Saturday’s program saw the fifth batch of the fellowship award. The ten media fellows for this current year’s program are Ng Liklaileima (Sangai Express), Ksh Chitrabhanu (Imphal Review of Arts and the Politics), Donald Sairem (Hueiyen Lanpao), Ng Thomas (Imphal Free Press), L Kamaljit (Sanaleibak), Donald Takhell (Imphal Review of Arts and the Politics), Ricky Angkang (IFP Ukhrul correspondent), Nongmaithem Debrani (The People’s Chronicle), Ksh Ganga (All India Radio Imphal), and Khumanthem Gentle (SKTV)
TFM Desk
In a broad deviation from the usual classroom model, young journalists under a program of the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Manipur’s ‘Media Fellowship on Climate Change Reporting’ gathered under the shade of tall imposing trees within the lush green setting of the State Botanical Garden at Khongampat in Imphal West District on Saturday.
The media fellowship is an ongoing flagship program of the State Climate Change Cell’s Media Resource Center under the Directorate, initiated since the year 2019, with ten fellowships awarded to young journalists based in the State each year to write stories of interest on climate-related issues.
Saturday’s program saw the fifth batch of the fellowship award. As part of the monthly interaction program held for the fellows with open-ended interactions with scientists, academicians and other knowledgeable persons, the program had well-known scientist Dr Huidrom Birkumar, Chief Scientist at the CSIR-NEIST, Lamphelpat, and wildlife expert Dr Kh Shamungou (Sangai Shamungou) sharing their views on climate-related floral and faunal scenario in the State.
Interacting with the media fellows, Dr T. Brajakumar, Director DoECC, opined that journalists writing stories and reporting on climate-related issues need to go through the pace of authentic government bulletins and reliable information sources before publishing news on climate change-related scenarios so as to avoid factual errors and misinformation that may mislead readers on the implications of weather and climate events.
Emphasizing the thrust areas on the thematic deliberation for the forthcoming World Environment Day annual observation on the 5th of next month, Brajakumar stressed proper reporting in the current State scenario reflecting the processes of desertification and drought, if any, resulting from different anthropogenic activities that impact the natural environment negatively.
The theme for the year 2024’s global environment deliberation is focused on ‘Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience’ under the slogan “Our Land, Our Future”, re-emphasizing the concerns on land degradation due to uncontrolled deforestation on a large scale and the resulting decline of spring sheds affecting the environmental flows of rivers and groundwater recharge of important aquifers. Saudi Arabia is hosting this year’s global mega-event on the environment.
The ten media fellows for this current year’s program are Ng Liklaileima (Sangai Express), Ksh Chitrabhanu (Imphal Review of Arts and the Politics), Donald Sairem (Hueiyen Lanpao), Ng Thomas (Imphal Free Press), L Kamaljit (Sanaleibak), Donald Takhell (Imphal Review of Arts and the Politics), Ricky Angkang (IFP Ukhrul correspondent), Nongmaithem Debrani (The People’s Chronicle), Ksh Ganga (All India Radio Imphal), and Khumanthem Gentle (SKTV).
The sub-themes for the current year’s fellowship program are focused on three related areas: climate and agriculture, climate and health, and climate and water. The fellows are expected to come up with stories from the ground based on actualities supported with authentic data and first hand information from the field. The stories generated are expected to have implications on policy planning for climate-related issues at the State level.