Special Lecture
by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
February 20, 2013

 

The well-known poet and critic, Prof. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, presented a lecture on ‘2000 years of Indian Poetry’. Starting from Sanskrit erotic poetry of the second century, professor Mehrotra went on to discuss the radical poetry of the Bhakti saint, Kabir, and ended with a discussion of Arun Kolatkar’s set of poems titled ‘Jejuri’.

 

 

 

The Hindu Lit for Life 2013
February 16-17, 2013

A Live Blog of the Hindu Lit For Life 2013 was one of the highlights of the last academic year. It was a unique opportunity for New Media students of the ACJ to showcase their digital journalism skills. The coverage of the event featured an array of text, multimedia and social media elements, providing The Hindu readers with a blow-by-blow account of the sessions in real-time. It was a pioneering effort by the students that involved meticulous planning, arranging pre-event footage and text, organising Google Hangouts and video interviews with authors and panelists .At the end of the Live Blog of 18 sessions spread over two days, the students had produced 350 pages of content.

 

International Uranium Film Festival 2013
February 5-6, 2013

The travelling International Uranium Film Festival 2013, was held in ACJ.Organised by the Chennai Solidarity Group for Koodankulam Struggle and Poovulagin Nanbargal, the festival featured 20 Indian and foreign films, beginning with Not for Public Release, a film on the casual manner with which the US Department of Defence handled radioactive wastes. The short films, documentaries and animation films told stories about nuclear mining, research and development, nuclear power, disasters and wastes with an intention to spur a debate on issues arising from the nuclear life-cycle. The festival included discussion sessions, led by political cartoonist Hasif Khan, Neeya Naana Anthony, Gnani and V. Geetha.

 

Seminar on Sexual Violence
January 25, 2013

Students of the ACJ took to the dais at a seminar on Sexual Violence and Society on the college campus on January 25. Amritapa Basu (New Media) pinned the blame on the “patriarchal” society during the first session, moderated by Aslesha Kadian (Print), while Dhrubo Jyoti Purkait (Print) spoke about the vulnerability of an individual trapped in parallel identities. Writer and activist V. Geetha summed up the session, articulating about the differences between the ‘real’ and ‘false’ gender problems. In thesecond session, Radhika Santhanam (Print) discussed the parallel legal systems like Khap panchayats and their“punishing” patriarchal laws, while her stream mate, D. K.Rituraj, focused on the gaping loopholes in our judicial system. Guest speaker, D Nagasaila, rued the remedial, rather than preventive nature ofaction. The seminar concluded with a discussion on thenuances of media coverage by students across streams, Nimisha Pachory (Television), Vishwadha Chander (Print) Manoj Venkatraman (New Media) and Richa Mishra (Radio). Dr. V. Suresh, national general secretary of the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), concluded that the media had failed to consider the larger context of the issue as it engaged itself in manufacturing consent for the political establishment.

 

T. G. Narayanan Memorial Lecture on Social Deprivation
January 18, 2013

Jan Breman, Professor Emeritus, University of Amsterdam delivered the T.G. Narayanan Memorial Lecture 2013. Speaking on ‘Caring for Destitution or Not’, Prof. Breman said that the schemes and programmes in the Social Security Act, 2008, were not implemented properly because of poor governance, bureaucratic red tape and unrealistic eligibility criteria. Drawing upon the data and examples from his extensive fieldwork in Gujarat, Prof. Breman pointed out that the growth model followed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi was not inclusive. The statutory rights for the poor were downgraded in practice as favours and doles.

 

 

Seminar on Children’s Issues
December 8, 2012

A one-day seminar on Journalism and Children’s Issues was conducted in collaboration with the UNICEF. In the lecture titled “Education in India – the Need of the Hour”, Dr Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Founder/Director, PRAYATNA, spoke of how elementary numeracy and literacy were eluding India’s children. She emphasised the need for high teacher salaries, good training, sensitising teachers to learning disabilities, and finally, rethinking educational goals to foster creativity and critical thinking. Dr Balaji Sampath, Chief Executive Officer, AID INDIA, in his lecture “Quality Education as a Right”, stressed on the fact that the much delayed RTE Act did not ask the main questions, viz. Are teachers teaching? And are students learning? He believed that the act did not set any goals. In his talk, “Reporting as if Children Mattered”, Mr Augustine Veliath, Founder/Director, Asian Centre for Entertainment Education, spoke of the importance of treating children as participatory agents with autonomy and a voice, and urged journalists to keep children’s issues and the violation of their rights in their consciousness. In her presentation titled, “Reporting on Sexual Offenses against Children: Looking Beyond the Rhetoric of Sensitivity versus Sensationalism”, Ms Vidya Reddy, TULIR- Centre for the Prevention and Healing , said that several cases of sexual violence against children went unreported simply because the victims feared media intrusion. She also emphasised the importance of reporting ethics, accuracy and protecting the victim’s confidentiality.

