punishment post" because of the region's isolation, violence and lack of infrastructure. Slowly, that is changing, says Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary.
Citizen journalists in remote regions of India are using cell phones to call in news stories that can be relayed to a whole network of tribal people through CGnet Swara, the mobile news network created by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary. In an interview with Technoholik.com, a technical advisor for CGnet says the network receives more than 200 calls a day.
A citizen journalist uses his cellphone to interview a woman in Central India as part of a training workshop on mobile news. (Photo by Arjun Venkatraman)
A blog that highlights the work of citizen journalists all over the world recently turned its attention to CGNet Swara in India, describing the mobile news network founded by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary as "the media for India's tribal people," and the "kind of project which really cares and helps those in need."
NewsMeBack blog detailed the project and included an animated video that uses stick characters to re-enact the mobile network and the impact it has had on rural co
