The Yamuna-a children’s newspaper on social issues

The Yamuna

a children’s newspaper on social issues  

 

 

 

“Children are like clay and getmoulded easily according to what they see and hear. They may not be able todifferentiate between right and wrong, reality and fiction. Negative thingsshown in the media greatly influence them and they start copying of what theysee in television,” says class X student, Savyata Khanal of Hindu Vidyapeeth, Lalitpur,Nepal.

 

Savyata and hundreds of otherchildren were interviewed in a unique study by child reporters of The Yamuna inseveral cities of India,Lalitpur(Nepal)and Mexico City to study children’sperception on media influences; their media habits; portrayal of children inmedia and the importance of media education. The findings of the study wascarried in the September(2008) issue of The Yamuna, a children’s newspaper published by Gandhi Smriti andDarshan Samiti, the national memorial of Mahatma Gandhi based in New Delhi.Gandhi Smriti is the hallowed place where Gandhi was assassinated. The Yamunais part of the Samiti’s Gandhi Media Literacy programme, which aims to developcritical understanding of the media amongst children and promote activecitizenship amongst the students’ community. (http://www.gandhismriti.gov.in/index3.asp?sublink2id=6&langid=2)

 

Underlying the importance ofmedia education as ‘it would help them develop proper perspective of the worldaround them’, the study pointed that knowledge of the media will help childrendevelop necessary skills to form appropriate opinion on different socialissues. Students of classes IX-XII were interviewed by the child reporters aspart of this study.

 

The study further stressed that‘better understanding of the media amongst children could create informedpressure groups of young people to ensure balanced reporting by the media. Forthe past six years, The Yamuna has been offering a unique opportunity to notonly research and write on issues like media influences but also on largerissues concerning them and the society at large.

 

The eight-page quarterly newspaperwas started in 2003 to mark the centenary year of Indian Opinion, the journalstarted by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africain 2003. Once in a while a special issue is brought focussing on an importanttheme. The motto of the newspaper is what Gandhi had written in hisAutobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, “In the very first monthof Indian Opinion, I realized that the sole aim of journalism should beservice.”

 

For Rijuta Lamba, a student ofclass XI and current editor of The Yamuna, being part of the newspaper hashelped her develop knowledge base on different concerns of the society. “Wehave been writing on variety of issues including climate change, food security,child rights, conflicts, women empowerment and social responsibility of themedia. This has helped us develop understanding of these issues.”

 

‘The Gandhi Media Literacyprogramme has empowered many of us to develop critical thinking abilitiesbesides getting insights into how to bring out a newspaper. As young journalistswe get opportunities to go to the field and do stories. We have been able tointerview many people both at the grassroots and even senior personalities,”she adds.

 

Underlying the importance ofmedia literacy, Rijuta quotes Prof Sonia Livingstone, London School ofEconomics, whom she interviewed online for the October, 2008 issue, “Medialiteracy training isn’t just to help children understand the media better. Itis really to help them understand society better, since the media are a vitalroute to social connection.” This is what I reiterate while trying to motivateother friends to join the programme, she adds.

 

Also through the process of thepublishing of the newspaper, we gain knowledge of many new things happeningaround the world, she says. She cites the case of the World Summit Congress onMedia for Children and Youth which would be organized in Karlstadin 2010. “We were honoured to interview Dr Per Lundgren, the Director of thesixth World Summit Congress on Media for Children and Youth. He told us aboutthe World Summit,” she adds. (http://www.wskarlstad2010.se)

 

 

Iqra Meraj, a student of class IXand an illustrator of The Yamuna stresses that every illustration andphotograph tells a story, infact sometimes better than hundreds of words. “Fora children’s newspaper and that too a newspaper like The Yamuna which deals withserious social issues, illustrations are very important. Besides theillustrations, we ensure that we have a comic strip in every issue focussing onthe theme of the edition,” she points out.

 

Iqra is excited about theforthcoming January issue of the newspaper. “We have decided to dedicate theissue to the victims of terror and violence around the world. We are going toreiterate on the need to promote a culture of non-violence. I have a challengeat hand- to make powerful illustrations on the theme of non-violence,” shesays.

 

Reba Verghese, a student of classXI points out, “Students hardly gets space in the media to express their views.The Yamuna has given us the space to write and talk about issues concerning allof us. It also helps in bringing students of diverse backgrounds and schoolstogether.”  

 

Editorial meeting of the studentreporters of Delhi are organizedregularly to discuss the story ideas, illustrations, roles andresponsibilities. The meetings are coordinated by the Editor who assignsresponsibilities. The students however lament at never being able to organize afull-fledged editorial meeting involving children from different parts of India.“We have never met our other friends in other states of India,Nepal and Mexico.But the new media enables online communication,” Reba says.

 

Sonia Deotto of Ora WorldMandala, the organization which coordinates the Gandhi Media Literacy programmein Mexico City says children of theschools involved in the programme are excited to be part of The Yamuna. “Thechildren have started writing for the newspaper since September onwards. Soonwe hope to develop a radio bridge between children of NewDelhi and Mexico City.”

 

“We now have reporters in India,Nepal and MexicoCity. But we want to make The Yamuna a truly globalchildren’s newspaper. It can be a platform for children from different culturesand countries to come together and express themselves on issues concerning themand the society,” avers Rijuta Lamba.