Your Criticism is Our Progress?

We arrived for our initial meeting at VOM to discover that Badru has already brought all of the reporters in from the outying islands. He may be trying to impress us with sheer numbers and says they will all be staying in the capital for the entire two months of the program.
Few "radio voices" here. I could barely hear their introductions over a loud air conditioner.

The morning assignment meeting revealed a very different agenda from the TV side. The assignment editor feels that the day's top story is the EU's decision to cut back subsidies to the Maldives because of the improvement in economic conditions. We suggested they talk to a businessman instead of just getting a comment from the appropriate minister. A new water treatment plant? Same suggestion: talk to the people who will be drinking the water. It sounded unlikely that they would actually do this.
We also suggested they cross-promote the TV story on prison rehabilitation as part of another prison story they were planning. Actually getting this to happen seems about as likely as lasting peace in the Middle East.
Our meeting with the minister was pushed back as Badru proudly led us on a tour of the studios and insisted we stop in the cafeteria for a neon-colored drink. He pointed to a sign in Dhivehi which proclaims the motto of VOM: "Your criticism is our progress."