Nepal by 6 young photographers 

By Sagar Chhetri

The final showcase of 6 photo stories by 6 Nepali photographers at the international storytelling workshop this year took place in The Yellow House in Sanepa outside Kathmandu 22 April 2022.  

The event was hosted to showcase that the talented 6  Nepali photographers had given their heart and soul to bring out important stories from Nepal, the organizer photo.circle reported.  

This years participants – 6 visual storytellers from Nepal.

The participants were Priyanka Tulachan, Samagra Shah, Tulsi Rauniyar, Bijayabar Pradhan, Sonam Choekyi Lama and Rojan Shrestha.  

It was a special night, after a long time we hosted a public showcase and the audience turnout made it a successful event, according to the organizer: We were even lucky to have Shahidul Alam and Tanvi Misra in the audienceTheir presence was encouraging and made the evening a memorable one

Shahidul Alam, Person of the Year by Time Magazine in 2018.

Alam is the founder of Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and a Person of the Year by Time Magazine in 2018. Misra works with images as a photo editor, curator and writer based in New Delhi in India. 

The audience made the evening a memorable one.

Photo.circle is a platform for photographers and the art community in Kathmandu, Nepal. The first direct cooperation with OsloMet and Pathshala was in 2010 and 2012. Since 2018, young photographer/photojournalists from Nepal have participated in the workshops in China and last year in Nepal. Photo.circle is the key organizer of the Photo Kathmandu festival in Nepal.

https://www.photocircle.com.np/

https://www.instagram.com/photocircle_np/

All photos by photo.circle.

Afghanistan – no country for journalism?

On Tuesday 14 June JMIC (Journalism & Media International Center) at OsloMet presented a report on the development of Afghan journalism after the Taliban takeover in mid-August 2021. 

H.E. Youssof Ghafoorzai, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Norway (Photo:  Pål Arne Kvalnes, OsloMet).

The study is based on analysis of media content from six Afghan outlets, as well as interviews with prominent media leaders, and journalists still working inside Afghanistan. It is to our knowledge the most comprehensive report on this issue so far.  

The event was addressed by: 

H.E. Youssof Ghafoorzai, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Norway, Oddgeir Osland, Dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences, OsloMet, and Knut Olav Åmås, Director, Free Expression Foundation.  

The report was presented by: 

Elisabeth Eide (Professor Emerita, project leader), Hasina Shirzad (MA student, OsloMet), and Zahir Athari (researcher, UiO). 

Other team members are postdoc fellow at OsloMet Mahmud Farjami as well as Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, Director of Nai-SOMA, a media watchdog in Afghanistan, who could not be present at the occasion.  

The presentation was followed by comments from Mr. Sharif Hassanyar, previous Director of Ariana TV network in Afghanistan Kristian Berg Harpviken, Research Professor, Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)  

Responses from the authors and questions from the audience. 

The event was streamed for those who could not attend physically.

More information about the event on the OsloMet homepage:
https://www.oslomet.no/en/about/events/afghanistan-journalists

The link to the recording:
https://film.oslomet.no/afghanistan-et-land-der-1

Read more:  

Afghan media landscape drastically changed, finds study – Pajhwok Afghan News  

(In Norwegian):  

Aftenposten:

https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/i/Wjp7zL/overlever-journalistikken-i-afghanistan

Journalisten:

https://journalisten.no/afghanistan-elisabeth-eide-kortnytt/rapport-omfattende-mediedod-i-aghanistan-etter-maktskiftet/523310

Uniforum:

https://www.uniforum.uio.no/nyheter/2022/06/journalistikken-i-afghanistan-er-truga.html

UiO:

KRONIKK: Akademia i Afghanistan i eksistensiell krise – Uniforum (uio.no) 

The launch: https://film.oslomet.no/afghanistan-et-land-der-1 

The printed report is available by clicking here.

All photos by Pål Arne Kvalnes, OsloMet.

Workshop on Climate Journalism Education 

By Syed M. Saqib Saleem   

The Faculty of Humanities, Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), in collaboration with JMIC, hosted a one-day workshop on Climate Journalism Education 1st June 2022.  

The workshop was attended by academicians, postgraduate students and journalists joining in from all over Pakistan and abroad.  

Group photo of the climate journalism education workshop (Photo: Media Center, FCCU).

It discussed ways of teaching climate journalism and helped provide ideas for training journalism students through the collective effort of academicians and journalists who have worked in the field and are aware of the climate crisis.  

Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan, Dean of Humanities at FCCU, inaugurated the workshop and gave a keynote speech in which he stated, “If we, as academicians, have a good understanding of climate crisis, only then we will be able to train our students in the best possible way on its journalistic perspective as well. Since climate change is both our present and our future.” 

Dr Altaf Ullah Khan delivers his keynote speech at the workshop inauguration ceremony (Photo: Media Center, FCCU).

The workshop was moderated by Rachel Hasan, Chairperson Department of Mass Communication. Dr Elisabeth Eide, Co-Director Media Climate Network and Professor of Journalism from OsloMet, gave a brief introduction of the workshop and gave the floor to Dr Derk Bakker, Associate Professor and Chairperson of Department of Environmental Sciences, FCCU. He highlighted the impacts and solutions for climate change.  

Dr Derk Bakker pinpoints impacts and solutions of climate change (Photo: Media Center, FCCU).

Dr Elisabeth Eide later built up on his speech and shared why climate change is a concern for journalists and journalism students. She shared the models for education on climate journalism and stated: “It is crucial to combine studies with field visits for students as well and help them learn from local experts and indigenous people.” 

Moreover, Hannah Bernstein, science journalist and project manager at Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, along with Syed Abubakar, Environment journalist and media trainer, and Syed M. Saqib, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication, FCCU, further discussed ways to train students to cover climate stories and what can be included in the courses to enhance future journalists’ capacity to report on climate. They were of the view that it is high time, climate journalism was integrated into the curriculum for journalism students in Pakistan. 

Finally, Muhammad Daud Khan and Stella Paul, the two famous climate journalists working in the field and setting a precedent for others to follow, joined the workshop and shared that: “As journalists, we are storytellers and are also the mediators between people at the frontline of climate crisis and masses. So, we have to be the ones to tell the missing stories to the world.” 

The workshop was concluded with some final remarks by Dr Elisabeth Eide and Oona Solberg. Dr Douglas Trimble, Vice-Rector, FCCU, was also present at the occasion and gave his concluding speech. After that, certificates were distributed among the participants.  

Overall, the training was informative and valuable for participants and encouraged them to become change makers within their institutions and support the efforts to introduce climate journalism education courses for journalism students in Pakistan.  

Exhibition opening and book launch 

By Jon Petter Evensen 

This years International Storytelling Program with 20 photojournalist students from Nepal, Bangladesh and Norway has come to an end with the opening of the outdoor exhibition at and book launch at OsloMet campus Wednesday 25 May. 

From the exhibition at OsloMet. (Photo: Jon Petter Evensen)

This year the program was further developed with national book editing and design workshops in Nepal and Bangladesh. All three editions of the book titled “A State of Flux”” was for sale together with postcards from the projects.  

The students Hanna Johre and Live Austgard gave speeches and introduced the cooperation and the projects. 

Student Hanna Johre introducing the projects to the audience. (Photo: Jon Petter Evensen)

Check the stories here: https://www.flux2022.com 

The book is also for sale on the webpage.  

Video from the opening:  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd-wbTQqomC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link