Focus group

It's an exciting time to be a Maldivian and the people at this meeting knew it. We sat around a table with the headmaster of a large local school, the head of the women's committee, and various planning and development officials. All welcomed the changes at TVM and wanted to see more creative programming. They lamented the fact that the island kids are turning to Indian channels via satellite because the Maldivian official channel is too boring. We assured them that more changes are on the way and that started a lively discussion. The schoolmaster even invited me to come and speak to his students to encourage them to consider journalism as a career. I wish I had been able to stay long enough to take him up on it.