At week's end, workshop faculty and participants gather in the courtyard at the Asian College of Journalism. Photo by Nantha Kishore
Fishing villages, beach astrologers, therapeutic surfing; street cleaners, homeless communities, and migrants from far-flung parts of India.
Fashioning narratives on these and other subjects, 17 professional journalists gathered in early September at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), in Chennai, for a four-day National Geographic Out of Eden Walk Slow Journalism Workshop led by Paul Salopek with additional instruction from photojournalist Arati Kumar Rao, editor Prem Panicker, and me.
After a day-long classroom program, participants fanned out across Chennai to report their pre-researched stories on foot, refining the techniques in the slow journalist’s toolkit: research, patience, close observation, in-depth interviewing, and use of multimedia to supplement the written narrative.
Later in the week, reporters worked closely with workshop faculty to craft their stories and prepare them for publication.
Five students from the host college also attended, having been selected by school officials to report alongside the working professionals, some of whom themselves had graduated from ACJ.
Building on the momentum of workshops in Delhi and Chennai, the third slow journalism workshop will take place in Kolkata from November 13 to 16.
Participants will again produce fully developed stories for print, broadcast, online, or other media, to be reported on foot and brought to fruition over the course of the four-day workshop through a combination of group and one-on-one mentoring. Their stories will be extended to the Indian public by their home publications in association with the National Geographic Society and the Out of Eden Walk.
This workshop is for professional journalists, and space is very limited. To apply, click here.
During his 25 years as a National Geographic writer and senior editor, Don Belt authored more than two dozen feature stories for the magazine. He now teaches journalism at the University of Richmond. He’s on Twitter @dbelt50.
At week's end, workshop faculty and participants gather in the courtyard at the Asian College of Journalism. Photo by Nantha Kishore
Fishing villages, beach astrologers, therapeutic surfing; street cleaners, homeless communities, and migrants from far-flung parts of India.
Fashioning narratives on these and other subjects, 17 professional journalists gathered in early September at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), in Chennai, for a four-day National Geographic Out of Eden Walk Slow Journalism Workshop led by Paul Salopek with additional instruction from photojournalist Arati Kumar Rao, editor Prem Panicker, and me.
After a day-long classroom program, participants fanned out across Chennai to report their pre-researched stories on foot, refining the techniques in the slow journalist’s toolkit: research, patience, close observation, in-depth interviewing, and use of multimedia to supplement the written narrative.
Later in the week, reporters worked closely with workshop faculty to craft their stories and prepare them for publication.
Five students from the host college also attended, having been selected by school officials to report alongside the working professionals, some of whom themselves had graduated from ACJ.
Building on the momentum of workshops in Delhi and Chennai, the third slow journalism workshop will take place in Kolkata from November 13 to 16.
Participants will again produce fully developed stories for print, broadcast, online, or other media, to be reported on foot and brought to fruition over the course of the four-day workshop through a combination of group and one-on-one mentoring. Their stories will be extended to the Indian public by their home publications in association with the National Geographic Society and the Out of Eden Walk.
This workshop is for professional journalists, and space is very limited. To apply, click here.
During his 25 years as a National Geographic writer and senior editor, Don Belt authored more than two dozen feature stories for the magazine. He now teaches journalism at the University of Richmond. He’s on Twitter @dbelt50.