By Jose Murickan

Vaishali, March 13, 2020: The National Institute of Social Communication Research and Training (NISCORT) on March 13 organized a national media conference to address the theme ‘Contemporary Media Landscapes: Challenges and Opportunities.’

The conference was part of the annual alumni gathering the institute that functions under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. The institute is located at Vaishali in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, bordering New Delhi.

Inaugurating the two-day event, Sarah Jacob, senior editor and anchor of the popular TV show ‘We the People’ at NDTV highlighted the contemporary media landscapes and its various challenges. She invited the participants to transform the challenges into unique opportunities to bring about positive difference to the polarized society in India. Addressing the media students, she advised them to have courage to face the challenges and to stand up for the truth.

Vinod K Jose, executive editor of Caravan, and R. J. Simran, founder editor of Speak for Change Foundation, spoke at the panel discussion that discussed on the theme of the Media Conference, moderated by Fr. Stanley Kozhichira, the president of SIGNIS India.

In their presentation, Jose listed the ownership of the media houses, digital advertising and authoritative government as the three main challenges of the contemporary media and Simran highlighted the potentials of community radio in the present day context.

The research work on the ‘Paradigm shift among brands from traditional to new media for promotion and marketing’ by Jolly Jain, a doctorate scholar at the International College for Girls, Jaipur, won the Best Research Paper Award among the four papers presented in the second edition of the National Media Conference.

Speaking at the valedictory function, K. G. Suresh, founder dean of School of Modern Media, Dehradun, invited the participants to be creative and imaginative to be successful media professionals.

Certificates of excellence for different categories were also distributed at the conference.