By Jisha Surya
Ahead of the 2024 national meet in Mumbai, the Kerala chapter of Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) organised a day-long gathering in Kochi on January 7 at She Lodge, an initiative of Kochi Corporation.
Sindhu Nepolean, O Radhika, Neethu Chandran, O Najiya, Dhanya Rajendran, Nileena Atholi, Anjana George, Anupama Venkitesh, Geetha Sudhakar, Jeeva Jayadas, Leela KV, Gita Bakshi, KK Shahina, Rekha Bitta, Saraswathi Nagarajan, Jisha Surya and Sehar Quasi participated in this meeting.
At the outset, the 17 participants introduced themselves. This was followed by a brief introduction to NWMI by KK Shahina. Some members shared their experiences of how the network had opened a new world to them and made them aware of the challenges faced by fellow journalists. Some participants praised the network’s egalitarian nature. NWMI had been a huge support in their careers said some participants while others said that members of the network are the first ones they approach even when they encounter crises in their personal lives.
Sehar Quasi, an NWMI member based in Kashmir happened to be in Kochi on vacation and joined the meeting. She spoke at length about the state of journalism and journalists in Kashmir. This was followed by a Q&A session. Though Quasi’s session was not initially part of the event, it was gripping and fruitful. She was felicitated at the event for her courage and will to continue journalism amidst the adversities she faces.
The meeting also felicitated the members who made the network proud by winning national and international awards last year. Shahina, who won the prestigious International Press Freedom Award 2023, Dhanya Rajendran, a recipient of Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Journalist and RedInk Journalist of the year and Nileena Atholi, who got the esteemed Press Council Award and media award instituted by Kerala Legislative Assembly, were all honoured at the event.
The post-lunch session focussed on NWMI Kerala’s project on gender-sensitive reporting in Malayalam media. Anupama Venkiteswaran presented the details of the previous meetings and future course of action.
Plan of action detailed below:
1. NWMI Kerala will work on a style book that will be distributed to media organizations and govt departments. The idea is to bring in gender sensitization, by pointing out the right vocabulary and approaches to be used while reporting.
2. NWMI Kerala will push for Internal Complaints
3. To organize an exhibition – online or offline –where NWMI Kerala will highlight gender insensitive reports that gets published in mainstream and also present ideal alternatives.
During the last session of the day members also brainstormed about the future course of action. The members suggested a gender-sensitisation campaign for media students. A discussion / seminar with editors of mainstream media as panel members was suggested. Online / offline training programmes for journalists – on topics such as multimedia, data journalism and podcasts– were also suggested. NWMI member Dhanya Rajendran volunteered to conduct a session on ‘good practices of freelancing’.
The meeting ended with the selection of Saraswathi Nagarajan, Anupama Venkitesh, Nileena Atholi, Sindhu Nepolean and Jisha Surya as coordinators for the Kerala chapter.
