Conversation Maldives

The Conversation Maldives program is a weekly discussion show in English. Gary and I were invited to talk about the media training project and our impressions of Maldives. The host, Jamila, was well prepared and expertly guided the conversation. She is a former part-time news reader for TVM, but no longer does the news because she holds a high post in the education ministry. The discussion covered every aspect of our training over the past six months as TVM has been transformed from a government mouthpiece to a credible news organization that makes every effort to be open to all sides. We also talked about the challenges of teaching teenagers to be network TV reporters. I should also mention that Gary led TVM to create a new talk show called "Siyasaath," or Politics, modeled after Meet the Press. The show premiered the week before we left with independent presidential candiate Hassan Saeed as the guest. The show also included an audience question regarding the canceled presidential debate. More than 2,000 people responded (an amazing number in a country with only 300,000 population, one third of them children) with SMS messages indicating they definitely want to see all the candidates on stage at the same time. So, in a weird way, the cancellation of the first debate may actually have stimulated voter interest in watching a debate when it is finally held.