Just came across this article from Minivan News that pretty much summarizes the current state of the media in the Maldives. What particularly hit home for us here in the Maldives Project was this quote from Tiare Rath, an American journalist who spoke to Maldivian journos last Thursday:

“…one of the major issues all my students talked about is resistance among newsroom leadership – editors and publishers. Even if the journalists support and understand the principles being taught, they consistently tell me they cannot apply them,” Rath said. “This is a very, very serious problem that needs to be addressed.”

We encountered this same phenomenon during our workshops. It seemed like our students were very responsive, smart and eager to learn everything we taught them. Yet afterward, when we looked at the media coverage on TV produced by our students, nothing much had changed. The B-roll still had no natural sound, the excessive zooming and panning was customary, and the political stories lacked the human connection. And, all too often, the news reports only covered one side of the story.

The reason for the lack of improvement, our students said, was that the management didn’t want them to make changes. The management, then again, told us that the staff was just being lazy.

Sigh.

While it’s great that trainers (like us) have come from other countries to improve news coverage in the Maldives, I think it’s about time for the Maldives’ people to take some initiative. That’s the only way anything is ever going to change. The journalist should apply the skills they’ve learned in the workshops.  And yes, the management should encourage them to do so and support them in every way.

In the words of Tiare Rath:

“You’ve got a free press. Now how are you going to establish that press, how are you going to build its credibility, and what kind of values do you want it to have? You can technically do whatever you want – but a free press means having responsibility.”