Aligarh Muslim University Students Union (AMUSU) is very active in conducting various useful programmes for the benefit of the AMU fraternity. AMUSU recently conducted two unique and significant programmes. One on the endangerment of mother tongues, and the other on the idea of ‘the University’.
Gowtham K, cabinet member, AMUSU, has taken pains to organise this programme on behalf of the students’ union. The programme started with a Kirat (recitation) by first-year B. A. student Syed Ur Rahman. It contained two parts: Aecture on significance of citizen Journalism, and a digital workshop on Adobe Premium Pro.
The lecture by Prof. M. Shafey Kidwai was thought provoking. He introduced us to the current scenario of being in a ‘post-truth’ era and how things are changing. He raised concerns as to why the contemporary media is not able to do its most important duty of questioning. In a humorous remark, he mentioned that instead of media raising questions they are involved in giving answers. He also said that citizen journalism is gaining popularity because mainstream journalism has started to give selective news rather than a complete picture.
While recalling the role of media he asserted that when mainstream media is doing the two tasks of informing and entertaining, it has drastically failed in empowering people. The lecture raised many important questions, and our professor also instilled in us a vision to get involved in citizen journalism. He said that a person need not have a degree or diploma in journalism but if one has a flair for writing and common sense, one can be a citizen journalist.
Cabinet member Nishant Bhardwaj also stressed on the importance of citizen journalism as mainstream media is failing in many ways. He reinstated that the role of journalism is to give a new direction to any nation. He asked all the participants to involve themselves positively in citizen journalism. He also asked both men and women to equally involve themselves in citizen journalism, to debunk the myth that journalism is only for males.
Arsalan Mohammad, who manages Bytes Today, took the digital workshop after that. He gave an introduction on how to prepare video in Adobe premiere pro. He gave an introduction to the different platforms citizen journalists can get into like Youth Ki awaz, and so on. He also gave examples of different movements like the Arab Spring which were popularised by citizen journalism. He gave an introduction to video, some important aspects like B-roll, colour correction, the rule of the thirds, and more. While introducing the concept of MoJo (mobile journalism) he also encouraged every participant to start doing journalism using mobile devices.
The programme ended with the Tarna of the university, as is the tradition. Many students did take time to thank and congratulate Gowtham K. for such a useful workshop. Such workshops are how AMU students union are taking steps to bring more variety into the university and empower and equip students for the betterment of the nation.