by Sunita D'Souza
MUMBAI, JULY 20, 2018: The Bosco Information Service (BIS) media workshop entitled 'Fake News and Journalism for Peace' for 80 BIS correspondents of the Salesian Province of Mumbai was held at Don Bosco Provincial House, Matunga on July 18 and 19.
This two- day workshop was organised by Tej-Prasarini, the media wing of the province. On July 18, Father Joaquim Fernandes, Director of BIS warmly welcomed all the participants who were set to learn different skills and pen down their thoughts to become skilled reporters!
The workshop began with a prayer, which was followed by a session based on print media conducted by Ashley D'Mello, former assistant editor of the Times of India. He guided the correspondents about the ABC's of journalism, which is Always Be Careful, when reading articles. He distributed printouts of articles from leading newspapers like Mumbai Mirror (Times Of India supplement).
The correspondents read all the articles carefully to find what was missing in the reports and later to fill in the correct facts. In order to get a first-hand experience of interviewing, he instructed the correspondents to form pairs and interview each other for 15 minutes. The interviewer and interviewee recorded their interviews which were based on the topics they chose.
Father Christopher George highlighted the points to find out fake news, which every reporter must know and understand, like ideological factors, financial gains or nuisance messages. He used the term 'Mobocrisy' when people react to the news without thinking or finding out the correct facts.
Brian Martins, a professional photographer led the session on digital photography. He gave the correspondents the finer details that must be kept in mind while creating the 'big' picture'; they are lighting (natural, tubelight, camera flash), composition (wide, mid and close-up pictures) and resolution (size of the picture), making the picture come alive!
In the fourth session, Karen Laurie, editor of BIS, province of Mumbai, conducted the session on Skype from Canada which dealt with the key ingredients in preparing a good report. The correspondents learnt how to keep the headlines short and catchy. They were taught to use the 5 W's: Who, What, Where, When, Why in their reports, and how to cover events and write effective articles. 
Day two of the workshop on July 19, began with Father Fernandes leading everyone in prayer. The session on radio journalism was led by Bosco Rodrigues, a radio jockey with 30 years' experience at All India Radio. He kept the correspondents tuned in with the perfect blend of learning and fun!
As radio reporters we need to be aware to get all the facts right. "Know your voice, pitch, tempo and quality," he said. He then displayed a demo interview based on Anti-Tobacco Day with one of the correspondents, Ratnadeep Chawla, counsellor at Prafulta who is currently dealing with tobacco de-addiction.
Philip Varghese, city editor of the Afternoon paper, took the correspondents through his reporting journey in his session, Life as a News Reporter! "The real life of a journalist is when you are on the spot. Journalism is about meeting people. Every person has a story," Varghese, said.
Father Fernandes advised the correspondents, "Do your research, before taking any interview, you need to know more about the person interviewed, their job profile and work experience." Martins took correspondents through the finer aspects of video recording, photo shooting and editing on day two as well. The participants learnt to make every picture tell a story.
Father C M Paul, head of department Mass Communication, Sonada College, West Bengal, founding member of BOSCOM India and Director of Radio Salesian 90.8 FM concluded the workshop with reflections on journalism. Priya, final year BMM student, summed up the impact of the seminar, saying, "The workshop was knowledgeable. I never expected Don Bosco sessions in different areas of mass media like print, regional media, photo, broadcasting, radio and video reporting in journalism."
