Friday, February 29, 2008

Sultan Park


Here is the entrance to Sultan Park. This is where a bomb went off last September and was caught on tape by the security camera at the military headquarters across the street. The bombers were caught in a raid on an island where the people are said to be extremists and the various related court trials are still going on. Police have videotaped evidence that there was a second bomb in the works.

Church and State

Religion is very much a part of politics in Maldives. The conservative Islamic party, Adhaalath, is not fielding a candidate in the elections but standing back to decide if they will support President Gayoom or someone else. That support could be decisive if the election is close.
This is not so strange when you consider the role of the Christian religious right in supporting Republicans in the US, or the role of churches and voter turnout in the black community on the Democratic side.
However, they take it a step further here. It was a big story last week that the government funded a new Dhivehi translation of the Koran and is giving a copy to every household. Can you imagine the uproar if the US government started translating and handing out Bibles to EVERYONE? Here is the sign that is on the oldest Mosque which dates back to 1656. In his address to the opening of Parliament, President Gayoom spoke of strengthening Maldives as a "moderate" Islamic state.

Being Muslim is a requirement for citizenship. Some Maldivians go overseas to study or work and may marry non-Muslims, and their children cannot be citizens if they are raised in some other faith. This has caused some concern among human rights observers, including a group from the US that visited a couple of weeks ago. A lawmaker voting to change this law would be committing political suicide.
To read the US House Foreign Affairs Committe report on human rights in maldives:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/archives/109/23016.pdf and scroll down to page 2112. To read more about why the religious issues, go to page 704 of this report:http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/archives/109/23762.pdf
It states that Maldivians see their one-religion society as a "disctinctive charactisic" that promotes "harmony and national identity." However, the US government has an ongoing concern in this area, for obvious reasons.

Pictures show some of the Muslim heritage that you see in Male, dating back to the 12th century when the country's ruler converted from Buddhism. The old minaret, in the foreground, is no longer used for the call to prayer and has been replaced by that of the Grand Friday mosque, in the background.

Coaching Weather Talent



Weather is always one of my favorite parts of a talent coaching visit in the US or Canada. But it's different here in Maldives because the TV and radio weather comes from the forecasters located on the airport island in the National Meteorological Centre. Each evening at around 5:30 they pre-tape the on-camera forecast in Dhiveli and English and then send the tape over to TVM by ferry boat. They also provide forecasts that are read on VOM.

About a dozen forecasters, weather observers and presenters gathered in a conference room for a coaching session including examples from KABC-TV, WSB-TV and CTV Canada. Then we critiqued their segment, which, among other things, requires the forecaster to pace back and forth across the weather graphics which are plastered into the center of the screen.

Then we went into the studio to practice and see how we could improve the segment. First order of business was to move the graphics over to screen right and create a place on the left for the forecaster to stand. Second, we worked on a more user-friendly and less scientific approach, stressing the inclusion of more "news you can use" like how to dress the kids or whether you will need an umbrella today. Pictured is Asni, one of the top women forecasters. All wear the burugaa or head scarf.

My excellent host was Hussain Waheed, the chief of the weather forecasters, and an expert in tsunami preparedness and climate change. He has studied in Africa, Asia and the US. I believe the forecast would be more effective on radio if the meteorology deparment people provided an audio feed of the forecast instead of just faxing over a script. We'll try to make this happen next week, and also arrange for more frequent appearances on television. They will be launching new and better graphics on March 23, but unfortunately a super duper mega doppler is not in the budget. One low-cost change we can make is putting a live robot cam on the roof of their building that could be used for weather shots. They are also in the process of setting up live webcams on the atolls.

Political Player


I've been friends with Cathy Toledo since our Stanford days and over the years we have shared all the ups and downs of life. You know you have a true friend when she spends all of her frequent flier miles to come and visit you in the Maldives. Believe me, she is not the type to sit around on the beach. Cathy has experience working in political campaigns, non-profit organizations like Planned Parenthood, and has lobbied the Texas legisature on behalf of medical interests. Her visit could not have come at a better time as this country is being politically transformed. Nasheed, the minister of Legal Reform, Information and Arts, wasted no time putting Cathy to work. Nasheed's wife, Sheena, is basically the surgeon general of the Maldives and met with Cathy on a wide range of health care issues. And now that we are teaching the journalists to make independent news judgments, someone has to teach the government and opposition PR people how to spin the media. Cathy became so busy that when we were offered a chance to check out another resort we had scheduled too many meetings to accept! Here we are in front of the People's Majlis (the parliament) on the way back from meeting with the president's press spokesman.
Cathy also conducts seminars for American Dream Women, educating women about how to manage their money. There's probably a market for that here too!

Dirty laundry




No this is not some TV expose, but just the simple fact that after a month here we have a lot of wash to do. This is my friend, Cathy, mastering the use of the very strange Indian washing machine that is on our balcony. Just like the locals, we hang our wet wash out on the balcony to dry. You can see it on the second balcony from the bottom of the photo. Of course, Cathy is not here to do laundry. Her visit has added value to our mission here. Details coming up.

Atoll reporter training

Here are some of the TVM reporters who work as one-person bands in the outlying atolls. We are bringing them to Male in small groups for training. They are a talented group and learned quickly after getting specific critiques of their video packages.
TV hires reporters from the more populated islands and assigns them to various bureaus while radio takes a different approach, trying to hire locals already living in the atolls.
All of the atoll reporters for radio have been here in Male since the begininng of our program, which makes it impossible for them to gather natural sound because they have to call on the phone to get soundbites.
Radio is taking advantage of the opportunity to also train atoll reporters in speaking proper Dhiveli. The language apparently has four levels, from the most formal way of speaking to slang. Ideally, broadcasters would aim for one of the higher middle levels, but a lot of slang has crept into the language, especially among the young people who have these jobs.

