Nov 15, 2006 - Media Activism: The role of community media in empowering people
Media Activism: The role of community media in empowering people to be partners in the development process and in the struggle for social justice.
We broadcast a pre-recorded interview with Stalin K, one of the founders of the Drishti Media Collective, based in India, Stalin K is also a key spokesperson for the movement to democratize India's airwaves. We talk to him about the grass roots level anti corruption projects, the state of independent media in India, and the plans of the organizations he has helped establish.
Stalin K. is one of the founders of the Drishti Media Collective and is a key spokesperson for the movement to democratize India's airwaves. His mission is to challenge the stranglehold of power, which officials, in all walks of life, hold over ordinary citizens. Following the earthquake in Gujarat, (Western India) in 2001, he and some colleagues set up the innovative community radio project Parda Faash ("Ripping Away the Veil").
It aimed to challenge corrupt officials - especially those who had siphoned off donations intended for earthquake victims. The program's reporters were mainly village women who, though they could barely read or write, proved especially tenacious in getting the story, and exposing wrong-doing.
Since then, Stalin's project has exposed doctors who make illegal charges to their patients, and government departments that are failing to pay their workers. They've uncovered illegal convictions and reported on the children cheated out of their school dinners.
Stalin K has also worked on documentaries on the state of Native American tribes in Wyoming.
