Tale of Two Elections

While the US presidential campaign winds down to its final month, Maldives is counting down the days to its first multiparty presidential election. Here's a look at the candidates. The new constitution requires the new president to be chosen by Oct. 10, so in the Maldivian tradition of meeting deadlines at the last possible moment, the voting will take place on Oct. 8 with results to be announced the following day. Compared to the American election cycle, which begins as soon as the previous election is over, the Maldivians are actually moving at breakneck speed, even managing to have two televised debates so far, one for the presidential candidates and another for their running mates. I was sorry I couldn 't be there as TVM and Think Nation carried out the template that was developed during our training, but they did an excellent job. If you'd like to check out the results, go to the video on demand section of http://www.tvm.gov.mv/. It's all in Dhivehi, so Americans won't understand the content, but you can check out the production values. For translations, go to http://www.minivannews.com/.

The Influence of Facebook

Anytime the TV Maldives news staff is on the computer, it's a good bet that they are on the social networking site Facebook. I wanted to blog about the tremendous influence of this site, created for US college students, among Maldivian teens and twenty somethings. However, getting a picture of someone on Facebook was nearly impossible because they would quickly hide the screen anytime I approached to see what they were doing.

The influence isn't all good. Some people have jeopardized their jobs by posting pictures that would be tame by US standards but are considered too revealing in an Islamic society. It's also a huge time waster, to the point where the news director tried to ban Facebook from newsroom computers and touched off a staff rebellion. Most of these young journalists don't have computer access at home and spend many of their "off" hours in the newsroom using the computer for social networking.

For me, Facebook turns out to be a great way to keep in touch with my former students, both in the US and abroad. However, I try not to get involved in the "fun" applications, unless there is a direct connection to journalism education. No, I don't want to see your wasted party pictures. And NO I don't want to join the group "Hot Maldivian girls."

More Goodbyes

Meanwhile, the newsroom prepared a breakfast for interns Andrew and Laura, and me, complete with my favorite masoni, a mixture of tuna, coconut, onion and chiles. Then we had to race to a final meeting at the information ministry, and another round of goodbye gifts for all. We almost ran out of time to pack our bags and take the VIP dhoni one last time to the airport. Of course, this is NOT goodbye. I still have a handshake deal with TVM to return for more training during the next two years. I look forward to taking the station's news and programming to the next level of excellence as a public broadcaster on TV, radio and online.

The Long Goodbye

After six weeks of training, the final two days in Maldives were crazy! The long goodbye began with a surprise birthday party for our producing consultant Gary Ponticiello.

The home-made short eats were delicious, and no one minded the creative spelling (Happy Birthday Gerry!) on the cake.

Everyone on the programming side was there in party hats, including CEO Ali Khalid.

Next came a "brainstorming" lunch for the programming producers and another round of goodbye gifts for all.

Election Notes

Here's a screen grab of the new election graphics, designed by Musthafa. It finally began running the day before I left Maldives! To differentiate TVM's "fair and free" coverage of the country's first democratic election, my consulting team recommended changing the election brand from the former "Maldives Decides" to "The People Decide 2008." We stuck with the colors from the Maldivian flag to avoid any appearance of favoring any partisan colors like DRP's dark blue or MDP's bright yellow. The turquoise letters in the graphic simply reflect the color of the ocean in this island nation.
This graphic, with music, runs at the beginning and end of the political segment of the news. While this makes the political coverage stand out, it also puts the fairness of the coverage under a microscope. At the same time, the 20 atoll bureaus are now fully staffed with mostly green but eager new recruits who don't always realize that every story they cover will be judged in a politically charged atmosphere.
For an example, check out this letter on Minivan News. Here's the link: http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=4879
An update on the construction of an island's new mosque is pretty standard content for a package from an atoll reporter. However, every story will now be judged as promoting the government if the project is going well, or promoting the opposition if the project has problems. It is more important that ever for atoll reporters to tell ALL sides and to have their scripts approved by a manager to make sure they are fair and balanced.
Update:
As I write this from California, there's word that Gasim Ibrahim of the Villa business empire has become the presidential candidate of the Maldives Republican party. The clock is still ticking toward the Oct. 10 deadline to have an elected president in place to take office on November 11. At least two parties have called for a delay, but the Majlis rejected that option and passed an election bill that firms up the Oct. 10 date. But there is still NO date set for voters to go to the polls. Once again, it all comes down to the cultural tendency here to do everything at the last minute.