Break Time

The radio station also has a small cafeteria, and it was nice to sit down with assignment editor Jameel, news director Manik and managing editor Jinah to discuss some of the issues. Radio has a much more professional working environment overall, compared to the TV station. The morning meeting has evolved into a serious discussion of covering the real news in an interesting way instead of covering the press releases. Still, there is room for improvement. Some reporters still try to cover stories from their desks intead of venturing out for natural sound. The engineer running the board is not a news person and as a result the production values are pretty low. Sometimes there is dead air when a correction must be made or a script comes in late. The music is a Maldivian folk tune which doesn't sound very "newsy." There is only a single news reader, and another person to read a section of news from the outlying atolls. A double anchor format, an engineer who is actually following the script and better production music would enhance the main 1:30 pm news broadcast considerably.

Office Mosque


The radio station even has its own mosque. I'm told it's the only air conditioned mosque in the neighborhood. The bags in the picture are part of a construction project to install a new broadcasting tower in place of the old badminton court.

Radio Man Badru


Badru is the boss on the radio side. He's an experienced broadcaster who apparently has respect on both sides of the political fence. He's well educated and witty, but he's seen a lot of consultants and trainers come and go over the years. He's also counting down the last few years to retirement. The big question is whether he wants to leave a legacy of modernizing the station as a public broadcaster, or just continue with business as usual as the private stations continue to steal the audience. We ride in taxis a couple of times a day in Male and we never hear VOM on the radio.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Election fairness


Another meeting to comment on the draft of the election coverage guidelines for the state TV and radio station. This time the whirlwind Information Minister paused long enough for me to snap a picture.

Meeting started off with a bang. The previous night, TVM news decided not to air the "official" live coverage of the president being "congratulated by the public" on the awards he received in India and Sri Lanka earlier this month. However, the programming department then pre-empted the 9 pm English newscast to air an hour of people singing the praises of President Gayoom and declaring him their "president for life." Obviously this was a campaign event, probably staged by his party supporters, thinly disguised as an offical "head of state" event. Radio also carried it live, over the objections of the radio news director. This is just a sample of the problems we are going to face in the coming election if the state media outlets appear to be puppets of the incumbent government. The new guidelines are aimed at making sure this doesn't happen again.

That evening, the president's press office issued a statement saying the president wanted to thank the people for putting on the big show for him. Three weeks ago, the newscasts would have read this two page-release verbatim on the air. Not anymore. Journalists are now empowered to make a decision about whether the president's gratitude for this feel-good event 24 hours ago was newsworthy. You can guess what was decided. Not newsworthy. The president is making his State of the Union speech to parliament tomorrow and we did a package on that, with reaction bites from majority and opposition MPs because that IS news.

Identifying Rape Victims

Free press opens up a whole new controversy in this country as press freedoms are sometimes abused. The major daily newspaper reported on a police official accused of sexually harassing his female subordinates. The newspaper printed the victims' names and the families are understandably angry. The Minister of Information will have to issue a policy on this, but it would be better if the journalists at all media outlets set their own responsible policies and didn't wait for a government official to dictate it.

Lunch and Learn


Part of the challenge here is changing the way people think about the job of the journalist. The young people working at TVM have grown up in a culture where a "journalist" read press releases as a part time job. Anybody asking tough questions was perceived as a dissident and faced possible punishment up to and including prison. So today we called in everyone for a "lunch and learn" session. We watched a Learning Channel special about how TV reporters in Los Angeles (at KCBS in 2000) do their jobs. It was an eye-opener for those journalists who managed to stay for the entire presentation. Unfortunately there was a report of a 7.6 earthquake during the video and the room cleared out to cover the breaking news closer to home. No tsunami danger this time, but it meant that the entire presentation was only viewed by about 10 people.

Super producer


Good producers are hard to find, but we have Hafsey. He is doing a great job working with Shifla on the 7am and 10 am news. At TVM the producer is also the director, calling the shots to the button-pushing technical people (nearly always women) in the first row. Until now, they just tried to memorize the rundown of the show and peek at the teleprompter to see what was next if they forgot. This led to a lot of "control room chaos" (see earlier post).

Hafsey is one of the producers who is now marking the script and he makes the right calls in the booth. The show moves much faster because we are not sitting on silent video while the anchor stops reading and the producer figures out what's next. Big improvement!

The sad thing is that Hafsey is also the top sports reporter at TVM. He is not available to do sports because he is getting up early to produce the morning shows. I hope we can get more producers trained quickly so that Hafsey can be where his heart is... in sports!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Help Wanted in Radio

I am spending my first full morning at Voice of Maldives and the morning meeting shows a lot of improvement. There is discussion of actual news stories and ways to make them more interesting. The president has a "grip and grin" public event and they will cover it just to make sure he doesn't say anything newsworthy.
Like TVM, radio is also advertising for people who want to become full time journalists and they have a lot of openings. Also like TVM, the salaries are fixed by the government. Top pay for an editor with a university education, with all possible bonuses, tops out at 9,000, or under $800 a month. There are vacancies for an editor, an assistant editor, seven reporters in Male and eight reporters in the atoll bureaus. They also need to fill a clerical position called archivist. VOM will be attending a job fair later this month to recruit, but we're recommending that they run a public service announcement in Dhiveli and English to advertise for people interested to send in their resumes. That way they can also reach out to the islands.
Radio has another problem: technical difficulties. The bill for the BBC feed wasn't paid, so it is cut off at the moment. There is also a plan to bring over the Reuters feed from TVM so that radio reporters can use the audio, but the line isn't working. There are some sharp IT people at both stations who should be able to figure this out!

