AIBD in collaboration with Hoso Bunka Foundation, Japan has organised a five-day workshop for content creators for its SAARC and African members. The title of the workshop is “Engaging Audience to tell Stories”.

Thirty-five participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Seychelles and Sri Lanka joined the workshop held online from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The workshop aims to explore contemporary strategies to engage audience to tell their stories by integrating user-generated content into mainstream programming. The workshop is divided into four key topics i.e. Role of traditional broadcasters, utilising user-generated content, telling human developmental stories and trends in media convergence.

During opening remarks, Ms Philomena Gnanapragasam, Director AIBD welcomed all the participants and thanked Hoso Buka Foundation for its support. She mentioned that with the evolution of internet, new media has challenged the norms of traditional broadcasting industry, which has grabbed attention of the media consumers more than ever. Media consumers have become media prosumers. To cope with this situation, traditional broadcasters must broaden their canvas to integrate both worlds credibly.

Mr Jun Ogawa, Broadcasting consultant and International Affairs Officer of BPO Japan, talked about the responsibilities of traditional broadcasters in the era of social media. He also presented the case study of Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization (BPO), an independent watchdog for broadcasting content in Japan. He showed that why is it important to have ethical and humane concerns in today’s world where every individual is constantly bombarded with new information.

Mr Adrian Wood, award-winning Archive Documentary Director from U.K talked about the history of user-generated content and how traditional broadcasting organisations used the content to engage the audience. He also highlighted the rise of citizen journalism and what can be the potential future of broadcasting industry. He concluded that despite both traditional media and new media challenge each other, but traditional media can devise such strategies where both worlds can complement each other.

During the workshop, participants actively took part in discussions and were given the opportunity to ask questions and discuss their ideas.

The workshop will continue till 18 June 2021.