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.

Debate Disappointment

With all of the accomplishments of the Maldives Media Training Project, there was also a major disappointment. Plans to hold the nation's first-ever debate among multiparty presidential candidates were cancelled at the last minute. TVM had offered to host the event in its giant Studio 3. All six declared candidates were invited and told that those who did not attend would be represented by an empty chair. Four candidates accepted, but the major opposition candidate pulled out after hearing that President Gayoom had not responded. That left three candidates,and the major independent candidate was possibly on the verge of pulling out because he feared the other two participants would gang up on him, despite the fact that the format only allowed for candidates to address the audience but not each other.
The state-run radio station, Voice of Maldives, never agreed to carry the debate, and TVM never got around to setting up the studio. On the morning of the scheduled event, TVM CEO Ali Khalid pulled the plug, saying that only two or three candidates wouldn't make for a very interesting show. That same morning, President Gayoom's DRP party issued a press release saying that the president did not need to debate his rivals because he had served the nation for 30 years and everyone knows his policies by now. This was interpreted widely in the press as 1) arrogance by the DRP and 2) TVM caving in to pressure from the majority party. A link to an article from the opposition-leaning Minivan News service is below:
http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=4828
Update: As I write this from California a new candidate, Gasim Ibrahim of the Villa business empire, has thrown his hat in the ring. And there were tentative plans for a debate to be held on Aug. 28 or 29. TVM is planning to hold its own debate and a group of NGOs is also trying to sponsor a debate that will not involve TVM. Our team left TVM with a template for how to stage this type of event and we even briefed the host, whose name was kept secret but somehow leaked out anyway. I hope my friends in Maldives will continue to monitor the situation and post comments here.

Birthday Bash

Childrens' birthday parties in Maldives are definitely less boisterous than in the United States. There is always party music in English (like the Hokey Pokey or Three Blind Mice) blaring from a CD, but there is no dancing or party games. The kids have to wait until they get home to open their presents. Mostly everyone enjoys the food and it's an excuse for the adults to get together and talk. At the party for anchor Heena Waleed's darling five year old daughter, Noya, I got to meet her uncle who works in the planning ministry. I learned so much about potential story ideas on everything from tsunami relocation to a planned island for Hollywood film production. So I didn't mind that they didn't have a pinata.

Training Program Hosts

Imagine if you could round up some of Hollywood's hottest young rising stars and young athletes put them all in a class to learn how to host TV shows. That's what we are doing at the TV Maldives training program for program hosting. Unoosha, the singer from the Vote to Decide concert, is on the right. Below is Faisal, a talented actor who really should be headlining at the Improv. Others in the group range from a professional volleyball player to a customs and immigration official who is also a talented singer.

After some basic lectures on how to produce and host a program, we went into the studio for some mock interviews and show hosting exercises. This is a creative and talented bunch and I can't wait to see what kind of programs they will put on the air.

Public Service Announcement

TVM is also producing some very classy public service announcements for the voter education campaign. The creative effort is led by Gum, shown on the right. He's an awesome producer and has also organized the training for the new TVM program hosts.

Vote to Decide, Decide to Vote

You would think that a beach party with a free concert by some of the Maldives' hottest bands would attract a huge crowd. It would be nice to have had more people, but those who did turn out for the Vote to Decide, Decide to Vote event were treated to a good time, courtesy of Cathy Toledo's Think Nation group. They handed out buttons, t-shirts and wristbands reminding people of casting their vote in the upcoming presidential election.

I was impressed with the Think Nation theme song, with lyrics by 85-year-old poet Aminath Faiza and a rockin' bass line, and even rap in Dhivehi. But the real star is Mariyam Unoosha, one of the new programming hosts in training and one of Maldives' most popular singers.

Update: the concert had to be called off early when violence broke out nearby and someone was stabbed. Too bad, because voter education is badly needed here. An example: one lady took her Vote to Decide button and asked if she needed to bring it with her on election day. There is something weird about telling people to vote when you can't tell them WHEN the election will be, but with all the rumors about vote buying in this country, we can't say often enough that your right to cast a secret ballot can't be taken away from you.

