Charari Sharief, Dec 09 (KNO): A media workshop was conducted at Life School in Chrari Sharief town of Budgam district on Tuesday to honour senior journalist and editor Mudasir Ali who passed away in 2020 allegedly due to alleged medical negligence.
As per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the workshop also marked the first year of the establishment of Mudasir Ali Podcast Studio, an audio-visual lab set up at Life School in the honour of Ali who was working as a senior editor at Greater Kashmir when he passed away on November 20, 2020.
Ali, a resident of Chrari Sharief, also wrote extensively on J&K’s politics, conflict and environment for national and international media outlets including The Foreign Policy, New Humanitarian and others.
To commemorate his commitment to rigorous and ethical reporting, the ‘Mudasir Ali Podcast Studio’ provides an opportunity to a select group of students who are trained in the basics of news gathering and reporting operations, media ethics and equipment handling.
The training is part of a skill set that the students learn at Life School, even as they continue their normal academic work.
Recalling his association with Mudasir Ali, Life School chairman and J&K Private School Association chief Baba Nazrul Islam said that the aim of establishing the studio was to ensure that our society continues to produce journalists like Mudasir who are committed to the cardinal principle of objectivity.
He said that Mudasir was an exceptionally kind human being and a rigorous journalist who reported on various issues facing Jammu and Kashmir without any fear or favour.
“We can’t fill the void left by Mudasir’s departure but we will strive to keep his memory alive. This workshop is the beginning of a journey that will not only add to the skillsets of our students but also make them better human beings,” he said.
Akash Dutt, a Teach To Elicit fellow, who trained the selected group of students over the last one year, said that the media acted as the 'immune system' of a society.
“Just as the immune system identifies threats to keep a body healthy, a responsible media identifies bias and propaganda to keep a society informed. Over the last year, my goal wasn't just to teach the student how to hold a camera, but how to hold a narrative accountable,” he said.
During the workshop, the first cohort of ‘Mudasir Ali Podcast Studio’ were divided into groups who engaged with professional journalists and writers from national and international media outlets and publishing houses through an informal one-on-one interactions and question-answer session.
A felicitation ceremony was also held at the end of the workshop which was chaired by Life School principal Gulafrose.
The inaugural ‘Mudasir Ali Podcast Studio’ workshop was conducted by The Telegraph’s Muzaffar Raina, CNN-IBN’s former J&K bureau chief Mufti Islah, The Times of India’s special correspondent Naseer A Ganai, Greater Kashmir’s health editor Zehru Nissa and senior editor Nazir A Ganai, senior writer and book critic Majid Maqbool and the author of the critically-acclaimed ‘The World With Its Mouth Open’ Zahid Rafiq.
Mudasir’s brother and senior journalist Jehangir Ali thanked the journalists and writers for spending time with the students and sharing their valuable experiences with them—(KNO)