News

Prof. Sumit Dhanraj, 
Communication & Media Trainer (Signis India)

Jalandhar , Oct 16 : An awareness building campaign on Faith Witnessing role of Christian Youth and Families was organized by Sat Sewa Sanchar (Commission for Mass Media and Communications), Diocese of Jalandhar. It was conducted under the aegis of SIGNIS (The World Catholic Association for Communication). Around fifty Youth and Media Persons from Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Batala, Kotkaputa, Adampur and Kapurthala took active participation at Gyanodaya Pastoral Centre, Chogitti, Jalandhar from 10th to 13th October, 2019. The Prathana Bhawan TV staff also participated in the workshop.

A four days Workshop specially focussed on training of Christian Youth and Families – in the Modern World of Technologies through Effective and Culturally adopted Mass Communication Methods. The workshop had the presence of renowned Media resources persons from India, namely: Dr. Norbert Herman SVD, Dr. Martin Sadiq, Prof. Sumit Dhanraj, Mr. Sanjay Bharti and Mr. Rakesh Ojha.

The Chief Guest of the inaugural session was Rt. Rev. Dr. Agnelo Rufino Gracias (Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Jalandhar) who delivered the key note address. He spoke to the youngsters about the importance of Communication and Media technologies. He also asked them to use Social and Digital Media appropriately. He shared his views on the Church document ‘Ethics in Internet’ and ‘The Church and Internet’. The address highlighted the relevance of World Communication Day message: “We are members one of another” – From Social network communities to the human community.

Fr. Dr. Martin Sadiq, Director of Sat Sewa Sanchar (Commission for Mass Media and Communications), Diocese of Jalandhar did career guidance for the participants in the field of Social Media, Digital Media, Film Making and Photography. He told them about the growth and future prospects in the field of marketing. He also shared about the significance of the workshop for the youth of the diocese and their families. The Prathana Bhawan TV staffs were given special directions for composing relevant programmes.

Introducing the key topics of the workshop Prof. Sumit Dhanraj (Communication and Media Trainer) from Indore gave a detailed presentation on the Digital and Social Media. He focused on the use and abuse, advantages and disadvantages, and pros and cons of Social Media in our daily life. He dealt very explicitly on the fake News on Social Media and its consequences. The major concern was to build awareness amongst youth and Media persons about how to do fact checking, avoiding fake news, speaking truth, and stop forwarding irrelevant messages. Participants were also taught news report writing and article writing for newspapers, magazines and websites.

Fr. Dr. Norbert Herman SVD, Director Maitri Sadan, Udaipur (also the Vice President, Signis India) took interactive sessions for the youth. He conducted action songs, performed live music, sang songs, and empowered youth with life for the Church ministry and responsibilities towards their families. He also shared about his missionary activities and asked participants to get fully involved in the Church activities of media and charity services for the poor. He encouraged the Media persons of the diocese to join Signis. In his sharing he spoke about the work done by SIGNIS in the field of communication and media in last 90 years.

Mr. Sanjay Bhartri, (Delhi based Film Director and Script Writer) taught participants the technicalities of Film making and editing. He first explained them about script writing, screen-play, dialogue writing and how to shoot a film through a HD camera and smart phone. Mr. Rakesh Kumar Ohja from New Delhi (Technical Head, Doordarshan) dealt on the use of Camera while shooting for TV serials and films. He explained them the operational part of the DSLR and HD Cameras. He also shared with them his knowledge and expertises of the field work with Doordarshan.

The essential area of the workshop was the practical sessions wherein participants were divided into several groups. They were asked to perform stage drama shows and shoot their own short films. These group activities helped the participant to learn the important aspect of acting, shooting, and editing a film. They were able to identify within them a creative and talented person. These dynamics brought out their hidden talents and innovative skills during the workshop. All were in the seventh heaven during these interactive activity sessions.

The queries of the participants pertaining to Writing skills, Social media, Digital platforms, Mobile Film making and editing were cleared by the resource persons Fr. Martin Sadiq, Fr. Norbert Heramn, Prof. Sumit Dhanraj, Mr. Sanjay Bhartri and Mr. Rakesh Kumar Ohja. The stage shows and short films of the participants were awarded by the jury. The valedictory session had farewell speeches. Feedback and suggestions were also sought after. Fr. Dr. Martin Sadiq, Director of Sat Sewa Sanchar felicitated resource persons during the award ceremony by a memento. At the same time, the participants were given a certificate of participation. The “Awareness building Campaign for Youth and Families” concluded with networking and building human communities for world at large.