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Workshop Series on Media and Journalism BRAC University

A certificate giving ceremony took place at the Department of English and Humanities of BRAC University on July 22, 2012, for the workshop series it hosted on Media and Journalism for the budding journalists of the country, between June and July, 2012. Uche Oyebadi, Assistant Professor at the School of Journalism in the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA, who had come to BRACU under the Fulbright Fellowship Programme, conducted the workshop series. 30 participants from different institutions including The Daily Star, The New Age, Bangla Vision, BBC Bangla, Dhaka University, East West University, Eastern University and BRAC University took part in the workshops. In the closing ceremony, Professor Ainun Nishat, Vice-Chancellor, BRAC University, gave away certificates to all the participants, while Professor Firdous Azim, Chairperson, ENH, BRACU thanked Dr Onyebadi for his contribution and all the participants and their institutions for their active participation.

Photo Courtesy: Brac U

The first workshop, titled, 'Investigative Reporting and Media Ethics,' exposed participants to the codes of ethics every journalist is expected to follow through examples of ethical dilemmas journalists had to face during their investigation of famous cases. It also introduced them to the complexities of investigative reporting, especially the cases involving political parties or the powerful class of a country.

The second workshop, titled, 'Specialised Reporting,' focused on reporting for a specific field, like Sports or Health Journalism. This workshop focused on skills that reporters need to develop to specialise on a certain genre of news. How the ethical and perceptual concerns come into play in this kind of journalism was also discussed in this session.

The participants got involved in different group activities during the course of these workshops and engaged in thoughtful discussions with Dr Onyebadi, who gave them a broader outlook at many global issues of concern today. The Professor from USA, who is originally from Nigeria and had also worked in Kenya, thus gave the participants a holistic understanding of the thrills and responsibilities attached to working in the media.