Workshop on Knowledge Management in Civil Society ... - Leisa India

03.30 – 04.30 PMSession on Press and publicity relationsMadhu spoke on the importance of having cordial relationship with the press. He suggestedthe following strategies for maintaining good relations with the press. Have one staff doing the role of a journalist maintaining relations with the press ona continuous basis. Invite Press for a special workshop for them as a learning event for press, ratherthan asking them to cover an event, just for news coverage. Always try to involvesenior press persons. Organise Press conference during an event, if you are able to manage and sustaintheir interest. Have a press release during the conference.Participants were asked to share how their respective organizations managed pressrelationship. Following were the responses.RDT invites about 100 press people for New year celebrationAMEF built linkages with Deccan Herald representative who visited the field areas.Now she writes regularly on AMEF.GEAG has a person dealing with press. This apart, GEAG also provides trainingfor agri-journalists.04.30 – 05.30 PMSession on Magazine journalismProf. Madhu spoke about magazine journalism taking various magazines, both Indianand foreign, as examples. He stressed that research, time management and authenticityof information were essential ingredients for the success of a good magazine. Responsesto specific questions included the following:Magazine articles are well researched and written than a newspaper article.Writing comes by writing…not by reading or listening about writing.Keep your first draft aside for a week and look at it. Then you may find gaps to improve.LearningsImportance of Research in writingContent first, style nextWe need to focus on a combination of results, processes and stories in our typeof workConcept of ‘base text’ – very interestingImportance of using quotes and anecdotesJotting down points before writing – the building blocks essential for writingCutting down the write up, self editing, seeking other’s feedbackIntegrating primary and secondary data – cross checkingInclusion of live examplesImportance of first/lead para – making it interesting12