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APPAN SAMACHAR – A NEW WAY OF COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
Monday, August 26, 2013
APPAN SAMACHAR – A NEW WAY OF
COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
-
A
Paper by VIDYUT PRAKASH MAURYA
A
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journalist can play big role in social change.
It is not necessary to start your work in a big canvas; you may start with some
of small efforts. We can set an example of community journalism. What is
community journalism? Community journalism
is locally oriented, professional news coverage that typically focuses on city
neighborhoods, individual suburbs or small towns, rather than metropolitan,
state, national or world news.
Community
journalism concentrates on the effect they have on local readers. Community
newspapers, often but not always publish weekly, and also tend to cover
subjects larger news media do not. Some examples of topics are students on the
honor roll at the local high school, school sports, crimes such as vandalism,
zoning issues and other details of community life. Sometimes dismissed as
"chicken dinner" stories, such "hyper local" coverage often
plays a vital role in building and maintaining neighborhoods.
A NEW
APPROACH
But here we
are going to talk about community journalism work going well from last six
years in a small village of Bihar. APPAN SMCHAR means my own news. Leo Lerner, founder of Chicago's erstwhile
Lerner Newspapers, used to say, "A fistfight on Clark Street is more
important to our readers than a war in Europe." This idea clicked to a young
journalist of Bihar Mr. Santosh Sarang. Now days Bihar is showing a
picture of synonym for development. The proof of the pudding is an all-women
news channel which has become favorites in rural areas of the state.
WHY
APPAN SAMACHAR
Founder of Appan
Samachar Santosh says, Their primary objective was to create study circles to
dispel information to the public on the different perspectives on education in
rural area of developing state Bihar.
OBJECTIVE : To prepare one for a job, To teach lifelong learning, To develop good
citizens. To teach the basics.
Santosh
says, Our News, offers a unique media platform for raising awareness over the
issues affecting these women and society more broadly. A team of two dozen
girls is currently involved in running this venture, for which they’ve had some
training in handling small digital cameras, writing scripts and reporting. They
edit their stories in a nearby town with the help of some keen volunteers, who
have been involved with the project since its inception in 2007.
UNIQUE
INITIATIVE
Women from
other backward communities and marginalised in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar.
The unique initiative took shape in December 2007 at Ramleela Gachhi
near Deoria police station in Muzaffarpur. As the Arab world is witnessing some
long overdue political change, a tiny village in the eastern Indian state of
Bihar is experiencing a smaller, much quieter revolution. This uprising isn’t
destroying a regime, but is still tearing apart an archaic system.
Presently,
it has expanded its reach to about hundred villages of six blocks; namely,
Paroo, Sahebganj, Saraiya, Marwan, Kanti and Mushahari. The credit of this
unique concept goes to social activist and journalist Santosh Kumar Sarang.
TALE OF
FOUR GIRLS
Chandkewari a small village in district Muzaffarpur, The media all around
the world is going gaga over these girls; everyone wants to know a little bit
more about them. This is a tale of four girls who wanted to unmask the corrupt
and malicious faces of the society. The best way of doing it turned out to be coming
up with their very own news channel. Hence was born of Appan Samachar, a rural
news channel run by all women.
It was
started by four girls but later inspired many to hop on and help bring change
in the nearby villages. Young camera woman Ruby Kumari and script-writer Ruma
Devi says, We sit down daily to look around for issues that affect directly the
villagers. Then we work on them from every angle and then put them on air.
In this
world of commercialized media which has forgotten the rural background of the
country and their problems, Appan Samachar focuses on issues concerning
development, farmers,
environment, social evils, women empowerment, public health and hygiene and
many such welfare related matters.
People of Chandkebari says, Doordarshan never shows any news of our village. Where we can see our
own news? Here appan samachar giving us a opportunity to see our very own news,
our voice, our problems. It is a nice approach of news.
HOW IT
WORKS
This news
network runs on minimum resources. Leading this movement are young women, most
aged between 14 and 21, who have taken it upon themselves to challenge existing
social norms that restrict them from moving freely and making their own choices
in lives. The weapons of this revolution are cameras and microphones.
The news
bulletins are screened for free in the villages where there is no electricity
or cable through a projector in markets or places where maximum crowd can
gather for maximum impact. They use to sow their bulletin in weekly markets called
Pethia or Hat. Without any formal training, the team gets village media
workshops which are conducted by Mission Eye International Service in order to enhance
their skills.
SELF BRAND JOURNALIST
The girls
typically head off on bikes with cameras and microphones in their front baskets
to start reporting for the day. A small office is located in the centre of the
village where weekly bazaars take place. After the stories are edited, the
programme is shown during the weekly bazaar or market on a projector. The
villagers seem to immediately connect with the stories, which have frequently
prompted pressure on the local administration to make changes.
OPPORTUNITY OF CHANGE
These small
successes have given the girls a real confidence boost and galvanized the
village. The girls aren’t paid, but they seem to see the freedom and
opportunity of change as reward enough.
Young girls
Carrying a low range Sony handycam, a tripod and two microphones with the channel logo, they bump
along on the dusty narrow village tracks to talk to people and shoot their
stories on their cycles.
“We look around for issues that affect the villagers, shoot them
and then put them on air,” says the channel’s news anchor Khushboo.
“It’s a
great move in the direction of women empowerment. The parents of these girls
want their daughters to move ahead in life and venture into such initiatives,”
Santosh Sarang says.
MAKING CHANGE
Managing with bare minimum
resources, the channel Appan Smachar has far-reaching impact in rural area of Bihar.
