Simultaneous Breakout Workshops were conducted on the following topics:
A workshop on podcasting was conducted by Menaka Rao, consulting editor with Suno India. She talked about the kind of podcasts possible; how they can be produced; technology suitable for production and platforms they can be uploaded on. Field reporting can be done using a phone voice recorder too, or even online platforms such as Zoom. She focused on field reporting for podcasting and how stories can be told using sound. Writing for podcasting involves listening to hours of recorded audio, making sense of it and constructing a narrative using key characters. It is not vastly different from long form journalism, but sometimes the choice of characters depends on the audio available since some things sound better on audio, but are not as effective in print and vice versa.
A workshop on visual investigation was conducted by Geetika Rustagi and Shruthi Mohan (Google News Initiative India Training Network). The data verification and visual verification workshop was intended to build capacity in journalists, editors and newsrooms to tackle the growing menace of misinformation and fake news. The workshop introduced tools that help debunk misinformation, verify the source, investigate images and videos for their authenticity, among others. Over 30 journalists and media students attended this workshop.
A workshop on mobile journalism was conducted by independent journalist Hema Rakesh. About 25 NWMI members as well as staff of Aryabhatta University attended the workshop. Hema spoke about social media monetization, social media best practices and social media algorithms. The workshop was hands-on, with everyone actively implementing the learnings on their own mobile devices. Participants were interested in keeping up with the digital age, and many of them requested lectures on digital journalism and social media techniques.
A workshop on pitching to international publications was conducted by independent journalist Rohini Mohan. The workshop was all about honing a story idea, giving it context and newsiness, along with a global hook, for any news, features, politics and environmental subjects. The workshop was specifically aimed at freelance journalists. The attendees included English and non-English reporters from Odisha, Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar.
A workshop on ‘Digital security for women journalists’ was conducted by independent journalist Srishti Jaswal. She shared practical tips on how to protect devices such as mobile phone and laptops from data leaks and hacking. She demonstrated how a participant’s phone number and email ID were breached. She also shared information about relatively new technology for password security such as Bitwarden and KeyPassXC. The workshop also discussed secure browsing via Firefox and provided an introduction to internet anonymity.