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‘Journalism for peace’ : Special Lecture by Shubhranshu Choudhary, Director and co-founder of CGNet Swara
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Apoorva Jha
6:00
Hello and welcome to our special lecture on ‘Journalism for peace’ by Shubhanshu Choudhary, founder of CGNet Swara, hosted by the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.
Shubhranshu Choudhary was a TV and radio producer for the BBC's South Asia bureau for eight years before he founded CGnet Swara in 2010. This voice-based portal allows people in Chhattisgarh, central India, to report and listen to local stories. In 2014 Choudhary won the Google Digital Activism award and was named as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine. He was named a Young Business Leader by Boston Global Forum in 2015. He is also an ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellowships awardee. 
6:03
Shubhranshu Choudhary begins the session by asking a very pertinent question: Can there be journalism for peace? War? Poor? Rich? In the video below, he talks about himself and his platform - CGNet Swara.
6:04
6:05
Choudhary then raises the point that there is no right or wrong way of doing journalism.
6:07
Moving forward, he points out the various roles of a journalist. Choudhary: "If I am reporting, and I have a bias for peace, then it can be considered peace journalism. It does not mean I will not be reporting on the war. I will report or rather train in a conflict zone."
6:09
He talks about two types of journalism - reactive and creative. For today's session, he will be focusing on creative journalism. "When nothing is happening and we are creating it. It does not mean that we are making it up," he adds.
6:11
Creative journalism is not about being unbiased. "I am biased," Choudhary says. In the video below, he gives an insight into journalism and social work.
6:13
Talking about the ownership of media organizations which leads to journalists focusing on readership or viewership, he says that media is not completely free. It's funded by the rich. When someone funds something, they control it. Whether one likes it or not, the reality is that the media today is media for the rich, or for a particular viewership.
6:14
Highlighting the harsh reality of this country and journalism, he poignantly says that 60%-70% of the population lives in rural India. How many journalists are there in these areas?
6:15
6:17
Citing his own example of visiting settlements of displaced people, not refugees, in Central India, Choudhary says that over 50,000 people were displaced and came to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The worst part is that a lot of people do not know about these huge villages, and the people who reside there.
6:19
Raising another saddening fact, Choudhary says: "But this does not sell. Only war sells. Masculine, macho things sell."
Citing his own experience, he adds that in the last couple of weeks he has spent with these displaced people doing 'peace journalism', there is more to the conflict than it is reported in the mainstream media.
6:21
Moving the discussion towards a positive direction, he talks about solutions. There are things that can help solve these conflicts. We are reporting only in a reactive way. There should be more work for journalism for peace. He stresses the role of journalists by saying that we should write about the forgotten people.
6:23
6:24
Choudhary: "These people have been displaced. They have left their lands. They have run away. They don't have access to their resources. They are not even considered Tribes. Nobody has written this story either."
6:29
Highlighting the laxity on the government's part to recognize the tribal people, he gives an example of the tribal people of Andhra Pradesh, who are not even included in the SC list because of a spelling error in the list. The tribal people have gotten no aid because of a mistake like that. This has been the case for 75 years. He urges the budding journalists to write such stories. Choudhary: "Your story will not stop the war, but will elevate their issues and make them heard."
6:31
6:32
Explaining about his experience of negligence of the tribal people, he says that last year he along with the tribal community people did a cycle march of 300 Km in Raipur but nobody came to meet them, or listen to their issues. They were promised a talk during the election manifesto, but nothing was carried through.
6:33
Pointing out the hypocrisy of both the government and journalists, Choudhary adds that it was instead reported that nobody was displaced from Chattisgarh due to violence.
6:35
Calling up on the audience to take up such issues for reporting, he asks them to get into creative journalism and look at stories which help people and bring peace.
6:36
Responding to a question from the audience how to cover stories from sensitive areas, Choudhary says that "we need to be ethical, which most of the times we are not. Many times we don't think about the impact on people."
6:38
Choudhary: "I was in BBC, where they took us for training, I was sitting beside a guy who was talking to someone beside him. I got a doll from Bosnia for my daughter. I have never covered Bosnia. But from what I know, I can't imagine it having peace. What I am reporting in Kashmir will have an impact on someone in Chennai. I do not have an answer."
6:40
He recalls another experience about him talking to someone about the Gujarat riots (Godhra train accident) and coming up with a list of places he should have covered. Upon further research he found out that the gory stuff were cut out by the channel. "How we strike a balance is the thing," he adds.
6:44
Another member from the audience raises a question: "When we go to villages, what do we do about people who want to speak but can't, considering that they have become one with the conditions and the environment. How do we get them to speak?" Answering to this question, Choudhary emphasises that "if we want somebody to speak, we have to give them a safe space. Speaking in their dialect helps a lot. We live in a village in Bastar. 75 years after independence, the figure of education is 17%."
6:46
Should journalists write more stories about the unheard voices?
Yes (100% | 6 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 6
Choudhary puts forward a very important question. Why is there no Bolkarita? Why is there no journalism for dialects?
6:48
Drawing parallels between Journalism and politics, Choudhary adds that if we want to know their stories then we should do what politicians have done, who decided to try and give everybody a chance to vote. The barrier for participation in politics was lowered so that everybody could be a part of it. Journalism, like politics, is for the greater common good.
6:49
He says that he is resisting himself from making casteist comments but the truth remains that Journalism is aristocratic.
6:52
Choudhary: "Communication makes community. We will have to create these platforms, where a woman is comfortable in telling her story." Juxtaposing journalists with politicians, he adds that like full time politicians, there'll be full time journalists. Journalists need to lower the barriers. if a woman is speaking in Gondi, she should be empowered and made to feel safe.
6:55
Taking the conversation forward, Choudhary states that what we are doing in the name of Journalism is not science. Journalists need to make democratic media. It is possible and doable. He again takes the audience back to the pertinent question that he has already talked about. What is peace journalism? "When you solve people's problems. When I started going deeper and deeper, I understood one and 99 other problems related to it."
6:56
He takes a jibe at journalists by asking what the politicians did 75 years ago. "They democratized politics. We haven't even started. Rich people fund our newspapers. Directly or indirectly we don't report about 50%," he explains.
6:58
6:59
Responding to the question from the audience about how do journalists create a safe space, leaving behind the biases? Choudhary says: "We do these tricks. Making ourselves less threatening is the trick. We should make little efforts."
7:02
Another important question from the audience arises. Given that journalists are often exposed to threats, how should we bring out reports in that case? To this question, Choudhary responds by saying that there's no easy answer to that. He has been threatened by police and Maoists. But he keeps working. He even lost his cameraman but he survived. That's part of the profession. Choudhary: "We go towards death and destruction. We should be careful. Nobody is asking us to commit suicide in order to get news. Security is very important. To be safe is a habit that you need to inculcate."
7:05
Answering the question of the options for budding journalists to make contacts and cover stories from conflict areas, Choudhary asks aspiring journalists to look out for stories which are positive in these gloomy situations. "Go beyond the obvious. Look for what is not obvious", he said.
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