Shillong, Sep 11: The second Meghalaya Media Meet was held under the theme “From Print to Pixel: Navigating Trust, Technology, Consumption & Accountability” in Shillong on Wednesday.
Organised by Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) in collaboration with the Centre for Policy, the meet brought together media professionals, academics, students, and experts to discuss the evolving landscape of journalism.
DIPR director Batlang Sohliya inaugurated the event.
The morning session began with the participation of students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, NEHU; English and Foreign Languages University; and the Department of Mass Media, St. Anthony’s College.
The first session, “The Basics of Creative Writing”, was led by Bianca Tara Faith Nongkynrih, linguist, writer, and PhD candidate. She highlighted the power of storytelling in bridging cultures and preserving identity.
This was followed by a session on “Spot the AI: A Fact-Checker’s Guide to Deepfakes & AI-Generated Images”, conducted by Divya Chandra, Senior Producer and Fact-Checker at Boom. She shared insights on identifying manipulated content and addressed the growing challenges of combating disinformation.
A panel discussion on “Multimedia Storytelling” was moderated by Ahmer Khan and featured Antariksh Jain, Asmita Nandy, and Princess Giri Rashir. The panel explored how video journalism has transformed news consumption in recent years.
Additionally, Satdeep Gill, Senior Program Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, conducted a workshop on “Wikimedia for Media: Building Reliable and Inclusive Knowledge”, emphasizing collaborative platforms for strengthening public access to authentic information.
The morning sessions concluded with a note of appreciation for the enthusiastic participation of students from across the State.
The afternoon sessions catered to practicing journalists, beginning with a panel discussion on “Amplifying Equity: Pathways and Challenges for Women Journalists in India”, featuring Sangeeta B Pisharoty, Patricia Mukhim, Jacky Martens, Tongam Rina, and Dr Cherry Kharshiing.
Another session on “The Role of the Press in a Democracy and Citizen Accountability” featured Kishorechandra Wangkhem, Patricia Mukhim, Sangeeta B Pisharoty, and Raman Jit Singh Chima (joining virtually).
Discussions on “The Impact of Fake News and Disinformation” were led by Oishani Bhattacharya, Shruti Menon, Indrajeet Ghorapade, and Ahmer Khan.
The day concluded with a panel session on “Telling Change, Not Just Stories – Building Media Capacities for Human-Centric Reporting”, with Dr Sampath Kumar, Zafrin Chowdhury, Dr Ramnath Ballala, Shweta Raj Kanwar, Fulgida Dkhar, and Dr Madhulika Jonathan as panellists.
