PARTICIPANTS OF

Annual South Asia Media Summit – 2007 “Media and Public Interest in South Asia” Organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Media Information and Communication Centre of (MICCI) and International Centre Goa (ICG)

16-18 November, 2007

BANGLADESH Mishu Rahman, [email protected] Editor, Purple - A monthly contemporary issues magazine in English, published from Dhaka. She is also Head of Operations, Impess Audio Vision Ltd. - A music production, marketing and distribution company. She is Senior News Anchor, Channel I - A Satellite channel from Bangladesh, LOM president JCI Bangladesh, 2004. She has a Masters in development studies, North South University.

Samia Zaman , [email protected] Film Director Dhaka, Bangladesh

Zafar Sobhan, [email protected] Assistant Editor, The Daily Star Dhaka, Bangladesh

BHUTAN Phuntsho Choden, [email protected] Reporter, Kuensel

NEPAL Prateek Pradhan, [email protected] Editor, The Kathmandu Post Kathmandu, Nepal

Narayan Wagle, Editor, The Kantipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

Shiva Gaule, Editor, The Himal Kathmandu, Nepal

Sudhir Sharma Editor, Nepal maganize Kathmandu, Nepal

PAKISTAN Rahimullah Yusufzai, [email protected] , Mr Rahimullah Yusufzai is resident editor of the English daily, The News International, in Peshawar. He is also a correspondent for the BBC radio and the TV channel, ABC News, in the US. He has been contributing articles for the last several years to Time magazine, Newsline Karachi, Gulf News in the UAE, Outlook in India, and to publications in South Korea, Japan, Portugal, Germany, etc. He has reported extensively on Afghanistan, the NWFP and Balochistan, and Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In the past he was associated with the Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad and with the Islamabad-based English daily The Muslim, which has closed down. Mr Yusufzai is the co-author of a book titled “Past, Present and Future of Afghanistan.” He also contributed comprehensive articles on Osama bin Laden, whom he met twice in 1998, and the Taliban Years in Power, to two books on Afghanistan published by Roli Books in India. He also wrote a research article on the Afghan crisis for the Swiss Peace Foundation.

SRI LANKA Sinha Ratnatunga, [email protected] , [email protected] Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Times and Executive Director at Wijeya Newspapers Ltd., of Colombo, Sri Lanka. One-time President of The Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka, and currently The Editors' Guild representative on the Board of Directors of the Sri Lanka Press Institute. An Attorney-at-Law.

Nilantha Kankanange, [email protected] Started his journalistic career at the Sunday leader news paper as a sports journalist, then in the year 2000 joined one of Sri Lanka's premier English channels, MTV as a news reporter where he concentrated on current affairs and later became the Chief News Producer. He later joined "ART TV" as the Assistant News Manager.

INDIA Abdur Rahim, [email protected] Prof. Abdur Rahim is one of the senior-most journalism and mass communication educationists in India. Having retired from India’s prestigious journalism school at Osmania University, Hyderabad after 35 years of service as Chairman and Dean, he is presently serving as Visiting Professor at the Moulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. He is a Visiting Faculty for many Journalism and Mass Communication Departments all over the country. Widely traveled, he has lectured at the famous Columbia School of Journalism, at Harvard School of Government and Oxford University. He has participated in many international media conferences and addressed Seminars. An author of several books on media, he has contributed hundreds of articles in research journals, newspapers, both in India and abroad, and magazines. His areas of specialization are media theory and research, media ethics, and development communication. He is presently the Vice-President of the Commonwealth Association for Education in Communication and Journalism (CAEJAC) and the Secretary of the South Asian Media Association (SAMA) and Chairman of Bharat Samachar. He is also Chapter Head of MICCI (Andhra Pradesh).

Ajit Bhattacharjea, [email protected] Vetran Journalist, Former Director, Press Institute of India, and Former Editor, . Former President of the Editors’ Guild of India.

B D Mazumdar, Station Director, All India Radio - Goa.

