Delhi and Chandigarh, on the given days were abuzz with activity as media stalwarts such as Rajdeep Sardesai, Pankaj Pachori, Anurag Batra, Neelam ManSingh, Richa Gupta, Arpita Gandhi among others, served as panelists. Present also was Prof. Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury,Dean, Symbiosis International University,Pune.The Delhi chapter of Footprints concentrated on Citizen Media being a power tool for the Audience, while Chandigarh chose to discuss Communication as the Next Big Thing as a professional career.

PRACTITIONERS OF Citizen media opined that it was not a mere tool, but also a reaction to the failure of media in the country.

Asserting that citizen journalism would add a lot of value to the news industry, Rajdeep Sardesai, editor in chief, CNN-IBN, said that this phenomenon would democratize the spread of content.

He opined that journalism was all about telling stories of the ordinary people, of people fighting the system. “Though citizen journalism will not replace the traditional media but it has arrived at the right time to expand the realms of the profession”, he said,adding that no one in this country had a monopoly over content.

While welcoming the arrival of citizen journalism, eminent journalist, Pankaj Pachauri from NDTV, said that this idea was still in its infantile stage in the country.
“We are not getting enough response from the citizens and whatever comes is concentrated from urban pockets”, he said.

He further stated that internet connectivity, mobile users as well as television audience was primarily concentrated in roughly forty cities in the country. “The telecom revolution is still to reach the villages of India and this has kept a major portion of population out of the democratic loop”, he added.

The second panel discussion began on an interesting note with top media honcho, Anurag Batra, CEO and MD of Exchange4Media, making observations, which had the audience in spills.

He was joined by Vipul Kant Upadhyay, founder of merinews.com, India’sfirst and largest citizen news portal.

Batra opined that nowadays media has become very competitive and newspapers and TV channels are latching on to latest buzzwords. Citizen journalism, he said, was not a new idea, “what the newspaper industry is trying to do is to put old wine in a new bottle”.

He however admitted that the time had come for democratization of the content and expansion of its reach in all parts of the country. He opined that the right to information act had changed the way information was controlled in the country, adding, “regionalization
and localization of news content would be an important factor in the future.

Emphasizing the fact that citizen journalism had a deeper meaning, Vipul Kant Upadhyaya, CEO and editor-in-chief, merinews.com, said that it was very important that it was not considered a mere source of information by the mainstream media.

“Citizen journalism has arrived as a reaction to the failure of mainstream media which has not been able to meet the expectations of the common man”, said Upadhyay, adding that if an organization had conviction and belief, it would be successful both as a true media and a sensible business.

It is not about creating a parallel media but it is the reflection of the perception of the people and the society, which drives the citizen journalism, he stated.

Another panelist, Geeta Malhotra, who has vast experience on developmental issues, spoke about her experience of using community radio as tool to empower the people in far-flung and rural areas. She said that people in Nepal, Sri Lanka and India were benefiting from the community radio initiative taken up by One World South Asia.

The panel discussion was followed by an interactive session where a number of important issues concerning citizen journalism were discussed by the panelists and the audience, including students of SIMC, Pune.

Summing up the first panel discussion, Ujjwal K Choudhary, director,SIMC, said that the citizen journalism could be a potent tool for the media industry to expand the reach and depth of journalistic endeavours. He opined that the advent of technology had facilitated the convergence of various media and this will boost the phenomenon of citizen journalism.

In the CII Auditorium in Sector 31A, Chandigarh, the audience and panelists discussed the theme “Communication is the next big thing for the youth in search of professional careers”: Attended by around 240 youth of the city from various colleges. The event,was addressed by Tourism & PR Director of Chandigarh Administration Vivek Atray, My FM station head Richa Gupta, Wizcraft Delhi head Arpita Gandhi, former BBC Broadcaster Col Hatter, former Revenue Commissioner K C Sharma, regional editor of Dainik Bhaskar, Uttam Sengupta, noted theatre personality Neelam Mann Singh, and the Symbiosis International University Dean Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury. Elaborating upon the social role of media in an increasingly consumerist society, K C Sharma urged the young media aspirants and students to work towards creating media as a change agent in the society. Vivek Atray explained the role of good public relations strategy and skills in creating the Destination Chandigarh brand, and elaborated the need and techniques of PR for young professionals. The resurgence of radio was highlighted by Richa Gupta who applauded the medium as “imaginative, non-intrusive, passive, common man’s vehicle of communication, and very hands-on”. The need of quality language and voice skills was detailed by Col Hatter, a former BBC broadcaster. Uttam Sengupta talked about convergence in media happening through the internet and the mobile telephony and noted how it will impact upon the speed of news delivery and the skills of the news-men in near future.

The aspect of convergence in media education was detailed by the Symbiosis Dean, Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury, who noted that the media professionals of the future have to simultaneously work for the audio (radio), the video (television), the interactive (internet) and the static media (print), and hence the skill-sets of the new-generation communication professionals shall be more evolved than what they were earlier. He infused lot of optimism among the youth, whom he noted as the backbone of Indian media of today and tomorrow, since 67 pc of India’s population is below 35 years of age today.

Noting that the events industry is growing at a whopping 18 pc annually and is likely to be close to Rs.2000 crores by 2010 in India, Arpita Gandhi undertook a very interactive session on what skills would the event managers need to have to take advantage of this rapidly expanding section. She showed heart-warming videos of IIFA awards night and Commonwealth 2010 preparations, both of which are Wizcraft event management projects. The art and craft of theatre, the need for theatre in a fast paced urban life, and the beauty of dramatic expressions were eloquently put forth by Neelam Mann Singh. There were references to the art, aesthetics and social impact of theatre like Moulana by Tom Alter in Urdu, Dabi Chingari by Mallika Sarabhai in Hindi, Madonna by Sharon
Prabhakar in English, and Nathabati Anathbat by Shaoli Mitra in Bengali.

In written feedbacks, more than 150 youths of the city noted that the event taught them the basics of communication careers and expected more of such interactive, visually enriching seminars which can expose them to the profession even before they have gone into it full hog.