Live Truck?



Although there is the capability to go live from various atolls and official government venues with advance planning, a breaking news live shot from the street in Male just doesn't happen here. This is the "OB van" which stands for Outside Broadcast. You'll notice it doesn't have any microwave equipment. Considering the number of very pregnant women that we see everywhere, we were a little worried that the OB stood for something else! Anyway, it doesn't appear to have moved from this spot in the TVM parking lot since we got here.

Happy Birthday Bob!


Bob celebrated his birthday here and we got him a hand-painted t-shirt declaring him the island chief of the Maldives Media Training project.

Technical Know How


The leader of the TVM production team is Musthafa, shown here with Bob. He has instructed the studio cameramen on how to make a zoom in to the anchor at the beginning of the program and zoom out to a wide shot at the end. Although we are still limited by the small studio and primitive set, he has done a lot to make the shows look better. He also recorded a "help wanted" PSA with my voice, advertising for people who want to become television reporters to send in their resumes. It's been running for a couple of days now and I hope we get some good prospects.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Reality TV?

One insider told me there is "a love-hate relationship" between the TV programming and news departments. Now that we are making some positive changes in the newscasts, programming is wondering when we will get around to training them. We are a three member team and can only stretch so far, so we have permission to bring in a programming show doctor to join our program. The typical newscast lead-in is likely to be something like the show pictured above, called "How to Recite the Holy Koran." School children are taught to recite verses in Arabic and they actually have national competitions.
There will always be a certain amount of religious programming on the state TV and radio stations, but there is also need for reality-based programs addressing issues of interest in the country in an informative way. There is also a daily talk show that runs in the morning and is rerun in the afternoon. One idea is following a real case of domestic violence all the way from the initial response to the final result in the justice system. They need creative input on HOW to do it.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Show them the Money!


Imagine a TV newsroom where the top anchor makes the same pay as the lowest production assistant. It would take about :30 seconds for your top people to quit for better money elsewhere. That's the reality we are facing at TV Maldives. The pay scale is set by the government and because everyone in the newsroom is classified as a newscaster they all make roughly the same pay. The maximum is under $700 a month! There are some small allowances for anchoring or working weekends and a clothing allowance of only about $15 a month.
We will not be able to adjust the pay scale to fit the new anchor, reporter and producer job descriptions until the broadcasting bill is passed by Parliament. It will create a public broadcasting corporation board to run TVM and VOM as public service stations, think of NPR and PBS without pledge drives.
With private broadcasters getting ready to go on the air we face the possibility of losing our top people. A few made the switch before we got here. After all, these are the only Dhiveli-speaking TV news people in the world, so who else can the private channels hire? Worse yet, there is no incentive for the younger people to work hard and move up because the pay is the same but the work is much harder. Remember that 12 hour days and and six-day weeks are the norm here. Radio also has a talent drain because of private stations that recently went on the air.
Here's hoping that the broadcasting bill will pass SOON. But it is only one of 87 legal reform bills in the hopper when the legislature convenes this Thursday.
Pictured are both sides of the 100 rufiyaa note. It's about $8 US.
Update: according to reliable sources, here is how the pay for a "newscaster" breaks down.
Base monthly pay (in rufiyaa) 3,780
Max overtime 1,701
Risk allowance 750
Task force allowance 580
Clothing allowance 150
weekend differential 1314
telephone allowance (senior manager only) 300
Again, this is basically the same for everyone in the newsroom, from the anchors who seem to do most of the work to the new kids who sit at "desks" and produce little content.
This pay doesn't go far in Male, where a two room apartment rents for 8,000 a month. No wonder that people with families to support leave broadcasting or join the private stations at double or triple the pay.

Sulaiman the Survivor

The 2004 tsunami has faded from the headlines in the US, but it is still very much top of mind here for the obvious reason that, in addition to the loss of life, there are many people who lost their homes.

One of them is Ali Sulaiman, who was a Dhiveli language teacher until his home on the island of Villifushi was destroyed in the tsunami. He and his wife were among the victims who had to relocate to a safer island and start over.

That's when "Suley" became a bureau reporter for TV Maldives. He was among the first to "get it" when our team began to explain the importance of stories about the lives of real people and not just official meetings. His reports truly stand out. When there was breaking news of a boat factory explosion, Suley was on the spot with phoners and a full report from the scene. He's a one-man band but does his best to find someone to help shoot standups.
Suley has a slight speech impediment and some viewers have complained. They even got him some voice coaching. But Suley is a treasure at TV Maldives. He brings out the true flavor of the islands in his reports. In one story, he talked to people who toss things into a lucky pond, believing it has magical powers. Here's hoping he will bring good luck and good reporting to TVM for years to come and that he will know that his good work is noticed and appreciated. Go Sulaiman!

President's Web Site

Here is the link to the official press release on our meeting with President Gayoom.
http://www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv/pages/eng_news.php?news:4614:1
The web site in English is extremely well done and shows promise for developing an internet resource for improving relations between the president and the press corps, including broadcast and print, public and private media.

