Citizen journalists (CJs) from all over Malaysia came together for the first time this year at the Annexe Central Market over Labour Day weekend to network, share knowledge and celebrate their peers. This was a rare opportunity indeed- a testament to the efforts of Malaysiakini, namely Premesh Chandran, Shufiyan Shukur and Maran Perianen among others, to empower ordinary people-on-the-street, and give them voices to highlight issues close to their hearts.
Photo credit: Arvind Raj
The confident and jovial way participants encouraged and appreciated each other was infectious. This was most obvious when a short video clip on an isolated Penan community, was featured. Shot by 2 Penan citizen journalists, Mariam and Gayut (picture below) the clip showed clearly the connection between the Penan and nature. A picture may be worth a thousand words…a video however, tells so much more!
Mariam, Gayut, Arvind (photo credit: Arvind Raj)
Basic and advanced level participants from Penang, Ipoh, KL and East Malaysia took part in workshop sessions and seminars by noted journalism professionals and academicians. There were also sessions for newcomers, who were introduced to the basics of citizen journalism and video camera handling.
To set the tone for the 2-day conference, Prof. Zaharom Nain of the University of Nottingham challenged participants to go beyond status quo reporting and identify their motivation as CJs, whether it was to be the voice of the people or a mobilizer for greater democratic participation. He suggested several methods to achieve this.
- Credibility: being accurate, analytical and current
- Speciality: finding a niche area to contribute to
- Reaching out: consider how your report should be packaged and marketed
More importantly, he stressed the need for CJs to be able to deconstruct images and opinions and find the hidden meaning before attempting a potential report/ story idea.
The 3 afternoon sessions ran concurrently: Basic Citizen Journalism by Krishnamoorthy Muthaly for newcomers; News Writing & Journalism Ethics by S.Viknesan for basic level; Video Investigative Reporting by Charles Mohan of NTV 7 for advanced level.
This was followed by a relaxing dinner during which Malaysiakini launched Komunitikini, a project that aims to bring people closer to their communities, by creating a space for CJs in a community to share timely news bites, events, complaints etc. with other people within the same community. Day 1 ended on a sweet note for 2 CJs from the Penang batch…kudos go to KS Tan and Dave (Devakumaran) for their video awards!