Capacity Building and Sensitisation Programme for Media Personnel

Date: Wednesday, 18 May 2022

Venue: Multipurpose hall, India International Centre, New Delhi 

National Commission for Women organized a ‘Capacity building and sensitisation programme for media personnel’ at the Multipurpose hall, India International Centre, New Delhi, on May 18, 2022. The basic motive of the programme was to encourage the media stakeholders to adopt a more ethical, moral and humane journalistic practice. 

The workshop started at 9:30 am with the audience members and the speakers coming in and settling down in the hall. The calmly sitting audience members’ hearts started pounding and their faces lit up with broad smiles upon the arrival of a very senior member of their family, a man with over 40 years of expertise in the media field and the special guest of the day- Rajat Sharma, the Editor-in-chief and Chairman of India TV.  He was welcomed with a huge round of applause. Then, the esteemed dignitaries- Special guest Rajat Sharma, Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, NCW, Meeta Rajivlochan, Member secretary, NCW and A. Asholi Chalai, Joint secretary, NCW, were called to the stage to light the lamp of wisdom and knowledge.

After invoking the blessings of almighty by lighting the lamp, Meeta Rajivlochan, member secretary, NCW welcomed the eminent speakers of the session as well as the audience members. In her speech, she also shed light on various facts and figures related to the condition of women in various fields of life. Meeta’s speech was followed by the inaugural speech of Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, NCW. She raised a lot of issues in her speech and the one that stood out the most was that, despite having a significant proportion of women in the media industry, they lack representation at editorial positions and higher decision-making levels. 

Now, it was the turn for the man himself, Rajat Sharma, to take over the mic to enlighten the entire hall with his wide range of experience and wisdom. He shared various personal accounts that highlighted how women have broken the shackles of confinement and have emerged successful, be it handling a newspaper bureau or increasing the number of girl childs at the prize distribution ceremonies. He also gave a slogan to carry throughout life- ‘Celebrate talent, not men or women.’

The workshop was bifurcated into three technical sessions- 'Gender-Sensitive Indicators for media in Media Operations and Content', 'Challenges Faced By Women Media Professionals' and 'Role of Media in Empowerment of Women'. The head of Prasar Bharati News Services & Digital Platform,  Samir Kumar officially initiated the technical session by sharing his valuable insights on gender-sensitive indicators for media in media operations and content. He shared Prasar Bharati with shows like ‘Rajni’, ‘Shanti’, etc. glorified the empowerment of women. He also pointed that both the genders can not compete, rather collaborate with each other, acknowledging the natural differences. Aditya Raj Kaul, Executive Editor, TV9 Network came next. He appealed for the larger sensitisation and urged the media houses to have a gender policy and conduct regular gender training.

The CEO & Director Red FM & Magic FM, Nisha Narayanan took over the podium and gave a  clear picture of the condition of women in the media industry, giving a sneak peek into the work-life balance of a journalist with not many women being fortunate enough to get the support from both the aspects of their life. She also urged the National Commission for Women to conduct a research on the impact of COVID-19 on women in the media. The founder of Khabar Lahariya, Kavita Devi was the next speaker who shared her invaluable experiences with us. Khabar Lahariya, the country’s only digital rural news network. Started in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh, with a group of women, has won many awards like Chameli Devi Jain Award for Women in Journalism, prestigious Global Media Forum Award and many more. She also made everyone aware of ‘Chambal Academy’, which trains village women in journalism. She also informed how people who had migrated to metropolitan cities in search of work came back and became journalists with the assistance of Khabar Lahariya and Chambal Academy. She also emphasized on the digital revolution and how so many women covered and reported the entire Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 2022 through mobile phones. 

Then, came the inspirational speech of Prof. Dr. Vartika Nanda, Head of Journalism Department, Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She shared with the audience how her road to success started from Satya Niketan where she interviewed Mr Rajat Sharma for the first time. She became the first female in India to be the head of crime beat in the electronic media and highlighted being neutral and unbiased as two major challenges when reporting crimes as a female. Being the founder of Tinka Tinka and a prison reformer, she shared how difficult it was for her to go to prison without being questioned a million times. She also highlighted preference for well-maintained and attractive females as news anchors, an issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

It was followed by an open house discussion and questions posed by the audience related to their journey and media to the speakers, Dr Vartika Nanda and Kavita Devi. Many people from various media organizations shared their experience and how they helped in empowering women. At last, A. Asholi Chalai, Joint Secretary of NCW, delivered his vote of thanks. He extended his gratitude towards the organizers, speakers and audience.  

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCV627Doiug

Written by:

Nandini Rikhee 

Taniya Thappa

(First Year students, BA Hons. Journalism, Lady Shri Ram College for Women)