Relax Maldives Style





After three full weeks, we've been offered a chance to experience true Maldivian hospitality. We spent an overnight at a resort called Bandos, only a 20 minute boat ride from Male, but a world of difference. Whenever you see one of those postcards about the white sand and the turquoise water of the Maldives, it's not photo-shopped. It really looks that way... only better.
Maldives made the decision early on to target the high end of the resort market, or as one official told me, "No backpackers." They really do it right from the spa, to the dive boat to the food.
Thanks to everyone who made this relaxing break possible, for allowing us to see another face of this incredibly beautiful country.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Before the Meeting

The president's office was in a lovely buidling overlooking the waterfront. There were a couple of nice reception rooms where you could prepare for your meeting and sign the guest book. We signed in right after the delegation from Senegal.
Of course, there was security, especially in light of the fact that someone tried to assassinate the president in January. (A boy scout stepped in and saved the president from a knife attack.) Back in the 1980s, rebels from Sri Lanka tried to take over the country when they thought the president was out of town. So there is some nervousness about the idea that the president's daily schedule should be released to the press in advance.
We understand the reason for the concern. After all, John Hinckley was posing as a member of the press corps when he shot President Reagan. Still, that should not prevent the press office and the news media from achieving a working relationship.

Presidential Meeting

It was a relaxed conversation that went on for about 45 minutes and covered substantial issues, not merely a "grip and grin." After seeing so much "official footage" of President Gayoom it was like meeting a movie star to see him in person. He spoke in confident, conversational English and shared his feelings about the changes we had made in the TV and radio news coverage.
I gave a short summary of the seven page report we had prepared, suggesting how the president's press office could issue releases and daily schedules that would help the press plan independent coverage instead of mandating word for word coverage after the fact.
Remember that this man has been in this office for 30 years; it would be as if Jimmy Carter was still president since the 1970s. He acknowledged the discussions of the mandatory ceremonial footage on TV giving the impression that he is distant from his people. We are told this was the first time he has publicly discussed the transition from government run media to public service media, at least with outsiders like our team.
We had a specific instance to discuss: the previous day he had visited the Youth Ship, a group of kids selected to travel the entire island chain spreading a message of hope for the future. During the lengthy speeches and ceremonies, there was word of a 7.6 earthquake in Sumatra which was felt as a 4.3 in Male, and a tsunami watch was issued. TV ran a crawl, but radio was afraid to break into the president's speech.
Turns out the president received the alert on his cellphone and was concerned about the possiblility of a tsunami while giving his speech. Of course, he said, the official stuff could be interrupted for a bulletin. He recalled the that hotel bombing occured last fall during a religious program on TV and rumors spread throughout the capital until the program was over and TVM could go on the air with what happened. Turns out that it's okay for news to interrupt as necessary, except during the most important Friday prayers. Hopefully, God won't allow anything bad to happen during that 35 minute period.
We will be following up with the president's press secretary and the man who writes the press releases, so only time will tell if they are willing to change their relationship with the broadcast media.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wild Animals


Huzam covers entertainment for TVM and he's definitely ready for a shot at Entertainment Tonight. He also does a weekly half hour program on entertainment, but struggles to find good story ideas in the small Dhiveli language entertainment industry. I am urging him to think of entertainment more broadly, including video games, art, hobbies, travel and everything else that people do in their spare time.

Tonight he aired a story about the National Geographic programs showing animals "doing it," which is allowed on Maldivian TV while humans are only allowed to be shown holding hands.

We supervised this one pretty closely as we didn't want to see animals humping during the news. The piece came out fine and made an excellent kicker for the prime time news. Good job Huzam!

Oddly, we don't see animals here in Male. The city is so crowded the last thing they need is dog poop on the sidewalks! Besides, dogs are considered unclean in Muslim culture. The only dogs here are the two drug-sniffing police dogs at the airport. We have seen a cat prowling in the TVM parking lot and some people have cats as indoor pets. The Minister of Information raises parrots and has a huge flock of them in his apartment.

Marketplace news


Shifla went to the produce market to do a report on the ample supplies of locally grown produce for sale. We thought that would also mean lower prices. But with oil at over $100 a barrel right now, the local growers are charging more to bring their produce to the city and passing it on to the consumer. So the prices are higher and there are few buyers. By the way, it's considered a man's job to go to the market.
We also visited the nearby fish market where fishermen spread out their catch in buckets and on the disinfected tile floor. We were getting soundbites for a story on a company that is selling a new, more powerful motor to help the boats get father out to sea to catch tuna. The fishermen said they couldn't possibly catch enough tuna to afford the gas. Again, shopping at the fish market is considered a man's job and we saw few women.
Everybody recognized Shifla and complimented her on the way in which she delivers the news. But some walked away muttering "TV Maumoon" or "propaganda." You don't have to speak Dhiveli to understand that the station has an image problem.

Anchorman Wasym


Meet our afternoon anchor Moosa Wasym. I first saw him on the air during the first TVM newscast the we watched in the Maldives. It was horribly produced, but he plowed through the endless on-camera reads with good energy and a killer smile. His body language showed that he was taking charge of the desk and taking a few tips from the anchors he sees on international news networks like AlJazeera English.

Wasym is 24 and worked in the resort industry before going into TV news full time. He was on the road with President Gayoom's official trip during the first two weeks we were here. He came down with food poisoning and had to be hospitalized in Sri Lanka. Now that he is back, we know that he's the right choice for our mid-day 2 and 4 p.m. newscasts.

