THE RIG ON PRESS FREEDOM IN UGANDA 

By: Gerald Walulya

The Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University in Uganda has hosted a one week session of the Rig Press Freedom project. 

Some of the participants in The Rig on press freedom posing for pictures with some of their lecturers at the former faculty of arts building at Makerere University. (Photo: Sharon Muzaki)

The reporting on press freedom focused on five countries namely; Rwanda, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Germany and Burundi. 

Thirty three final year journalism students participated in the project. They were divided into five groups, with each group focusing on one country. The five groups of students were supported by five local teachers and one support teacher, Dr. Florence Namasinga Selnes from Oslo Metropolitan University.  

Students of journalism at Makerere University attending a lecture about press freedom. The lecture, given by Florence Namasinga Selnes focused on the state of freedom of the press in the world in general and in Uganda in particular. (Photo: Sharon Muzaki)

The main task of the participating students was to write news stories on the media freedom environment in the assigned countries. The project started on Friday 22, April with a lecture to students and staff of Makerere University on Press Freedom that was given by Dr. Namasinga Selnes. 

According to the participants, the project has been very beneficial and full of experiences, making it a better orientation into the journalism practice. 

Some of our students discussing Rig stories. (Photo: Gerald Walulya)

“I have learnt how to report international stories. I have received exposure of how to relate with international sources, “Rehema Namagembe, one of the participants said. “My participation in the Rig has helped me to build confidence in interviewing people on phone and making thorough research on stories outside Uganda,” Daphine Nakabiri, said. Another participant, Gloria Irankunda said: “I got to know that media houses in most African countries operate under hardships in form of threats and physical assault.”  

The Head of Department of Journalism and Communication, Dr. Aisha Nakiwala spoke of the students experience with the Rig as enriching in terms of helping students to appreciate the press freedom environment in other countries.  

The project was sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Journalism & Media international Centre (JMIC) of Oslo Metropolitan University. This is the second time the Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University has hosted this project. The first Rig project was conducted in 2018. 

Online editing workshop 2022

By: Ellen Lande Gossner

After a month in the field in Nepal, Bangladesh and different European countries working on individual projects, the students returned for a five day online editing workshop led by Munem Wasif. 

Munem Wasif from his intro lecture on editing principles. 

The editing process was a part of the International Storytelling project 2022 for the 6 students from photo.circle in Kathmandu, 6 students from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka and 9 students from OsloMet. 

The week consisted of lectures on the editing process and different editing exercises. The participants edited and gave feedback to each other in groups. 

Berlin-based Barbara Stauss, a photo director and founding member of Mare magazine, gave a lecture on editing work in editorial spaces.  

Katrin Koenning showing images from her own exhibitions.

Katrin Koenning gave an engaging and personal artist talk where she shared and explained the various processes of editing in books and exhibitions.   

The main questions for the students’ individual editing were: 

·   What is the story all about? 

·   Does the edit reflect the idea behind the story? 

·   Does the edit have enough visual variety or is it repetitive? 

·   Do you develop any logic for editing it? 

The five day workshop ended Friday April 1 with a an online presentation session, where each of the students had to critique another student’s work.  

Program for GRJH seminar 24 September 12 noon Oslo, Norway Time: 12.00

Producing podcast and journalism during a Global Pandemic 

Streamed YouTube: Link for audience is: https://youtu.be/EQH1_o5HuDc

  1. 12:00 Intro by students and podcasters Thomas, Åsta, Stine
  2. 12:05 Video greeting from Rector at OsloMet
  3. 12:10 Jordan Gass-Pooré from CNN and WADUP: 

WADUP a Mentorship Program  and  a Solution for a Global Journalist Model during Crises?

Jordan Gass-Pooré
Jordan Gass-Poore’ is a CNN soundproducer. She is an expert on podcast production and investigative journalist with more than a decade of experience in the industry in the US and UK. Jordan is the co-founder of the women-led local news podcast, Local Switchboard NYC. She is also a story coach with WADUP, an international storytelling collective run by young people and creative producers. An alumna of City, University of London’s investigative journalism program, Jordan co-founded the campus radio station, Carrot Radio.

4. 13:00 Craig Templeton from The Guardian Masterclass

Craig Templeton
Craig is an audio journalist, documentary maker, radio producer and the co-founder of Tempo & Talker.  For nearly 20 years he has  made audCio content for BBC Radio – and managed audio projects for The Guardian, The Economist and the Royal Society of Arts.  He has also produced podcast series for some of the biggest bands to come out of the UK, including Pink Floyd, Oasis, and Joy Division/New Order.  His documentary work for the BBC covers a broad range of subjects. Amongst others a programme made during the first UK lockdown on the consequences of our response to Covid-19. Craig once spent an afternoon in Woody Allen’s private screening room in Manhattan. He seemed very tired.

5. 14:00 Jo Healey from BBC

Interviewing During Trauma – The Need for Sensitivity During Crises

Jo Healey
Jo Healey has covered people’s highly sensitive stories for more than thirty years. She was a reporter for newspapers and radio before moving to BBC TV, becoming a senior news journalist. There she devised and introduced Trauma Reporting training for journalists. She is the author of Trauma Reporting, A Journalist’s Guide to Covering Sensitive Stories. The founder of Trauma Work, Jo now trains journalists and media teams all over the world in how best to work with victims, survivors and vulnerable interviewees. (website: www.traumareporting.com)

6. 15:00 Aryana Noroozi Pulitzer Prize Fellow

Covid-19 up-close – visual storytelling during times of crisis

Aryana Noroozi
Aryana Noroozi is a visual storyteller, photojournalist, and digital artist who earned her master’s degree at The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has been featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Aryana worked as a Migration and Refugee Fellow at The GroundTruth Project where she discovered her passion for solutions- journalism. Aryana utilized this reporting along with documentary photography to cover education within and the representation of San Diego’s refugee communities during COVID-19. Most recently, her photography and writing focus on overcoming the odds of addiction in the American Midwest.

7. 15:45 Conclusion  – a Global Goodbye by OsloMet students: Thomas, Åsta & Stine

A Global Pandemic and a Global Podcast

zoom screenshot

In the middle of the pandemic three students started working together with Dr. PhD Maria Konow Lund, Associate Professor at Department of Journalism and Media Studies at OsloMet, on a podcast that explores the risks within journalism. The global Covid-19 pandemic was the spark that set the wheels in motion

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Exhibition + book launch!

Photos: Jon Petter Evensen
Teacher Ellen Lande Gossner giving a celebration speech to her students.

The International Storytelling Program with photojournalist students from Nepal, Bangladesh and Norway has come to an end with the opening of the exhibition and book launch at OsloMet campus, Friday June 4.

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Students work screened at international festival

(PHOTO): Tipping Point – the students work from last year – was presented during Chobi Mela in Bangladesh. (Photographer Docile Francis Rebeiro, Pathshala) 

Tipping Point was shown yesterday at the international photo festival Chobi Mela in Bangladesh, called the most significant photographic event in Asia. 

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Warming up in Nepal, Bangladesh and Norway

This year’s participants, teachers, mentors and alumni students gathered for an introduction day online, January 17.

Photojournalism students from Bangladesh, Nepal and Norway attended a digital “Sunday Session” this week to mark the start of this years’ collaborative Storytelling program between the three countries.

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