Bhaskar Ghose, [email protected] , Presently Media Adviser to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chief Executive, Lok Sabha Television. Former civil servant; was Secretary to the Govt. of India, Ministry of Culture and then of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Has been Director General, Doordarshan and was elected President, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association while holding that post. Writes regularly for Frontline. Has written a book, Doordarshan Days. Anchored the TV show The Bhaskar Ghose Show on Star Movies for four years. Involved with theatre from the time he was a student in St. Stephen's College. Has acted or directed over forty plays from 1954 to the present time.

C. Gouridasan Nair, [email protected] Special Correspondent, The Hindu, Thiruvananthapuram and Former President, Kerala Union of Journalists.

Dayanand, [email protected] President, Society for Media and Social Development (SMSD), Varanasi.

Padma Bhushan H.K. Dua, Mr H.K. Dua, currently Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune, is one of the senior-most journalists of the country, having already served as editor for over 11 years in three leading national dailies. He has been the Editor of the Hindustan Times, Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express and Editorial Advisor of . Mr Dua’s journalistic career spans over three decades, his major areas of interest being political and international affairs. He has reported Parliament, political parties, two wars with Pakistan, several general elections etc. He is also a commentator on national and international affairs in his column as well as on TV channels. Under his long tenure as Editor, the Hindustan Times made great headway and acquired the standing of one of the most important, credible, objective and independent national dailies. While in news coverage he has always emphasized credibility, on the editorial pages he is known to take bold and non-partisan position on major issues of national concern. He has also encouraged debate on vital issues on opinion pages so that readers have access to different viewpoints. During his extensive travels abroad as a journalist, Mr Dua has interviewed several distinguished world leaders. They include Margaret Thatcher, China's Li Peng, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Iran's Rafsanjani, among others. Mr Dua was the President of the Editors’ Guild of India for two terms. He has served as Press Advisor to two Prime Ministers – Mr H.D. Devegowda and Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. He was appointed Ambassador of India to Denmark prior to his taking up his present assignment. Mr Dua has several prestigious honours awards to his credit, apart from the Padma Bhusan which the President conferred on him in 1998 for distinguished service to journalism. He has received the Durga Rattan award for Excellence in Journalism, the Freedom of Information Award, the G.K. Reddy Award and the B.D. Goenka Award.

I. Arul Aram, [email protected] Dr. I. Arul Aram, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Sciences, Anna University, Chennai, India. He is formerly a Chief Sub-Editor with The Hindu newspaper. He had also served as the President of the Madras Press Club. He has been a resource person for UNESCO training programmes on Media. He had presented papers in several national and international conferences. He has published three books Television in Education (Orient Longman 1993) and Understanding News Media (Vijay Nicole 2006) and Understanding Development Communication (Media House 2007). He is an Associate Editor in The Journal of International Communication published from Sydney. He is a post-doctoral fellow from the London School of Economics. He specialises in the areas of science communication and conflict & media. He has done peacebuilding courses from Transcend Peace University, Romania, and Eastern Mennonite University, US.

Ishwar Bhat, [email protected] Editor, Times of India (Kanada Edition), Bangalore Full time journalist with more than two decades service. Former Editor of Udayavani Daily (Manipal), Former Chief Editor of Vijay Karnataka Daily. Anchor of Development debates in Udaya TV. Visiting Faculty on Development Journalism with E-Media Dept, BLR University, Gulbarga University and Surana Institute of Higher Education

KK Katyal, Veteran Journalist, Former Resident Editor, The Hindu, New Delhi President SAFMA

M Rajaretnam , [email protected] Director/ Chief Executive, ICG Started his career at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore in 1971. In 1985 he founded the Information & Resource Centre, Singapore. Since then he has held various positions including as Executive Director of Singapore Institute of International Affairs, coordinator and Advisor of the Asian Renaissance Project at the Institute for Policy Research in Malaysia and initiated a number of training and other projects such as the One Southeast Asia project, and recently the Asian Dialogue Society which is a fellowship of "citizens and friends of Asia" which is committed to building a better Asia. He also manages the "Building a Better Asia - Future Young Leaders Retreat Program" for the Nippon Foundation of Japan and is advisor to the Myanmar program at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Nandini Sahai, [email protected] Director, MICCI, New Delhi. She has been actively involved with the Right to Information movement since 1996. Has worked closely with Aruna Roy, Magasasay Award winner in creating awareness among people about their rights. Organised public hearings, seminars, workshops etc. Also participated in formulation of the Right to Information Bill which has now been passed by the Parliament to become an Act. She is also a Member, Select Committee representing the media in formulating the Right to Information Act of the Delhi Government. Has designed a Course on “Online Journalism” for Open University, Karnataka and is a Visiting Faculty, Departments of Journalism and Mass Communication, Delhi University Colleges, teaching development communication; and Visiting Faculty, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi for:Training of mid-career journalists from Non-Aligned countries.

