Press Release 

Mangaluru, Aug 16: On the eve of Independence Day, a one-day workshop was held at Maria Jayanti Hall of St Joseph’s Seminary in the city, which was organized by Utada Mane and the colleagues of Sandesha summer journalism course, who got together to discuss the need of empowering journalism in the society. 

The function commenced with the prayers from Br Vinay Kumar and a welcome speech by Abdullah.

The presidential address was given by Fr Ronald Serrao, Rector of St Joseph Seminary, in which he spoke about journalism as a light and urged the budding journalists to bring light through journalism. 

The resource person of the function, Walter Nandalike, founder of Daijiworld Media, spoke about the power of journalists and their duties and limitations. He also shared his personal experiences with the audience and said, “It is important to understand how you frame a question when you have the power to question.” He also suggested attendees not to bring their ideology in the field. “It is clear that everyone has an ideology which he or she follows, but it is very important to keep one’s ideology aside and perform the duty as a pure journalist.” 

Replying to a query from the audience on how to imbibe the true understanding of democracy in the youth, Walter Nandalike said, “To understand democracy, one needs to understand the real meaning of democracy. Reading is important. When you read and understand the news completely, you will understand the importance of democracy in a country.” 

Walter Nandalike further said that to exercise democracy, one must be ready to be questioned. According to him, questioning is the important element of democracy. He also spoke about the power of social media platforms like YouTube etc and their ability to give a voice to the audience. 

The function was followed by the interactive session where the people shared their personal experiences about the social media platforms. Walter also expressed disappointment on the present condition of the television media. 

The function came to an end with the vote of thanks by Zabi. Br Vinay Kumar and Abdullah Musba were the conveners of the event. 

Fr Nelson D’ Almeida, professor at St Joseph’s Seminary, was the chief guest of the programme. During his address he invited the journalists not to get discouraged about the challenges they face in the field of journalism. It is better to be bold and courageous than get discouraged and remain silent, he advised.

Fr Ronald Serrao presided over the event.