Sports and Politics

Like the Olympics, President Gayoom also chose 8-8-08 as the lucky day for the launch of his campaign and he did it in Olympic style, complete with the "Bugler's Dream" theme that NBC uses for the Olympics. The background featured larger-than-life pictures of the president and his running mate. The campaign logo is an outstretched hand holding up five fingers. I thought it was "five more years" because that is the length of the president's term under the new constitution, but DRP members tell me it is actually the five principles of Islam.

The campaign launch also featured members of the Maldivian National Soccer Team. Gayoom's party implied that the appearance was a team endorsement of the president's candidacy. And that's a problem for FIFA, the international governing body of "football." Players are not supposed to get involved with religion or politics. The players are now under investigation.

Olympic Opening

TVM is showing the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics courtesy of a special feed provided by IOC to the state broadcasters of developing countries. Viewers here get a better deal than those in the United States, where the audience has to wait for NBC to edit the footage and show it in prime time hours later with commercial interruptions. In Maldives, they only interrupted the ceremony for Muslim prayer time! No commercials.
There are only four athletes competing from Maldives, which is a "non-qualifying" country. The swimmers have to practice in the resort pool a the airport hotel because last time, when they only practiced in the ocean, they weren't prepared to compete.

They aren't likely to contend for any medals, but there was a lot of pride when Maldives was among the first teams to enter the Bird's Nest, because of its position in the alphabetical order of Mandarin.

VTV Adventure

Get ready for a real James Bond experience: a trip to the Industrial Island. The boat met Gary and me at jetty #1 and we cruised up to a dock near an oil tank farm. It was like the part of the movie when 007 visits the facility where the evil mastermind is plotting to take over the world.
Except that we were with the technical crew for a brand new TV station, VTV, owned by the richest Maldivian, Gassim Ibrhahim. He also owns the country's only oil company as well as a chain of resorts. Our host, Thoyyib, came to VTV from TVM and he's a bright guy. We walked on a dusty road past the oil tanks, a cement storage area and a commercial boatyard to reach the station.

Inside, everything is modern, digital state of the art. They hope to go on the air later this year with four hours of programming per day, including a newscast. Here's a look at where the news set will be, with the window to the news control room in the background and the current affairs set on the other side of the room.The picture on the test signal is gorgeous. They also have a software program that will allow newscasts to be produced on the computer in Dhivehi, developed by Korean and Singaporean programmers. They won't have to backtime by hand or slide pieces of paper through the teleprompter, as TVM does for lack of software that can use the Thanaa font. What they don't have is program content or talent, although they are working on some creative ideas. A few VTV newscasters working in Male are doing practice news programs once a week and they are an eager bunch (see earlier post). But there will be a logistical nightmare because the news studio is a 20 minute boat ride away on the Industrial Island.

What the do have is money and already VTV has made offers to some TVM newscasters to switch stations for two or three times their salary. Most are staying at TVM out of loyalty or because they are civil service and they dont' want to take a chance working for a private company that might go under. Salaries at TVM will go up when it is reorganized as a public broadcaster next year and they will no longer be constrained by civil service.

Meanwhile, there is a real need to provide training for the private broadcasters so that everyone will be on the same page as far as journalistic ethics in their newscasts. The Information Ministry sees compettion as a benefit for everyone and they've given me the green light to explore the possibility of a training program for the private broadcasters.
We never got to the part where the villain tells James Bond about the evil plot and then tries to kill him. Instead, we had breakfast in the VTV cafeteria. Thanks, Thoyyib, for a great visit.

Street Scenes

Despite the sweeping changes in government and media, life goes on in the teeming streets of Male. You can still see the men in island dress selling their produce from handcarts or at stalls in the local market. We had a crew standing by to cover any celebrations or demonstrations in the street when the new constitution was signed, but nothing happened. It's hard for an outsider to interpret this but a Maldivian told me that people are worn out by the ongoing process of reform and just see the constitution as another step in the road. Most don't seem to feel it will change their lives very much. The media has to do a better job of explaining the changes and educating the voters.

A Clean Sweep

Now for a look behind the scenes on one of the biggest days in Maldivian history. The station chose this day to sweep the newsroom, which had accumulated years of debris behind the desks that were now being moved.

Bigger improvements are needed, especially the workflow in the editing rooms. The process of ingesting video into the avid is very disorganized. The memories are overloaded. Reporters try to do everything at the last minute and then the machines crash. There are frequent power outages in the newsroom that cause reporters to lose the scripts in their computers.
The 8 pm bulletin was simply not up to the standard of the rest of the coverage and the 9 pm English news was a complete train wreck. The editing system crashed again just before airtime, causing three packages to miss their slot and leaving the anchor with no video of the biggest story of the day. TVM can do better!