Yesterday there was a boat factory explosion on one of the islands. Team Wasym was all over it, with live interviews and a report from the scene, plus an update as one of the badly injured workers was airlifted to Male for treatment. Go team Wasym!

Wake up with Shifla!


On Sunday Feb. 10 Shifla Ibrahim launched the new TVM anchor rotation by doing the 7 am morning news for the first time. She has such good energy, and I'm not surprised to learn she is a big fan of Oprah Winfrey. But there's a lot of show doctoring to be done before this is a functioning morning newscast. Simple things, like putting a new lead on the stories that are printed out the night before and looking ahead to stories that will help people plan their day. The first show had no weather information because the weather department, located on the airport island, didn't send any. Even when they send the info, there are no weather graphics for the morning show. Live guests? Sorry, the officials in this country apparently don't get up to be on TV that early. So for now, the Today show and GMA don't have to worry about Maldivian competition. Just wait!

Update: After three days of coming in at 5:30 am to supervise the morning show, I can report that Shifla is showing great leadership. She also does the 10 am news from the outlying atolls and has taken the initiative to book live phone interviews with various bureau reporters when there is news on their island. Her producing team, Hafsy and Nashath, are giving their best effort.
We all went out together for a tuna taco breakfast. Go Team Shifla!

Meet the President

We have been invited to meet President Gayoom to discuss the changes in coverage. We've been told we're the first media trainers to be invited for such a meeting. Details to follow.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Election coverage

As the special Majlis, or parliament, is arguing over the final clauses of the constitution, the Ministry of Information is planning for election coverage, trying to come up with rules to guarantee that it will be "free, fair and transparent." Literally, the whole world is watching. The EU, the British Commonwealth and the UN all have observers and advisors here. We were honored when the Minsitry of Information turned to our team for advice on how to make sure that TV and radio news election coverage is fair to all participants.
Fortunately, Bob has advised on similar issues in the former Soviet countries where he has trained journalists. He proposed a complete package of coverage ideas, ranging from traditional debates to "voice of the people" segments. He is accustomed to officials nodding and smiling and then not doing much. Here in the Maldives, his recommendations were enthusiastically discussed with the focus being on HOW they will put some of these ideas into practice and get the opposition parties on board as part of the plan.
I have some concerns about carving out an independent role for the journalists we are training. With so much talk of time allotments for each of the many sides in this election, it may be impossible to use any real news judgment when the stopwatch is running on every question asked and answered, every campaign event covered or not covered. I would hope they make the distinction we have in the United States between campaign time, in which all sides are treated equally, and bona fide news programs in which journalists strive for for fairness but don't have to balance out to the second. There is also the question of whether the state broadcasters and private broadcasters will be able to sell time to candidates and what the policy should be for equal access on that. With the US election system overtaken by big money advertising, I hope these well-meaning policy makers in the Maldives won't miss their chance to get it right.
Update: Having a presidential debate here may not be as easy as we thought. There was a referendum last year on the question of whether the new government should be a presidential system (like the US) or parliamentary (like Britain). It dissoved into a near riot when an opposition party packed the seats with rowdy supporters. The participants in the debate had to leave the stage.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Tourism Trade


As part of my campaign to encourage the young recruits to get out in the street and report, I went with Maryam Zaima to one of the many businesses in Male making hand-painted t-shirts. The tourists who buy these on the resort islands may not realize that each is a handmade piece of real art by a real artist. It was fascinating to watch the images of sharks, rays, reefs and idyllic beaches come alive at the ends of their brushes.
Zaima (I've nickednamed her Xee) is only 17, but eagerly asks for feedback on all her scripts and will be a good reporter once she gets over some initial shyness. After a few tries, she did a standup like a pro. But she's still basically a teenager. She's inviting my 17 year old son to be her friend on facebook!
The tourism ministry says tourism was up 12.3 percent last year, when 675,889 visitors came to Maldives. That's double the entire population and accounts for 28 percent of the GDP, or $240 million, according to the government.
The t-shirt artist says he needs more help from the government in reaching this booming market. Oh yeah, he is also Zaima's cousin. The problem is that in such a small country you can't prohibit people from doing stories on their distant relatives, because the whole place seems interconnected. So we're saying no stories on your immediate family, and leaving it there.
Update: The field tape has disappeared from Zaima's desk. We don't know if it was stolen or simply misplaced. If anyone in the Male newsroom happens to see it, please return it to me. there will be no questions asked.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Comments welcome!

Just want to emphasize that comments on the blog are welcome. You just have to create a google account, which is free of charge, using your email address and a password. The reason why it's required is to keep spammers from getting on the blog. I don't want spam but I DO want to hear from YOU.

Maldives Ratings

Nielsen is not exactly a household name in the Maldives. Elaine learned in one of the management sessions that they try to measure audience by embedding a question in the programming that requires viewers to send an SMS, or a text response via cellphone. They can tell where the phones are, so then they can make a rough determination about how many people are watching or listening and where they are. Audience research is an entirely new idea here.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Fishing Fun

We were invited to go to a fishing party on the nearby island of Hulhumale. We were interested in seeing this manmade island that is designed to eventually ease overcrowding in the capital city of Male. More on that later.
We traveled by ferry, taxi, motorcycle and foot to a beach where small groups of people were building fires to cook fish. We made a lot of jokes about catching the fish ourselves, but fortunately, the delicious red snapper was caught by someone else earlier today and purchased at the local fish market. Fish doesn't get much fresher than this! Just when we were sitting down on beach sofas to enjoy the meal, a small but furious storm cell blew in. We hurried into a nearby construction office and if you look closely you will see that the fish was served on top of the copy machine!Hilmy, who works for the film classification board, showed me how to eat the fish in true Maldivian style, picking off pieces with your right hand. The blackened crust of chili and lime is what we in the US know as Cajun style. The meat from the head was especially moist and delicious. However, I had to draw the line when Hilmey suggested I eat the eye and the brain. I felt like a contestant on Survivor Maldives, giving up my chance at a million bucks, but I just couldn't do it.
The fish is eaten with bread to cut the spiciness and betel nut is served afterwards to clear the palate. As Hilmy explained, "This is how we ate in the Maldives 100 years ago." I feel fortunate to have experienced this tradition first hand.