The issues raised by these firebrand reporters concern everyone, making this
news channel No. 1 in the race for eyeballs.
A Dalit girl of village
(the lowest caste in India), has resumed her studies and is now a full-time
worker with the news organization. Appan Samachar was launched in 2007 as an
experiment for bringing up village issues, but many parents were initially
reluctant to allow their daughters to get involved. Over time, though,
attitudes have shifted, and joining the Appan Samachar team is now seen as a
prestigious move.
Still, running such a
venture in a village without electricity isn’t easy. A lack of financial
resources complicates their work, and screenings have sometimes had to be postponed
when the group hasn’t had enough money to pay for local power generators.
Usually, though, villagers manage to scrape together the funds necessary to get
things back on track.
Whatever the reason behind the success
of Appan Samachar, there’s no doubt it has become to the citizens of
Chandkebari a medium of change through alternative journalism. The project
demonstrates the power of the media to intervene effectively in bringing about
far-reaching changes in societies across the world.
INSPIRATION
FOR OTHERS
The group of
these girls of Appan Samachar team prove to be an inspiration for many around
the country. For not just for the rural
classes but the urban world is puzzled with the strength and courage they
possess. The self-brand journalist team belongs to various Scheduled Caste and
Tribes, and communities including the Mushahar community ( The Mushahars are
people who live by trapping and consuming rats).
The
popularity of this unique assemble has prompted many to be part of it including
Dr. Carolyn Heising who is the patron and advisor of Appan Samachar. Heising is
a Professor at Iowa State University in United States and she was also
appointed at the Chair of the national Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Women
in Academia (WIA) committee in 2006. Dr. Heising, who takes special interest in
gender related studies. He says, initiative taken by Mr. Sarang is applaudable
and determination to carve the lives of
these girls on camera would hopefully wake many more to do the same and be the
change they want to see.
AWARDS
For this
innovative effort, Appan Samachar received the prestigious “Citizen Journalist
Award a national award from CNN-IBN (Network-18 Group). This award was
presented by the Chief Minister of Delhi Smt. Sheila Dixit. Some of national
media and global media also praised works of Appan Smachar team. German radio
aired a half an hour special programme on Appan Smachar. BBC also acclaimed the
work going on rural Bihar. So many activists from other side of India came to
see how news bulletin is going on air every week.
Due to the
ripples created by this effort, many people and organisations are coming
forward in an attempt to help these women learn more and realise their
potential.
DOCUMENTRY
ON APPAN SAMACHAR
One such effort is by a youth activist and
director Dipesh Chandra who is making a character-driven documentary on the
lives of these girls. Chandra in the past has worked on various documentary
projects including Prisms of Light and many others. On being asked about this
project, he said: After meeting these girls I realised their potential and now
it is on us how we help them realise the same. It will also project the lives
these girls have been living. Hopefully this will be helpful to raise awareness
among people.
The courage
and conviction of a few people takes the whole world forward. In this case, the
girls have taken a giant step of letting the world know how just the union and
power of a few adjoined forces can put the whole world bewildered and amused
but at the same time inspired. Hopefully this will provoke many more people
about raising one own hand in the crowd and lead towards self empowerment.
SIX YEAR
OF SUCSESS
Appan
Smachar celebrated it’s 6th aniversery of successful run of news
bulletin in 2012. Santosh remembers the journey, Now we are getting recognition of our works but It was not so
easy to start. We felt so many hurdles, problems, even got threats form a part
of society, but our work is going on. But it is still a start. We have to go on
a long journey.
LAST
WORDS
And last I
want to conclude with lines of poet Merle Shain-
It is
better to light candles
than to
curse the darkness.
It is
better to plant seeds
than to
accuse the earth.
The world
needs all of our power
and love
and energy,
and each
of us has something that we can give.
The trick
is to find it and use it,
to find
it and give it away.
We can be
lights for each other,
and
through each other's illumination
we will
see the way.
Each of
us is a seed,
a silent
promise,
and it is
always spring.
Contact –
Flat UG 4 Plot B 69 DLF DILSHAD EX.
GAZIABAD- 201005 (UP)
About
Writer
Vidyut
Prakash Maurya, A journalist and Media teacher.
DOB – 17 Dec
1973
BA (hons)
BHU, MA (Hist) BHU, PG DIPLOMA in Journalism from IIMC, Delhi, Master in Mass
communication from GJU, Hisar, UGC NET in Mass communication.
16 years in
Print , TV Media, Teaching and Research. Presently working as Chief Sub Editor
in HT Media Group, New Delhi.
visit this site :
http://vidyutprakash.blogspot.in/
सोमवार, 2 सितंबर 2013
केंद्रीय विश्वविद्यालय पटना में संतोष सारंग का व्याख्यान
दूसरा सत्र अप्पन समाचार और वैकल्पिक मीडिया पर केन्द्रित रहा. सेंट्रल यूनिवर्सिटी के मास कम्युनिकेशन डिपार्टमेंट के एचऒडी डॉ किंशुक पाठक ने विषय प्रवेश कराया। इस सत्र को अप्पन समाचार के संस्थापक संतोष सारंग ने संबोधित किया। अप्पन समाचार की खुशबू एवं पिंकी ने अपने कार्य अनुभव शेयर किया। विश्वविद्यालय की छात्रा ने मुजफ्फरपुर यात्रा एवं अप्पन समाचार पर किये गए रिसर्च की रिपोर्ट पेश किया। छात्र ने अप्पन समाचार एवं मुजफ्फरपुर विजिट को यादगार बनाने के लिए बनाये गए वृतचित्र की स्क्रीनिंग की.
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