March, 8, 2019
MediaCorp Fellowship (MC) is an innovative approach designed by Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) in partnership with International Research and Exchanges board (IREX) with the support from USAID, under the Media Empowerment for a Democratic Sri Lanka (MEND) Program.
The first batch of MediaCorp fellows
Under MC, the fellows successfully completed and produced more than 65 collaborative and individual stories for strengthening dialogue and reconciliation among dissenting communities. The fellows, having paired with a fellow partner from a completely different cultural setting spent a week's time in each other's community exploring their culture as well as the issues of its marginalized communities based on which they produced a multimedia story. In addition the pairs produced another collaborative story on an issue affecting both communities. These stories will be disseminated widely through social media, online media and mainstream media in the future.
The fellows, will convene once again at the MediaCorp Retreat-Reunion of Young Peace Journalists 2018/19 on 8th and 9th March 2019 in Colombo where they will share their learnings, experience, exposure, and challenges. It will also be an opportunity to listen to their stories of how the MediaCorp process has helped shape and transform their attitudes and perceptions towards another community. The Retreat will feature a cultural evening by the fellows and will conclude with an awarding ceremony. The event will be graced by the presence of the USAID Mission Director and several dignitaries from other diplomatic missions.
SDJF is planning to train 168 fellows in total during the 4 years' time and 50 young journalists will get the fellowship for the year 2019/20.
The program is implemented by SDJF as a part of Media Empowerment for Democratic Sri Lanka (MEND) program supported by IREX and USAID. The goal of MEND is to improve citizens’ access to balance and reliable news and information and to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen media freedom and democratic governance.
For more information on the program, please contact info@ldjf.org or 011-2806265.
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