Minister's Blog

Here is the link to Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed's blog post about the training for journalists at TVM and VOM. I have to commend him for allowing us the freedom to introduce the "best practices" of journalism from the United States and other democratic countries, without anyone from his ministry -- or anyone else -- dictating what we should do. We are independent journalists training others to be independent.
http://www.mnasheed.com/2008/02/team_terry_training_the_talent.php
By the way, this blog gives excellent insight into the process of building a new democratic constitution from the ground up. Our broadcast news project is only a small part of the picture.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Headline News

I must mention another important improvement in the news programs this week. TVM News has a graphic open that includes boxes for video of the top headline stories, but when the staff doesn't have video they just put a couple of lines of text in the box. It looks bizarre. So today we instituted a new rule that if there is no video we drop the headlines, roll the open and go straight to the anchor.
The technical director, Mustafa came up with a better way to roll the headlines so it moves at a faster pace. Now we have to make some other small fixes, like taking the Charlie Chaplin comedy music out from under the roundups of regional and atoll news. Bob also supervised the studio camera operator in a better way to frame the anchor shot so that the anchors are now shot more tightly and looking directly into the camera. Each of these little changes makes a difference.
More new rules:
No reporter packages over two minutes.
No soundbites over :30 seconds.
No repeating shots in a package.
No jump cuts.
Start with best video first.
Rameez put out a memo to the staff to make these changes official. But it can be hard to get the word out to the young atoll reporters toiling as one-person bands in the far-flung atolls.

Missing Links

One story that slid by me turned out to be significant. On the day that the president returned to Male, two conservative MPs from Britain were in town conferring with the main opposition party, the MDP. We aired a VO/SOT at the top of the B block with soundbites from the visitors. Several people expressed their surprise that this had aired.
We also missed a story due to camera crew problems. We got report that "faculty students" were going on strike at one of the higher education schools. Sure enough, we arrived to find the strikers ready to walk out the door. But then the cameraman got a call saying he should not tape because they needed to save the material that was on the tape in his camera. So... we missed it.
There is an immediate need to organize the camera crews and set some professional standards for them. Right now there is no such thing as an assignment desk, and if you can get a crew at all it's likely that they'll forget a necessary piece of equipment like a microphone cable or a light. A few of the shooters are really talented, so I think it's just a matter of creating a structure and getting the reporters to communicate better with the crews about the equipment needed when planning stories.
Finally, there was an indication that things are getting pretty testy in the special assembly, or majlis, that is hammering out the new constitution. One of our cameramen eyewitnessed one member slapping another! The rules for cameras in the chamber prevented him from getting a picture of it. Initially we heard that this occurred during debate over the presidential clause in the new constitution, but later proved to be a more personal tiff over something that was in the minutes from the previous day. Still, can you imagine what huge news it would be if one member of the US Congress publicly slapped another? We had to have a serious discussion of why this might be news here.

Betelnut Break




I love learning about the local culture, but this custom is not for me. In restaurants and even in government offices, you are offered a small tray of sliced betel nuts with leaves. Chewing on this apparently has a relaxing effect on people. I tried and found it similar to munching on tree bark. I've also heard it can stain your teeth.

Tuna Delights


It's possible to have tuna for breakfast lunch and dinner here, and that's fine with me. Here's a club sandwich that comes with tuna in place of the bacon. In a Muslim country pig products of any kind are not allowed, so there is no bacon or ham. The french fries are awesome and among the best I've tasted anywhere.

You can get chicken here, but it's a special Maldivian kind that... tastes like tuna!

Another face of Islam


I dressed extra conservatively today, knowing that I might be going with Shifla to interview the religious expert. But the expert came to us. He could not have been more different from the stereotype many Americans have of extremists preaching hate. The official Islamic Council declined to comment on the Valentines story, but designated this soft-spoken architect who studies the Quran to explain the religion's view on the topic.
We aired a long soundbite in Dhiveli that boiled down to, "The religion teaches us that we must celebrate our loved ones every day, not just on this one day."
Actually, many of the objections to Valentines Day center on it being a day that is named after a Christian saint. The idea of a holiday for sweethearts would be more acceptable to some people if it were on a date other than Feb. 14 and called something other than Valentines.
Shifla, working with a producer named Afroo, put together a solid report, including two standups and lots of interviews with shopkeepers and customers, in addition to the expert. Even Rameez could agree that it was solid work that was unlikely to cause any trouble.
This package,with interesting b-roll from the shops, stood out from the rest of the boring meeting video that tends to fill up the newscasts. I hope it sets the stage for more coverage of culture and lifestyle here in addition to the all-important politics. I also learned that Maldivians decorate trees and exchange gifts during the time we celebrate Christmas. No religious significance to it, it's just that they enjoy giving gifts.

Valentine's Day Controversy


We can't assume that independence in presidential coverage will carry over to other hot topics in this rapidly changing country. Case in point: Valentine's Day.