Rajeshwar Dyal, [email protected] Senior Media Advisor, FES-India, New Delhi

Raman Nanda , [email protected] Broadcasting Journalism, Consultancy and Training A broadcast journalist, Raman has hosted live television and radio programmes for the BBC World Service and Indian broadcasters – TV Today, Doordarshan, Lok Sabha TV and All India Radio. As a host for radio/TV programmes, Raman has interviewed celebrities and common people alike. As a print journalist, Raman has reported for, among others, The Times of India, Outlook, Business Standard and Deccan Herald. He has reported on wars, politics, elections, ethnic strife, diplomacy and economic policy issues from a variety of datelines. These include Nepal, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Palestine, Morocco, Geneva and Paris. Raman is also a social entrepreneur in the space of media. Along with other professionals, he launched Asia’s first independent news radio – India World Radio -- on the web. Media, he believes, is a powerful tool for democratization, empowerment of people and development. He has been part of a pioneering Community Radio Project in Afghanistan. As trainer and mentor, he helped launch a series of radio stations in Afghanistan.

Snehasis Sur, [email protected] Honorary Secretary, Centre for Media Research, and Development Studies, Kolkata Working as a senior TV News Correspondent in Doordarshan, Kolkata and Guest Faculty in Journalism in Calcutta, Jadampur, Burdwan, Vishwa Bharati University and Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkamal, Orissa. Hon. Secretary Centre for Media Research and Development Studies, Ex Secretary Press Club, Kolkata.

Sonny Abraham, [email protected] The Editor of UNI (United News of India), one of the main news agencies in India with 24-hour wire services in English, Hindi and Urdu as well as Photo and Graphics services. UNI's services reach hundreds of subscribers across India, including newspapers, television and radio stations and websites as well as government and corporate offices. He joined UNI in December, 1979, and worked as its Baroda bureau chief from 1980 to 1988. From 1988 to 1993, he worked for UNI in Delhi, where he covered the Finance, External Affairs and other ministries. He was posted from March, 1993 to November, 1999 as UNI's Gulf and Middle East Bureau chief based in Dubai. He was appointed as the Editor of UNI in July, 2003. During nearly three decades as a journalist, he has covered riots, floods, cyclones, elections, Parliament, Prime Minister's visits abroad, multilateral summits, and major sports events such as Test and one-day cricket, the Asian Games, World Cup Hockey, World Table Tennis and so on.

Suhasini Prabhugaonkar, [email protected] Senior Correspondent, Gomantak

Vijay Menon, [email protected] Honorary Advisor MICCI and Former Secretary General of AMIC-Singapore, former Chairman of AMIC-India.

Vinay Kumar Awate, Matoshri Health Trust, Navi Mumbai and MICCI Maharashtra Chapter Head

Vinod Dua, [email protected] , Senior Broadcaster (NDTV)

Vishnu Rajgadia , [email protected] Coordinating Editor, Prabhat Khabar, Hindi Daily Started Career as Journalist with Janmat (Patra) in 1984; Worked as Lecturer in Makhan Lal Chatuvedi Univ. Bhopal; Worked as Director of Prabhat Khabar Institute, Ranchi; At present co-ordinating Editor, Prabhat Khabar Dhanbad, Deoghar; Incharge of RTI Movement for all Editors (seven).

Y Balamurali Krishna, [email protected] Goa Bureau Chief cum Special Correspondent – UNI

Yasir Samir , [email protected] , Student, Centre for Latin American Studies, Goa University

Arjun Halarnkar , [email protected] Programme Manager, The International Centre Goa