Body Pump!

DhiTV ran a Maldivian version of "The Biggest Loser." The host of the show, called "Dream Body" introduced me to the personal trainer who helped him lose 40 pounds. His wife teaches at a gym called "The Body Club" and when I went there for a workout, I was suprised to find two excellent Les Mills Body Pump Instructors, Maai and Hishko. They would fit right in at 24 Hour fitness, where I teach as a part time Group Exercise instructor in California. They kept up the energy throughout the one-hour class with excellent form and perfect cueing. Hishko also teaches an aqua class at the artificial beach, seen here on a typical evening. Notice that the women swim completely clothed, including a head veil if they wear it.Hishko also has a special story to tell. Her baby boy died last year of a congenital heart defect, when he was only two months old. After struggling to get a lifesaving operation in India, she and her husband started a non-profit organization called "Tiny Hearts." Until now, no one was even keeping track of Maldivian children with similar heart problems. Now, the organization is raising money to help 80 families with kids in need of medical care . TV newscasters from all the stations will be playing a soccer match for charity to help raise money and local companies including the Holiday Inn are helping out with contributions.Finally, Maai, Hishko and one of their friends showed me the World Cup dance they are planning to perform in a parade this Saturday to the Shakira song "For Africa." In addition to being great dancers, they are also outstanding human beings and I am proud to know them.

Royal Garden

Just when I thought I'd seen everything in this jam-packed capital city of one square mile, a new discovery. A restaurant operating in the former home of Maldivian kings, near the historic Islamic Center. The building dates back hundreds of years, and is hemmed in on three sides by cement hi-rises. It will probably be torn down, I'm told, unless the government steps in to save it.

Voice of the People

You can only transmit so much information about journalism in a classroom. DhiTV allowed me to hit the streets with one of their camera crews for a story about a local family that can't pay its electric bills. Salaries for civil servants have been cut in half, while power bills went up dramatically. The family of Husain Rasheed was cut off for non-payment and the father, who is also an artist, is trying to sell a few paintings to pay the power bills. Otherwise, he'll have to borrow money every month, falling deeper in debt. "I can't provide the bare necessities for my children," he said. "Otherwise, what good is a father?" So far the family has not qualified for any kind of subsidy.Shooting a story about "real people" proved challenging to the crew. They forgot the light kit, and needed coaching to encourage family members to share their feelings. But we came away with a slice of life that is rarely seen on TV here. We decided to hold the story in hopes of getting some solid number of how many families are in a similar situation. STELCO, the public utility, was closed on Saturday and had no public relations person available.Less successful was an attempt to get "real people" to comment on the latest party-switching by the politicians. It's not a question a normal person can answer, and most reacted by telling the Dhi-TV journalists to go away.One small victory: using a graphic to show how the seat-switching would affect the majority coalition building in the Majlis, or parliament. The channel has a full time graphic artist but rarely takes advantage of the opportunity. Here's Bishara, one of the presenters, working with him to make sure the party numbers are correct. The final graphic had a mistake in it, but I think they got the idea of explaining the news, rather than just showing the talking heads.
Update: the story on the Stelco family finally aired on Thursday June 3, on both the 8 and 10 pm news programs. Stelco, surprisingly, did not have any figures for how many customers have been disconnected! The government is providing a subsidy at the moment, at least until the upcoming local elections, so there are fewer shutoffs. Good job by the DhiTV team!

The Third Rail

If you believe that "news is what people are talking about" the biggest story here is the preaching of Dr. Zakir Naik. He's a Muslim scholar from India, and he would be comparable to the late Billy Graham in terms of his ability to fill a stadium for his talks on religion. Over two days, about one-fourth of the population of the capital city came to hear him, and the event was televised live on state-run TV Maldives. What you didn't see on TV was a Maldivian man who admitted he no longer believed in Islam. TVM didn't show the "huge brawl" that broke out, as the crowd proceeded to beat the man. Islamic law requires that a Muslim who becomes a non-believer must be hanged, but there's no death penalty in Maldives so a lengthy prison term is more likely. There's already a Facebook group dedicated to his punishment and a crowd gathered outside the police station where he was being held, demanding his beheading!
The Maldives constitution requires that all citizens be Muslims. TV coverage of this consisted of taking a picture of the relevant phrase in the constitution. I tried to help a young reporter develop the story with pictures of people worshipping and talking about the importance of their religious faith, but in a city where thousands answer the call to prayer five times daily in dozens of mosques, he came back with video of buildings, not people, and it was too late to make the news.
Dr. Naik also criticized Maldivian resorts for profiting from the sale of alcohol, which is "haram" or forbidden by the religion. He suggested that the resorts instead cater only to Muslim tourists and stop serving alcohol. To give you some idea of the huge profits involved, I paid $14 for one glass of Australian table wine on my resort visit. But the idea of doing a TV story on the revenue produced by alcohol sales was dismissed as too controversial. Religion is definitely the third rail for politicians here. An attempt to allow alcohol sales to foreign visitors on the roof of the new Holiday Inn backfired by causing the repeal of ALL liquor permits for foreigners in the capital city. On the rooftop of Male's highest building, with its infinity pool and sweeping view of the airport island and nearby resorts, you would swear you were at a Hollywood club, except that the drinks are "mocktails."