Every store in Male seems to be running a special promotion of flowers and other gifts for your sweetheart. It's a booming business! Problem is that it's fundamentally a Christian or pagan holiday (the origins are murky) and definitely NOT Muslim.

If you define news as what people are talking about, this was the day's top story. The morning TV news meeting dissolved into a debate about who was observing the day with their sweetie and who wasn't. So, I assigned Shifla to put together a story about the economic impact of Valentines Day, talk to some young people who are celebrating, and talk with a religious expert about the issues involved. Bob assigned a similar story on the radio side.
Rameez put his foot down and said the story would not air. He recalled a past incident when the programming department aired a Valentines special featuring music that would put you "in the mood" with your loved one. The producer was somehow disciplined, although the exact punishment is not clear to me because there are differing reports on whether there is such a thing as the religious police. We were all pretty frazzled from the presidential coverage battle, Rameez is suffering from a severe cold that is now bordering on pneumonia due to overwork, and the last thing he needs is another battle with religious authorities.

After checking around to make sure I wasn't violating some cultural norms, I feel confident that we can do this story as long as it is balanced and clearly explains the religious view.

The picture shows one of the many displays encouraging people to buy "Love Hampers." One of the more inventive promotions includes a free thong with your purchase of roses.
Update: There were a few negative calls to the newsroom after the English language newscast aired. Afru, one of the English newscast producers, did an English version of Shifla's story. But his standup close was different! He implied that the celebration of Valentines Day has raised the question of whether Maldives is now a "secular country." Ouch! Just because you send a flower to your sweetie doesn't mean you are renouncing an entire religion for the whole country. I would never have approved this standup if I knew he was doing it. Now that TV and radio has editorial independence we have to choose our words carefully. The process of script approval becomes even more important, not for censorship but to make sure we are saying what we mean to say.

A New Day

There was plenty of reaction to the 8 p.m. TV news report on the final day of President Gayoom's trip to Sri Lanka and India, and his return to the Maldives capital, Male.
Without going into details, I am delighted to announce that the outcome was of historic importance: official support for the editorial independence of TV Maldives when reporting on the president. No more handing out lengthy press releases and videos and expecting them to air in their entirety.
This time the discussion lasted much of the night and into the next day and went all the way to the top of the government. Now the challenge will be for the president's office and the media to test and develop this new relationship. A good start would be the daily release of the president's schedule to the TV and radio assignment desks for planning purposes.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Elaine takes over


This is very much a team effort and when I say "we" in these posts I mean Bob, Elaine and myself. Elaine's management training for TV and radio has proved so popular that she is now conducting sessions for other departments in the ministry of information.

Among other things, Elaine teaches the importance of planning and has been shopping around Male for daytimer-type planners that the managers can use. Unfortunately, such organziers do not exist here, except for small calendars with very little space for notations.

Managing people and planning will become more important for these organizations as they transition from government control to a public service broadcasting corporation.

Quantity vs. Quality


TVM keeps good records of the newsroom output. How many American newsrooms actually keep count of the number of stories each person produces each year? This one does. Here's the count for 2007, posted on the newsroom bulletin board. The top individual had more than 6,000 stories! Similar reports are made on a weekly basis, so they know which staff members are generating content.

The problem with this system is that it doesn't also take QUALITY into account. Should a completely unmemorable voiceover of an official meeting get the same credit as a groundbreaking special report that addresses a serious issue like child abuse or constitutional change? Right now it does.

Starting Sunday we will have the anchors in place and now the challenge is for all of the producers and reporters to step up their game and fill the shows with a lot of great content. Quality AND Quantity.

Language Arts

The president is finally back from his trip, along with the VIP camera crew that travels with him. Heena has written a track to go with the last day of the trip, but it is up to me to edit the report and get the 10 minute interview with the press corps on the plane down to a reasonable soundbite. This is not as easy as it sounds because of the language barrier. People seem incapable of finishing a sentence in less than 30 or 40 seconds and it's kind of hard to slice it into a :15 second bite when you don't know where sentences or phrases begin and end. It's a tonal language and also has pauses that can change the meaning. Also it reads from right to left, so all the books and newspapers appear to be printed backwards.
Actually, much of the conversaton around the newsroom is easy to understand because I know the context and because Dhiveli is not very good at adding new words, so a lot of English is mixed in. A typical story meeting would include something like: Blah blah reporter story blah blah video blah blah harbor project blah blah interview blah blah on camera. This translates to: a reporter is getting video of the harbor project and an interview, then doing a standup. (I have to say blah blah because Dhiveli script has its own alphabet and is impossible to reproduce here.)

Designing Women



This is the fun part of the job.
It's hard to find women's business attire in the local stores, and most of the female newscasters have just one or two dark-colored jackets that don't fit well. Others wear more traditional costumes with splashy prints and patterns that are distracting on TV.
A local designer is going to create a look for our female talent. Shamla is a former set designer for TVM who now has a booming business making custom wedding dresses. A custom jacket will probably cost around 250 rufiyaa, or less than $25. We also get to select the fabric and colors. We went to the shop together to be measured but won't be able to select the colors until we know the background color for the new and improved set. I'm also having a jacket made. At these prices I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a custom fit! I'll let you know how it turns out.
Two of the four ladies wear the traditional head scarf or burugaa, which drapes across the chest and looks bunchy on TV. Shamla will design a professional-looking scarf that will complement the jackets. We are including both women who wear it and women who don't, reflecting the diversity within the viewing audience.

