Dharamshala: The Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) organised a day-long meeting cum trianing to over 40 participants representing the seven departments of CTA, the Parliamentary secretariat, Supreme Justice Commission, Public Service Commission and Audit office. The meeting attendees were CTA’s Media-Coordinators, Spokespersons of respective offices and Personal Assistants of Kalons.
CTA President Dr. Lobsang Sangay also holding the portfolio of DIIR Kalon graced the inaugural session. “There is always room for improvement. Back then it was just Tibet online but now there are other mediums through which we can provide information. We should work hard to improve the digital news platforms like Tibet.net, Bod.asia, Xizang-zhiye.org and Tibet TV ” said President Dr. Sangay.
“There was a time when we used to seek information from other news platforms but now we have become the most credible source for most news on Tibet and CTA.”
President Dr. Sangay also stressed on increasing efficacy at work. “Better infrastructure and technological apparatus alone is not enough we need to incorporate efficiency in our work.”
He urged the CTA Media Coordinators to take utmost care of the details and content of their reports and framing of images while filing news reports. He also emphasized on the difference between a narrative and story: narrative is the representation or a specific manifestation of the story, rather than the story itself and said we should therefore build a strong Tibet narrative that will have a mass buy-in.
International Relations Secretary Sonam Norbu Dagpo while delivering the introductory remarks said, “CTA connects all Tibetans and this is best reflected through CTA’s news mediums.”
Information Secretary Dhardon Sharling while conveying the concluding remarks said “information is a battleground” and that in the age of new digital media and social media, CTA’s media coordinators become important contributors to sustain and strengthen information dissemination efforts of CTA’s news websites (bod.asia, tibet.net, xizang-zhiye.org and Tibet TV).
Shobhan Saxena (Indian journalist at the Wire and Times of India) and Tenzin Peldon (Chief editor for Voice of Tibet) were invited as expert speakers.
Shobhan Saxena’s presentation on “Journalism in the digital area” delved on how the media today can be categorised into Mainstream media, Alternative media and Social media and on the importance of building a community or a network that connects bloggers, reporters, tweeters and writers, bringing them on a common ground. He also said the Tibet Story can be told as hard story, soft story and human interest story.Speaking on the prominence of social media, he said unlike the previous years, these days a tweet becomes a story.
CTA’s Media personnels imparted the training: Namgyal Tsewang (Director, Tibet TV), Ngawang Thogmed (Editor, Bod.asia), Jamphel Shonu (Editor, Tibet.net), Tenzin Dedan (Editor, Xizang-Zhiye), Tenzin Phende (DIIR photographer), Tenzin Saldon (Tibet.net), Kunga Choenyi (Bod.asia), Jamyang Tsering (Xizang-Zhiye) and Kelsang Dolma (Tibet Corps Intern). The discussions included strengthening timely and effective reporting for CTA news websites, increasing reach and frequency for social media feeds and apreliminary discussion on a documentary profile for Tibet TV, the script which would be later adapted into a feature length article for Bod.Asia, Tibet.net and Social Media feeds.
Participants of the daylong media coordinators meeting at DIIR Lhakpa Tsering Memorial Hall, 26 June 2017.
DIIR Information Secretary Dhardon Sharling speaking at the media coordinators’ meeting