Spa Bliss

Maldives is entering the rainy season, a slow time for the resorts. The Vadoo resort had a half-empty feeling, and most of the visitors were Chinese couples. Since the Euro economic downturn, China has accounted for more visitors to Maldives and they don't spend as much on such things as cocktails and spa treatments. Like the many Chinese passing through my hotel in Male, they are mostly here to snap lots of photos of each other.So, business has been pretty slow at the Coconut spa, where the Balinese spa technicians gave me the red carpet treatment. Prices were only slightly lower than what you might pay at Burke-Williams, a total of $143 for a one-hour Balinese Dream massage and a Refresher facial that involved covering my face with honey and cucumbers. I felt like a salad but woke up with smoother and brighter skin. The treatment rooms have a panoramic view of the ocean.A bit of resort history. Vadoo was the location of the very first resort bungalow in Maldives, some 30 years ago. Now, it's a museum of island life. The resort has 50 newly renovated water villas.

One Day Vacation

Snorkeling, spa and relaxing by the pool. That's what some people might think I'm doing here in a country that is famous for posh resorts. Actually, it's not easy to get to a resort on my rare day off from teaching. But this is a small country filled with family connections, and the manager of my Male hotel has a relative in the resort industry. He arranged for a one day visit to Vadoo resort. I got up early to take the ferry. For me it was a ride to paradise, but for the other passengers it was the bus to work.
We were welcomed with a refreshing towel and iced tea. Umair and Shifana showed me around this slice of paradise, a jewel of a resort with a lush garden and a sparkling oceanfront infinity pool as its centerpiece. From here, we grabbed some snorkeling gear to check out the house reef. As a certified PADI diver, I'm usually disappointed by snorkeling, but there was plenty of live coral here and a dropoff to deeper water with huge groupers and other colorful fish.
Next... a visit to the spa!

Fashion Statements

One change I've noticed since my last visit to Maldives: more young women wearing the hijab, which is known here as the burugaa. Here are some pictures of one DhiTV newscaster who began wearing the burugaa after her recent wedding. In Maldives, it is theoretically a matter of choice, although there is religious pressure for women to reveal their hair only to their husbands, fathers and brothers. In my opinion, the burugaa focuses more attention on the woman's face, and especially her eyes. When worn on TV, it's important to follow the rule of solid bold colors and avoid patterns and prints. It's okay to hold the scarf in place with a jeweled pin, as long as it's not too distracting. Another challenge is to wrap the scarf so that it does not look too bunchy around the neck or interfere with the placement of the microphone. In researching additional tips, I discovered there is an entire web TV channel devoted to fashionable hijabs. Check it out at http://www.hijab.tv/ Talk about niche programming! Of course, some newscasters choose not to wear a head covering and the fashion choices are all over the place. Aside from the wardrobe issues, the shot is just too wide. Also, there are some odd shot compositions like this double over-the-shoulder box on TVM. This is not a wide shot toss to break or bump back, the newscaster is actually reading a story but gets lost between the double images.

Public and Private Diplomacy

While I was conducting public diplomacy with Maldivian journalists, the real diplomats were busy a few blocks away at the president's office and the Holiday Inn, Male's newest and most posh hotel. For days, the story dominating the news in Maldives has been President Nasheed's decision to accept two former detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The government reasons that there's a lot to gain by helping the US meet President Obama's goal of closing the detention facility. The presence of the US Ambasador at a regional anti-terrorism conference indicates that Maldives will be getting US aid for its security concerns. However, the opposition party is fighting the deal and the battle has all the intrigue of a Hollywood thriller. The opposition claims the US has already smuggled the detainees into Maldives, and there are charges that secret diplomatic documents on the deal were leaked to the other side. The story has generated an endless stream of talking heads, as every politician in this country seems to have an opinion about whether this action will turn Maldives into a safe haven for extremists. It's one of those important stories that has few visuals, so I couldn't have picked a worse time to try to encourage the TV journalists here to get some B-roll once in a while.

