R.I.P. Flip

One of the best products EVER is the Flip camera. It slips easily into a purse or a briefcase and with the touch of a button, it's ready to record an hour or two of video, depending on the model, and it can even be in high def. Then, the flip-out USB port and self-contained software make it a snap to edit, make a simple movie and instantly post it to the internet to share with friends.
I especially like the battery powered models. If I'm on the road, I don't have to hunt for an electrical outlet and a USB port to recharge; just slip in fresh batteries and I'm good to go.
My coaching clients love the Flip. For private clients who are learning to be comfortable on camera, the Flip is much less threatening than massive TV gear. I can instantly show their progress from the beginning of the session to the end. It's a good ice breaker in group sessions when I have everyone introduce themselves to the Flip camera, and it's a sneaky way for me to record a name and a face for each participant. I've sometimes joked that I could finance entire foreign trips with a suitcase full of Flip cameras. I brought one as a gift to the Maldives and the entire country wanted one! I could have sold lots of them for double the price. Unfortunately, we couldn't get Cisco to ship overseas. I also got the cold shoulder from Cisco when I tried to work out a deal for a mass purchase for my students.
Which brings me to one of the dumbest business decisions EVER. Cisco is plugging the plug on the Flip. Read the press release here: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Cisco-Restructures-Consumer-Business-NASDAQ-CSCO-1426209.htm
The irony is that if you go to Cisco's site, there's endless preaching about the importance of online video. Sure, the Flip isn't perfect. The built-in microphone is cheesy and I was really excited when they came out with a model that allows for a port to plug in a real microphone. I bought a brand new Flip Ultra HD in anticipation of the microphones being available. I'm still waiting!
I can't even imagine life without Flip. I bought one for my brother for Christmas, and I can count on getting a video of every time my neice gets a base hit in a softball game. I've used mine to record and share the musical talents of my son and all of his friends. Even stupid pet tricks.
According to Cisco, the Flip can't compete with the video capabilities of smartphones and tablets. So I guess at my next coaching session, I'm supposed to hold up a phone and tell my clients to speak into it? Here's hoping that some company with an understanding of this useful product will take it over and support Flip fans everywhere.

Public Relations Video Star

The president's press office is producing a video version of my strategic communications workshop, starring... me! My dear friend and colleague, Mohamed Hilmy, also happens to be one of the most respected film makers in Maldives, so I know the material is in good hands. We recorded the standups in the courtyard of the president's office, and Hilmy will edit them to include some of the video examples from the training course.
Preparing the script gave me a chance to spend a little time in one of my favorite places: Hilmy's house. Like most Maldivian families, several generations live together. Old time Maldivian families had huge blocks of land which have been subdivided over the years, with each child getting their share.
During my visit here, Hilmy's wife served delicious coffee and his adult sons built a huge bird cage that is now filled with rare finches. The family's cats spend hours licking their chops and fantasizing about the meal on the other side of the wire. There's also a new litter of kittens; there are no veterinarians in Maldives so spay/neuter is not an option. The garden is a little slice of island life in the city. The small bananas from their trees are unbelievably sweet. There's even a parrot who speaks English!
Update: after the recording session, I learned that Hilmy's mother was hospitalized in serious condition. I send all good wishes for the recovery of this remarkable woman. Among other things, she is the poet who wrote the lyrics for the "Think Nation" song for our team's voter education program in 2008.

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!

Pro-active Public Relations Workshop

Maldives is encouraging a more open exchange of information between government agencies and the public, and the strong turnout for the workshop in Strategic Public Relations reflected the demand for training in this area. The 56 participants represented just about every significant agency and public company in the country, including education, customs, water and power utilities, prisons, pensions, fishing, religion, elections and many more.
The first day focused on stating your message with crisis, conflict and resolution. Reporters love conflict, and public relations practitioners need to resist their natural tendency to avoid it. Instead, they must embrace the issues and provide answers through the media. I used the flip camera to encourage participants to focus on eye contact as they delivered their mission statements. We discussed how dominant "alpha dog" stories affect the public perception of any agency or company, using the example of how climate change has defined the world's image of the Maldives, to the exclusion of any other important issues; virtually every foreign reporter who comes here only wants to do stories about the sinking islands, ignoring other such dramatic stories as the rise of extremism, emerging democracy and the economic difficulties for such industries as fishing and tourism. Customs wanted to change the public perception that they are responsible for rising consumer prices; residents of the man-made island Hulhulmale blame the development corporation for shoddy construction of their flats; and participants eagerly debated the role of the water utility in providing a double standard for tap and bottled water.
The lively debate continued right up until prayer time. Many thanks to the Islamic center for providing the audio visual facilities that made this interactive multimedia workshop possible. Of course, Mr. Hilmy, my co-presenter from the president's press office, made sure to make each discussion point relate to the cultural context of the Maldives. This is a Fulbright workshop funded by the US State Department, and judging from the enthusiasm of the participants, it will have some impact.
I write this as a pounding rain falls outside my hotel window. If the monsoon season doesn't start until June, I can't imagine what next month will bring.

