Commonwealth to hold media development workshop in Maldives

Development journalism media seminars will be held in Malé from 14-17 June 2010.

A four-day Commonwealth Media Development Workshop organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Maldives Journalists Association will be led by two senior editors from Singapore.

Mr Bhagman Singh, Senior Editor, NewsHub, MediaCorp News, which owns and operates the regional satellite news network, Channel NewsAsia, will lead on TV and radio journalism, while Mr Jayandra Menon, Deputy Foreign Editor of The Straits Times, an English language daily, will share his skills on newspaper and online reporting. Reporting and editing, media law and ethics, media freedom, democracy and international relations, and the role of media in development, are some of the topics on the agenda of the free workshop offered to the Maldives media.

The workshop showcases South-South co-operation in the sharing of expertise between Commonwealth countries, said Commonwealth Secretariat Deputy Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu.

“The workshop in Maldives brings together two Commonwealth neighbours, Singapore and Maldives, in the sharing of expertise and experiences in media development. We have two small states in Commonwealth Asia – one learning from the Singapore experience, the other learning from the Maldives experience. This cross-cultural exchanges will help to broaden and deepen understanding on journalism and the influence of politics and governance, culture, tradition, environment, education and technology,” Mr Esipisu said.

“We hope that the workshop will improve the skills and knowledge of the media in Maldives. We are delighted that Mr Bhagman and Mr Menon have put their substantial experience in reporting Asia and global affairs at the disposal of their colleagues in Maldives, and look to their work in enhancing a sound tradition of media professionalism, leading to greater consistency in the accuracy, fairness and balance of news reports,” he added.

The Commonwealth Media Development Workshop is open to Maldives nationals working in the news media. For enquiries and applications for the workshop, please contact Geraldine Goh, Communications Adviser, Commonwealth Secretariat, at [email protected].

Application forms can also be obtained from the Maldives Journalists Association at [email protected]. Only 30 places are available for the media workshop which will cover multimedia journalism and computer-assisted reporting. Closing date for applications is 1 June 2010.