The second day of the Sri Lanka news workshop focused on storytelling skills. In the aftermath of the war there's a tendency to see everything as pro-government or anti-government, so we discussed civic journalism as a way of finding the middle ground to tell the human stories of the real people affected by policies and events.
After the tea break, I learned a lot from the role-playing exercise that was designed to encourage questions that get to the heart of how a person feels. One team portrayed an interview with music fan who worried she wouldn't get her money back for a rap concert that was cancelled; the rapper Akon offended some Sri Lankans with a video that briefly showed a woman in a bikini with her back turned to a Buddha image. The independent TV station, which had sponsored the concert, was later attacked by people throwing stones. Another team acted out an interview with a displaced Tamil who was separated from his family members in the relocation process. Another team addressed the shortage of medicine in hospitals in their mock interview with a mother who can't get the drugs her sick child needs. We also looked at local web pages and discussed the use of natural sound for more effective radio stories. Again, the lively discussion made the day go by quickly. Many thanks to everyone for their enthusiastic participation. Here's hoping we can continue the conversation on Facebook!
The second day of the Sri Lanka news workshop focused on storytelling skills. In the aftermath of the war there's a tendency to see everything as pro-government or anti-government, so we discussed civic journalism as a way of finding the middle ground to tell the human stories of the real people affected by policies and events. 
After the tea break, I learned a lot from the role-playing exercise that was designed to encourage questions that get to the heart of how a person feels. One team portrayed an interview with music fan who worried she wouldn't get her money back for a rap concert that was cancelled; the rapper Akon offended some Sri Lankans with a video that briefly showed a woman in a bikini with her back turned to a Buddha image. The independent TV station, which had sponsored the concert, was later attacked by people throwing stones. Another team acted out an interview with a displaced Tamil who was separated from his family members in the relocation process. Another team addressed the shortage of medicine in hospitals in their mock interview with a mother who can't get the drugs her sick child needs. We also looked at local web pages and discussed the use of natural sound for more effective radio stories. Again, the lively discussion made the day go by quickly. Many thanks to everyone for their enthusiastic participation. Here's hoping we can continue the conversation on Facebook!
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