Press Freedom Day

Press Freedom Day isn't a big deal in the US. After all, we have our first amendment, which guarantees that Congress shall make "no law" interfering with freedom of speech and of the press. But May 3 is a big day in parts of the world where journalists and ordinary citizens are taking action to assert this important right. As I pack my bags to travel to Sri Lanka and Maldives, my journalism friends in Maldives are planning a series of events to raise awareness of press freedom. Best regards and I'll see you on May 15 in Male to begin training for both public relations officers and news managers. I also look forward to working with the very first class of journalism diploma students at the College of Higher Education. Let's make EVERY day press freedom day!

A Stylish Change

A number of stylish new shops are springing up in Male, but none better than "Temptress." This is the brainchild of Noora Ali and Aishath Hana, who have embarked on a new career as entrepreneurs since leaving the government. They assemble the collection in India and each handcrafted piece is exquisite and well-priced. They also have a translation and media training business.Following last year's election, the entire country played a game of musical chairs. Except for low-level civil servants, just about everyone is in a new job. It was so much fun to have a coffee with these two talented women and catch up!

How I Missed the Plane but Got the Deal

First, I want to stress that I don't blame anyone but myself for this. Frankly, three weeks of living out of a suitcase, midnight meetings and strange surroundings have taken their toll. To the point where I didn't realize that I had gotten one numeric day behind with my computer still showing the date in the US. I was sure I was leaving on the 31st, so I had plenty of time to spend a day in a resort. The Maldivians were sure I could even squeeze in one more meeting before going to the airport on Sunday.
Just when I was feeling like the luckiest person on the planet, my dream had a rude awakening when I went online to check in for my flight. It was ALREADY the 31st and the plane was already leaving. Worse, a sudden torrential rainstorm destroyed any thoughts of a mad dhoni dash to the airport island. What to do?
I hit the panic button when the Maldivians and the British Airways help desk in the UK had never heard of Face to Face and weren't sure they could rebook my ticket. Fortunately, BA came through in a huge way, rebooking me on their next flight two days later. There was also the problem of losing the prepaid room I had booked for the overnight jaunt from Gatwick to Heathrow to catch my final flight to Los Angeles. I'll have to pay for another one at last-minute prices, plus two extra days back in Male.
Going back to Male meant another chance to work with the dean of the college to put the finishing touches on the application for a Fulbright grant from the United States to continue the mid-career media training program here. If it's approved, I'll be returning in May and June to focus on improving the relationship between government public relations and working journalists, as well as specialized training for TV stations and others. I also was able to connect with some of the colleagues I hope to work with at the College of Higher Education to help implement their new journalism certificate program.
But this time I'm not taking any chances. I've already checked in and plan to be there early for the flight tomorrow. It's been an awesome trip, but it's time to go HOME.

Public Diplomacy

The main point of my visit is trying to enlist a Maldivian partner organization for a Fulbright specialist grant from the US State Department. But it's also a chance to catch up with some of the outstanding professionals I met at TV Maldives on the last two trips. Environmental reporter Huzam Hamid and Jadullah Thaufeeq (JD), a producer for the English bulletin, are big fans of American movies and speak English with near native fluency. They translate CNN and Reuters into Dhivehi and then translate the Dhivehi bulletin into English. They are also multitalented guys, who produce, present and report in the field. TVM is lucky to have them. This was a fun evening and public diplomacy at its best... fellow journalists sharing stories and comparing the broadcasting practices of our two countries.

Back "Home" to Maldives

At last I have reached the destination of my Face of Opportunity trip: Male, the capital city of the Maldives. For those new to this blog, I spent four months last year consulting the state-run media here as they prepared for their first multiparty presidential election. The voters elected a former dissident, whose opposition MDP party encouraged supporters to paint their houses yellow. "Anni" is now known by his actual name, President Mohammed Nasheed.There are more than 100,000 people here, crammed into less than one square mile of space, and construction crews toil all night long to make the buildings even higher, even though they are supposed to stop at midnight. Unfortunately my initial room at the Central Hotel was next to one of these all-night projects, so now I've moved to a different room and it's all good. The hotel has a lovely rooftop restaurant and it's a great place to meet with people.It's also a great vantage point for the call to prayer which seems to ring out from every direction. You can look down and see the people walking to mosque. Hard to believe I'm only blocks from the ocean in every direction because the development is so intense it blocks the view of the water. I walked down the familiar main street to a cell phone store to get a local mobile number.
From the moment I stepped out of the island airport last night and took the "dhoni" across the water to the city, it felt somewhat like coming "home."