 

Presentation of Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies followed by The Malcolm Adiseshiah Memorial Lecture
November 21, 2012

Prof. Satish Deshpande was awarded the Malcolm Adiseshiah Memorial Award of 2012 at the Asian College of Journalism. In his acceptance lecture titled ‘Caste and Castelessness in the Indian Republic’, Prof. Deshpande traced the emergence and spread of the notion of castelessness in the Indian society. An examination of the‘general category’, Prof. Deshpande said, was central to the understanding of the ways in which caste manifests itself.

 

Lecture on long form journalism
by Annie Zaidi and Ben Law
November 15, 2012

 

Annie Zaidi and Benjamin Law engaged with on the subject of long form journalism. Both journalists emphasised the point that any story can lend itself to any journalistic form report, feature, or long form narrative.

 

 

 

Lecture by Sitaram Yechury
on 'The Reality of Reforms'
November 7, 2012

Sitaram Yechury spoke about the misguided liberalisation policies of the Government, particularly about the latest move to get Foreign Direct Investment in the Indian retail sector.

 

 

 

Screening of award winning film
by Sashi Kumar
‘Kaya Taran’ (based on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984)
October 30, 2012

Indira Gandhi’s assassination and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots
Readings and discussions
November 1, 2012

 

Screening of award winning film ‘Kaya Taran’ (based on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984) directed by by Sashi Kumar

Sashi Kumar spoke about the context of his award-winning film, Kaya Taran (2004).

Nicholas Nugent who was in Delhi in October 1984 discussed some historical details pertaining to the events following Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination.

Vikram Kapur read excerpts from his novel on the Sikh riots, ‘Time is a Fire’.

 

 

Homage to Eric Hobsbawm
Readings and Discussion
October 17, 2012

Homage was paid to the late British historian Eric Hobsbawn (1917- 2012) by students and faculty members. Four students read excerpts from Hodsbawm’s major works, Primitive Rebels, Inventing Tradition, The Age of Capital, The Age of Empire. Prof. A.R. Venkatachalapathy spoke about Hobsbawm’s eminent contribution to the field of history, while Prof. Arvind
Sivaramakrishnan discussed Hobsbawm’s place among other British Marxixts like E P Thomson, Raymond Williams and Ralph Milliband.

 

Special Lecture
by Prof. Prabhat Patnaik
September 29, 2012

The distinguished Economist Prof. Prabhat Patnaik delivered a Special Lecture on ‘Growth and Stagnation in the Indian Economy’ at ACJ. He spoke on dangers of governments focusing on private rationalities of any kind whatsoever. The job of a government claimed Prof. Patnaik, was to promote social rationality for the greater common good. In this context, he criticized the Indian government for exhibited private rationality in pandering to the interests of private foreign investors, in the mistaken belief that it would boost the economy.

 

Inaugural Lecture
July 9, 2012

The inaugural lecture to the Class 2013 of the Asian College of Journalism was delivered by Prof. Akeel Bilgrami. His lecture was titled “What is a Democratic Mentality”.

Akeel Bilgrami is the Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University in New York. A leading philosopher of the language and mind, he has numerous publications to his credit, among them are ‘Belief and Meaning’ and ‘Self Knowledge and Resentment’.

 

 

Summer Academy
A training programme on Freedom and Responsibility in the Media

March 26 - April 6, 2012

The Asian College of Journalism in association with the International Institute for Journalism, Berlin, conducted a Summer Academy on Freedom and Responsibility in the South Asian Media for young journalists from the SAARC countries. The aim of the programme was to enhance the quality of journalism in South Asia. 14 young journalists from newspapers, news agencies and online media attended the academy. The two-week programme covered a range of issues in journalism and looked at a comparative practice of the profession in Europe and India. Lectures covered the emerging media, tabloid journalism, gender reporting, reporting poverty and ethical issues. Participants also went on field trips to slums in Chennai city