Young Journalists as a Leading Force to Strengthen Peace and Co-existence in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) successfully concluded the MediaCorps Fellowship Program for Young Peace Journalists. The program was held from September 11-16 at Hotel Ramada, Seeduwa with the participation of 25 young journalists (12 Sinhala, 6 Tamil, 7 Muslim; 18 male, 7 female) from across the country. These young journalists hail from diverse ethno-linguistic backgrounds and represent print, electronic and web media.

The MediaCorps Fellows also took part in four webinars series on themes such as (i) sensitivity to diversity and pluralism (ii) conflict sensitive journalism (iii) gender sensitive journalism and (iv) social media for journalism conducted by a panel of experts in the respective field, prior to the in-person training program.

The in-person training recently held in Seeduwa inaugurated with a brief ceremony presided by Mr. Mohamed Azad, Program Director, SDJF. “From hundreds of applications received, we have selected the cream of young and talented journalists as MediaCorps fellows. We believe that you will be a leading force to strengthen the peace and coexistence of Sri Lanka through your role as journalists and storytellers'', said Mr. Mohamed Azad, addressing the inauguration ceremony. During the ceremony, each Fellow was presented with a MoJo toolkit including a smartphone.

The training focused primarily on practical MoJo training conducted by Mr. Kapila Ramanayaka, and Mohammedu Aswer MoJo trainers and Mr. Ruwan Bogamuwa SDJF staff. In addition to practical MoJo training, the MC Fellows had an opportunity to learn more about journalistic skills which are essential in producing a quality MoJo story with a human interest. Therefore the training also included sessions on interview techniques, asking questions, data journalism, fact checking, verification and visual storytelling that encouraged the Fellows to produce factual and evidence based visual stories.

The fellows also had the opportunity to put into practice the MoJo skills they learnt during the training, in a field visit made to Morawala and Duwa Pitipana in Negombo coastal stretch in search of stories affecting the fisheries community and other environmental issues affecting the Negombo beach. The field allowed the MC Fellows to experience hunt for stories, develop a script as well as practice taking basic shots, interview techniques and to shoot a video sequence. Having returned from the field the MC Fellows edited  and completed  25  MoJo  stories  with  the  support  and  guidance  of  their  field  mentors. The completed MoJos were reviewed by their respective field mentor as well as peers according to a criteria that assessed the stories for their journalistic standards and visual quality frame by frame. Based on the review, the three most outstanding MoJo stories produced by MediaCorps Fellows Arulananthan David, Kosala Gunawardena and Nagulaswaran Puvikaran were given an award of recognition while all Fellows received a Certificate of Appreciation for completing their first MoJo story.

The MediaCorps Fellowship Program is being implemented by the Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum in partnership with the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and the USAID as a part of the Media Empowerment for a Democratic Sri Lanka (MEND) Program. The Fellowship operates for three years and has trained six Fellowship batches so far including 133 young journalists who have produced over 300 appealing MoJo and multimedia stories. SDJF plans to conduct more similar training programs in the future.