For sale: Maldives Media

Regular readers of this blog know that I spent several months training newscasters at Television Maldives and Voice of Maldives last year. I was the lead consultant on a highly successful training program that prepared young broadcast journalists to provide free and fair coverage of the Islamic republic's first democratic election, including a candidates' debate. Although we made more dramatic progress in TV than in radio, the program brought a positive change to state-run media that previously had broadcast little more than propaganda and had never granted airtime to the opposition. Voters went to the polls and elected a former opposition leader to replace the president who had ruled for decades.
However, the election result appears to have derailed media reform. Although I cannot view TV Maldives newscasts from the US, some Maldivians have told me that the programs have reverted to reading government press releases with less emphasis on independent journalism. The state-run TV and radio stations are now run by a board of the new president's appointees and the BBC is reporting that Anni, as he is popularly known, is visiting the UK to seek private investment in the public channels. Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/d3rnxj. There is no longer talk of a broadcasting bill that would create a true public service broadcaster, such as PBS and NPR in the United States or the BBC in the UK.
I am not Maldivian, so I can't say what the people want. From an American perspective, President Nasheed doesn't seem to have an idea of what to do with TVM except to control it or to sell it. I can only hope that the people who got our training will someday rise to the top or the next government will be more aware of the role of the press in educating the voters. It may be difficult for Anni to find investors. A public service station cannot be profit making and will always require some kind of funding from the government, such as the public broadcasting we have in the US or UK. Private stations can make money by running Hindi music videos or whatever, but there should be a state broadcaster to provide quality cultural programs and independent news in Dhivehi. I doubt any private investors will be interested, because TVM doesn't make money and I am guessing they would be required to provide programs in Dhivehi, which cost money to make. An investor would want to buy cheap programs from other countries and sell lots of ads. But the potential audience is only about 300,000 men, women and children. Rich tourists provide the country's major revenue, and would be an attractive target for advertisers, but tourists don't go to resorts in an island paradise to watch TV in a language they don't understand.
The DRP, the party of the former legal reform minister and the losing side in the election, had the foresight to fund journalism education for the young TV and radio reporters whose skills are needed to inform the voters in this emerging Islamic democracy. I'd welcome the opportunity to work with the new government in requesting US support for additional journalism training to strengthen the TV and radio newsrooms of both public and private stations. Here's hoping that the party now in power won't lose sight of the importance of broadcasting that truly serves the public interest as Maldives defines its future.
I invite and welcome ALL comments! And sign up for my Twitter feed (on the right side of the screen) to be informed of new posts.
Update: Read an excellent post on this issue at: http://www.mnasheed.com/2009/04/on-the-maldives-national-broadcasting-corporation/

Anchor Blues

This picture makes it hard to tell that the TVM news studio is about the size of a large walk-in closet. The front of the camera is only two feet away from the set and behind it there is barely enough room for the camera operator. The prompter is so close that you see the anchors' eyes shifting back and forth when they read. The desk is a straight line and the result is a comical lineup when they have guests on the set, not to mention that they end up being shot in profile like "talking ears." The picture you see is what passes for the "wide" bump shot of the set. There is actually a whole second level to the set, but you can't get back far enough to get it in the shot.
Across the hall is a spacious studio with a set for current affairs programs. We will immediately move the news set to the bigger studio.
Harder to fix is the fact that people aren't exactly standing in line for anchor jobs. The job title "anchor" doesn't exist in this system. Everyone here is a "newscaster" who is interchangeable as a reporter, anchor, producer or camera person. It's considered a low-paid stepping stone on the way up to a higher position off-air, so many of the newscasters are part-time news readers or kids who try to do everything and end up being good at nothing. There is a schedule, but it's not unusual for someone to find out they're anchoring 30 minutes before the show. There is little video in the show, few packages or VO/SOTS, and anchoring often means reading five minute blocks of copy on camera without a break or a chance to catch your breath. The IFB's main function is to allow people to yap in the anchors' ears while they are reading, demanding they instantly fix mistakes in the copy that should have been edited out before they went on the air. The result is that most of them look scared, confused and unprofessional.
One of the shining exceptions is the woman you see here: Heena. She has that rare ability to communicate with the camera. She is a leader in the newsroom, functioning as an unofficial deputy assistant news director when she isn't reporting or anchoring. No college education, learned her skills on her last job in the programming department. She is a 28-year-old single mom with a young daughter. People get married early here, but they also get divorced early. Heena has family members who watch her daughter during the insane number of hours she works at the station. Sixteen hour days are pretty normal around here, six days a week, with some also working on their one day off.