The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : New breed of ‘child reporters’ catching up

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Thursday, Nov 12, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

New breed of ‘child reporters’ catching up

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: Hardly anybody from the motley group might have dreamt of making films leave alone attending the International Children’s Film Festival here from November 14. With the acumen of professional cameramen, the bunch took turns to record the interactive session with media on their digital handycams.

The 21 children, chosen from 5, 000 in Medak district, were adept at producing news-based stories for TV channels from scratch! With the help of UNICEF, they had undergone training in television news reporting and production. They now prefer calling themselves ‘child reporters’. “TV channels are not showing village level issues. So we tried to highlight our issues. People in my village have started respecting me after I trained as a child reporter,” says Navneeta (9th class) from Kosangi village.

UNICEF, University of Hyderabad and local district administration had started a project to mould ‘child reporters’ five months ago. In all, the children shot and produced 15 films, which will be screened in the non-competitive segment of the Children’s Film Festival.

“We even got opportunity to interact with Children’s Film Society of India chairperson Nandita Das. We are proud of our achievement,” said Md. Akram of Doulatabad village. Several children said that they were lucky to be chosen for such a project. “I am lucky to be selected,” said Vijayalakshmi from Ismalikhanpet village.

Apart from the 21 children, who attended a press conference on Wednesday, there are 5,000 more in 1000 plus villages who trained as ‘child reporters’. Chief of UNICEF Hyderabad Michel Saint-Lot said the project was aimed at empowering rural children. “We have been successful in bringing about a positive change in their lives,” he said. Medak Collector L. Shashidhar and Dean of Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad P. Vinod were also present.

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