Access to information in South Asia
The participants from seven countries after the training (Photo CIJ-N)
Around thirty journalists from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Norway were gathered in Kathmandu17 and 18 January.
The aim was to learn about access to information as a journalistic tool and to exchange experiences from their own practice. The workshop was the first such regional training.
It was organized by the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) Nepal in collaboration with Article 19 South Asia and Journalism and Media International Center (JMIC) at Oslo and Akershus University College (HiOA).
Nepal’s information commissioner Krishna Hari Baskota was the main speaker at the opening. Namrata Sharma, Chairperson of CIJ, Tahmina Rahman, Director of Article 19 South Asia and Caroline Hargreaves from the Norwegian Embassy in Nepal also held opening remarks.
Journalist in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation Atta Ansari was a lecturer. He used his experience as a documentary journalist in Brennpunkt – a program of investigative journalism. The other lecturers were Shiva Gaunle from CIJ-N and Julfikar Ali Manik, a freelance journalist from Bangladesh.
Yagya Sharma spoke about access to information in Nepal