DhiTV was the first private TV station in Maldives, and DhiFM is a thriving radio station with lively talk and music programs as well as news. They collaborate on someting called "Visual Radio" in which the radio hosts are televised. However, they face the same challenge as the rest of the broadcast media: advancing beyond press release journalism to give real citizens a voice in their government.
The DhiFM newsroom was filled with reporters working the phones, but I got the feeling that they don't venture out much, except for press conferences. Natural sound radio pieces are pretty rare.
Due to budget constraints, many of the news presenters on DhiTV are part timers, so they struggle to compete with state-run TVM and its full-time star newscasters. However, they are dedicated to getting better at their craft. We spent some time in the studio and also did some exercises on the first day of training to build awareness of the emotional connection to the stories.
It was nice to see Azfa, one of my former trainees from TVM, now married and wearing a burugaa, and much more mature in her approach to the business and life in general.
Some of the presenters volunteered to stay for the afternoon training for field reporters. Again, it was a challenge for them to work in teams and generate story ideas that would show how government policy is affecting real people.
All of the newscasts could benefit from more video of ANYTHING. It's not unusual to have a newscast consist entirely of talking heads, except for the international news and sports from APTN. 
CEO Yoosuf Nawaal is looking to quicken the pace of the program with tighter writing and better production values, so I'll try to help in that area tomorrow.
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