School News


The 7 pm newscast at TVM is devoted to school news. People here are fond of saying that one third of the nation wears a school uniform, meaning that there are at least 100,000 kids of school age. Until now, the school news was read by school children. The program had little depth or credibility.
Fortunately, we have Nazleena. She is a former pre-school teacher who spent some time as a reporter in the atolls and then became a full time newscaster. She'll be the anchor and lead reporter of the education show.

Part Time Shift

We had another late night meeting to tell the part-time news readers they will no longer be doing the Sunday through Thursday shows. Because we are short-staffed we will still use some of them on the midnight show and on weekends.
They weren't happy, but most understood that we are trying to emphasize the full time, professional journalists who also take part in gathering the news and writing the shows. We hope that some of these news readers will join us in the training classes and become full time reporters and subsitute anchors. One young man actually showed up at the training the next day. But others, such as a nursery school teacher, are reluctant to give up their other jobs.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Big Step Backward

Just when we thought we had solved the problem of reading government press releases on the air... here we go again.
The president's tour is now in Sri Lanka, and ten minutes before the prime newscast at 8 pm, there is a 15 minute video feed and about 11 pages of press release which the TV station is instructed to air on the news in its entiretly.
Rameez, the news director, is a true journalist and understands the importance of making editorial judgments to air the newsworthy part of the press release. He was able to trim down the first part of the feed and edit two packages with narration, each a whopping three minutes long. But then, someone who has not even bothered to attend our training sessions made the decision to read the rest of the last-minute press release word for word. We sat in shock, watching the newscast run over by more than ten minutes, in addition to the six minutes of coverage Rameez had already edited. It was the usual home movie of the president walking on red carpets, shaking hands and sitting at banquet tables. The English version of the press release was only half a page, two paragraphs on the only actual news here: the fact that the president received a Sri Lankan medal of honor that has never been given to a non-Sri Lankan until now. Somehow I think the president's PR people have figured out that I can rewrite the English one (see earlier post Airtime for Terry) but not the version in Dhiveli. Also, they must think that if they send the material at the last minute, it will air in its entirety because there will be no time for the editing process.
We met with the person who made the decision and let her know that this was BAD JOURNALISM and if there is no breaking news in these last minute releases they should be held and edited for the next newscast. We'll see. Rameez can't do everything. He needs a strong EP to help guide the troops through issues like this, especially as we get closer to the country's first election.

Tonight's top story: Sex Crimes

The big story today was a news conference at the Ministry of Justice to announce harsher penalties for child molesting and public sexual behavior.
A note to my American readers: You should keep in mind that I am in a part of the Maldives that most tourists never see, except for maybe a brief sightseeing tour en route to the airport. On the resort islands you are free to do as you please, alcohol is for sale and skimpy bathing suits are permitted at poolside. These are world class resorts and a huge part of the Maldives economy. I can't wait for a chance to verify for myself that the diving is spectacular. I would hate to discourage anyone from visiting this beautiful country and meeting its people who are, for the most part, friendly and welcoming. However, living in the heart of the capital means the reality of strict Islamic law.
The new penalties call for longer sentences for pedophiles, but also for such things as openly gay behavior. Kissing in the street is a crime. Getting caught behind a locked door with a member of the opposite sex who is not your spouse is punishable by public caning. No sex is permitted outside of marriage, but a man can only be charged with rape if there are four male witnesses. There have been a couple of shocking gang rapes in the news lately. We had an interesting discussion with the 15 year old girl who was translating the English version of this story on whether animalism or beastiality was the appropriate word for sex between humans and animals.
Rilwan did his usual good job with the news conference, and we got vox pop (the British term for man on the street) interviews from one of the atolls. Not surprisingly the reaction to the new penalties was all positive, including a bite from the newly formed human rights commission. In fact, people think the human rights commission should be calling for even harsher penalties for rapists and pedophiles.

Street Scene


Shooting the second part of the auto repair workshop story involved taking a camera crew into the streets of the capital, Male, one of the most crowded cities in the world. Not much of a sidewalk, so you have to stand in the one-lane street. this picture makes it look a lot more spacious than it is. Motorcycles zipped around us as we interviewed the workshop owner and got soundbites from neighboring moms who say their kids can't sleep because of all the noise. Worse, the repair guys are doing open flame welding next to huge tanks filled with who knows what. It's easy to see why this is a major inferno waiting to happen.

But then there was one of the little moments that make this all worthwhile. A mom in traditional dress was leading her uniformed schoolgirl daughter by the hand. The mom stopped and pointed, clearly telling her daughter that this was the famous Heena from TVM. Heena may not know it, but she's already a role model for the next generation of young girls and future journalists.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Heartbreak Kids


Kids everywhere love to wave at news vans, and these cuties sit in front of the house that is next to our hotel.

Child abuse is a huge problem here and it usually comes up when people are discussing story ideas. Noora arranged for me to have lunch with a SriLankan reporter for AFP. She told me that UNICEF and other NGOs are growing frustrated with their inability to catch the predators. The usual custom is to banish the abuser who is free to vicitmize children somewhere else. Where's Dateline NBC when you need them?

The Sri Lankan is here to train business reporters. Business reporting is pretty difficult when there is no requirement for companies to disclose real financial statements.

Coconut Break



While on location, we took a break for coconut milk, called kurumba. There was a stand where guys were whacking at "young coconuts" with a machete. You drink straight from the coconut out of a straw. The second picture shows the cameraman and me enjoying the refreshing juice, but I'm told that these were not very sweet.