Charari Sharief, Dec 9 (KNC): A media workshop was conducted at Life School in Charari Sharief town of Budgam district on Tuesday to honour senior journalist and editor Mudasir Ali, who passed away in 2020 allegedly due to medical negligence.
The workshop also marked the first year of the establishment of the Mudasir Ali Podcast Studio, an audio-visual lab set up at Life School in 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 Charari Sharief, wrote extensively on J&K’s politics, conflict, and environment for national and international media outlets including The Wire, 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, reporting operations, media ethics, and equipment handling.
The training is part of a skill set that students learn at Life School, alongside their regular academic curriculum.
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 society continues to produce journalists like Mudasir, who remained committed to the cardinal principle of objectivity.
He said Mudasir was an exceptionally kind human being and a rigorous journalist who reported on various issues facing Jammu and Kashmir without 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 skill sets 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 year, said that the media acts as the ‘immune system’ of a society.
“Just as the immune system identifies threats to keep a body healthy, responsible media identifies bias and propaganda to keep a society informed. Over the last year, my goal wasn’t just to teach the students how to hold a camera, but how to hold a narrative accountable,” he said.
During the workshop, the first cohort of the Mudasir Ali Podcast Studio was divided into groups that engaged with professional journalists and writers from national and international media outlets through informal one-on-one interactions and a question–answer session.
A felicitation ceremony was also held at the end of the workshop, chaired by Life School principal Gulafrose.
The inaugural workshop was conducted by The Telegraph’s Muzaffar Raina, CNN-IBN’s former J&K bureau chief Mufti Islah, The Times of India special correspondent Naseer A. Ganai, Greater Kashmir health editor Zehru Nissa, senior editor Nazir A. Ganai, senior writer and book critic Majid Maqbool, and author of the critically acclaimed The World With Its Mouth Open, Zahid Rafiq.
Mudasir’s brother and The Wire’s J&K correspondent Jehangir Ali thanked the journalists and writers for spending time with the students and sharing their valuable experiences. (KNC)