The newly independent journalists have to realize that they can no longer count on the VIP crew to hand them the "official" story. They must be prepared to deliver the best possible coverage on their own. In the remaining days of the program I hope we can plan some meetings to address these issues.

US State Department Visit

US Ambassador to Maldives Robert Blake, who is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, visited Maldives the day before the ratification with the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Richard Boucher. After meeting with a wide range of political and legal reform figures, they also took the time to have lunch with me and Cathy Toledo. We really appreciate the opportunity to brief them and their staff members on Maldives Media Training and the Think Nation program.

You probably remember Boucher from his role as state department spokesman in the days following 9/11 and his smooth briefing style was evident when he met the Maldivian press. His soundbite urging Maldives to set an example of Muslim democracy played prominently on the prime time news on the eve of ratification. It definitely made an impact. The highly respected former speaker of the Majlis, who resigned yesterday as part of the transition, made a point of telling me at the ceremony how much the message of support from a high US official was appreciated.As for me, I'm just proud to be an American playing a very small part in all of this. Here I am with my very own copy of the Maldivian constitution... in Dhivehi!

Election Scoop

TVM built a special set and graphics for the ratification coverage, with the theme of a New Dawn in Maldives. Although I would like to close up the space between the host and the guest on the set and reblock the camera angles, I have to praise the content of this show from start to finish. I sat back like a proud mom as Rameez and the kids did a thoroughly professional job. I think back to the scared little bunch that was afraid to rewrite an official press release six months ago and I can't believe how much the entire news operation has grown. I also have to commend my colleague Gary Ponticiello who teamed up with Sophie to coordinate all six hours of coverage from the control room. The programming and production team had their game on. This really shows what TVM news and programming can accomplish when they work together instead of competing with each other.
The preview show from 9 to 10 am told the audience what to expect during the ceremony, reporters described the mood in the hall and provided a wide variety of reactions, and numerous political figures who have played key roles in the reform were invited to visit the set. One of them made news!
Gassim Ibrahim, the former finance minister, owner of the Villa business empire and speaker of the Special Majlis (which approved the constitution) told anchor Heena Waleed that he will run for president if asked to do so by the recently certified Republican party.

As for Heena's anchoring, she was composed, intelligent and basically flawless. She carried the six hours of coverage, even making the three minute dash to the Maldives Afternoon set to co-host the show from 2 to 3. It will be a huge loss for TVM when she leaves for college in India and we face the challenge of training a stronger bench of anchors behind Waseem and Shifla.

A Big Day

While he would be the last person to claim the credit, Legal Reform Minister Mohammed Nasheed has done much of the heavy lifting to get the new constitution in place. He has been looking very stressed in recent weeks, but today he was all smiles, accepting well deserved congratulations from all sides.

Of course, there is still much work to be done. An independent election commission and judiciary must be set up and approved by Parliament before an election date can be set. Then, 30 days of campaign time are required before the voting. It's going to be difficult to meet the Oct. 10 deadline for election results so the transition can be completed by the time the current presidential term expires on Nov. 11. If there is a runoff, that will require another 21 day campaign period. And we are just a few weeks away from the Muslim fasting/feasting month of Ramazan, not the best time to get the public to focus on voting.

Both Sides Now

It was only six months ago that I sat in a small, dark room with Maldivian opposition leaders who doubted they would ever be shown on TVM. What a difference now! Reporters crowded around candidates from all parties, seeking soundbites. And for the first time there is competitive TV news coverage, with both DhiTV and VTV represented.Most of the major opposition leaders had a high profile at the constitution signing event. Of course, there is still a lot of concern about continued favoritism of the president, and like politicians everywhere, they want to present their entire program and not just a soundbite on the evening news. I'm told that the president personally called opposition leaders and invited them to be here. After the national holiday euphoria is over, the campaign really gets down to business, with the nation's first presidential debate planned for Monday Aug. 11. It is sponsored by the neutral voter education program Think Nation and will be aired on TVM live. At least three candidates have already accepted, so we hope to confirm both President Gayoom and MDP leader Mohammed Nasheed (Anni). Any candidate who declines will be represented by an empty chair.