DhiTV and DhiFM Talent

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.

Journalists with Class

They're not your usual college journalism students. The first-ever Diploma in Journalism class at the College of Higher Education in Maldives is a remarkable and accomplished group. Many of them began working in media after completing their "O" levels, or the US equivalent of 10th grade. Now, they are working and attending school to earn the equivalent of a community college AA degree. Maldives has no four-year university of its own, and a college degree generally means leaving the country. This program will make it possible for Maldivians to enter the journalism profession fully trained in newsgathering, multimedia and ethics.
In the first year, the program focuses on language skills in English and Dhivehi, as well as the history of Maldives, government, and the environment. The practical skills courses are scheduled for the second year, and it remains to be seen if the college can acquire the equipment and instructors necessary to create an online student news channel for video, podcasts, online and print stories. To further complicate the situation, the college building is scheduled to be demolished for a housing site and it isn't clear where the program will end up.
Among the familiar faces in the group are Shamu, who was in my "new batch" of island reporters in 2008, and Fatimath, who is already a popular anchor on TVM. One of the students is a leading analyst on TVM's World Cup show. Others are working at Voice of Maldives radio, DhiTV and the Haveeru newspaper. But their training has been limited by the type of press release journalism that has always been practiced here. Today's workshop focused on finding ways to include ordinary citizens in official stories, and it was a challenge for some of the students to name a "real person" they'd like to interview. They reflexively named the president or a government official because that is all they ever see on the news. Once they got into the spirit of the exercise, they had no problem gathering soundbites to show opinion or emotion.
Getting these stories into the professional media is another matter. One student had pitched a story on changes in the high school curriculum to make Islamic studies and Dhivehi "optional." So far, no one has bothered to ask students, teachers or parents what THEY think about the proposed change, because their bosses think only of waiting for the education minister to hold a news conference announcing the decision. Here's hoping the college will find the resources to allow these talented young professionals to put their innovative ideas into action. One of the students made my day by saying that this workshop was the most useful class they've had so far. I can only hope it's the first of many more to come.

Rules of engagement

Just to clarify my previous post, freedom of speech means exactly that: speech. In my country, when a protester says something like, "Let's take back the government," it means something like, "Let's get organized for the next election so we can vote our party into office." They don't mean they are going to jump over the wall at the White House. Here, people take such comments quite literally as in, "Let's jump over the gate and take over the government RIGHT NOW!" At that point, the right to free speech becomes illegal trespass on secure government property and the police have every reason to move in. This guy crossed the line by trying to jump the gate at the vice-president's house. Freedom of speech also carries with it a responsibility to play by the rules. People here should have more freedom to express their opinions through media, which are filled with official statements and zero comments from ordinary citizens.

Political Protest

I've heard a lot of debate about the role of the media in covering street protests here. On Saturday night, people gathered outside the home of the Vice President to protest his meeting with the opposition DRP party. The election system here allows for a president and vice president to be from different parties, and the protesting MDP supporters felt that the VP had betrayed President Nasheed by having talks with the other side. A few people chanted slogans and cops hustled one man into a van, but otherwise it was a pretty peaceful exercise in political free expression. The always capable PIO Shiyam was there to keep the media informed. Cops formed a human chain to clear the block around the VP's home, which is next to the Justice Ministry. They had backup from specially trained police SWAT teams.
Cameramen from all the TV stations did their job without inciting the crowd in any way. The protest was the lead story on TVM, a small item on Dhi TV and VTV used the protest b-roll over a live interview with a DRP member. In short, protestors, police and press all performed as you would expect in a democratic system that allows free expression.
I'm told that the situation is somewhat more volatile when the opponsition party is holding the protest, so we'll see what happens this week when DRP is planning to protest the increase in electricity bills.
Note: anyone using these photos, kindly give credit to Terry Anzur Coaching Blog.

A Green Question

Thanks, in part to the brilliant public relations move of holding an underwater cabinet meeting, Maldives is known throughout the world as the country that could disappear from the map due to rising sea levels. However, with all the talk of turning this into a green paradise for sustainable energy, Maldivians are not very considerate of the environment around the capital. This floating trash was in the harbor right outside the foreign ministry and the president's office and it gets worse in the areas of the harbor that are basically an outdoor sewer for the fishing boats. I should point out that it is a very different story on the resort islands where the waters are pristine.