Eminent public health expert Dr. Antaryami Dash, Head – Nutrition, Save the Children, Gurgaon in an hour-long interaction with students of KIIT School of Mass Communication stressed on the need for media persons to take up more development related issues and contribute to bringing change in the society.
“Indian journalism evolved from the Indian freedom struggle where every freedom fighter doubled up as a journalist. Therefore, we should not forget that the evolution of Indian journalism, which was instrumental in human liberation”, said Dr. Dash. He emphasized that the subject expertise is the best way to write a good story. One need to have a moral standing while reporting. Thorough knowledge of the subject matter is essentially required in writing influential stories, whether it is on politics, economics or health.
Pointing out to the challenges today, Dr. Dash said that in an increasingly competitive media world with multiple options across various platforms it is important to realize that how a budding journalist will be relevant in his/her chosen medium and how one can overcome this challenge. Dr. Dash, therefore, advised the journalism students to narrow down and built up domain knowledge. He added that journalism is an excellent profession but one needs to read throughout his /her life.
Dr. Dash also discussed a few grass-roots cases of Development Communication such as community video initiative of Digital Green, Gram Vaani (a community radio initiative), etc. He gave a birds-eye view of development work at grass-roots level in different parts of India.
Dr. Antaryami Dash is a trained public health professional with expertise in health administration and public health, specializing in programme management, conducting skill-based training and capacity building, monitoring and evaluating large-scale programmes for national and international organizations, including National Health Mission and UNICEF.
Faculty members of the School of Mass Communication – Course Coordinator Dr. Bidu Bhusan Dash; Assistant Professor Ms. Ruby Nanda and Mr. Souptik Garai, Faculty Associate were also present.