JUXTAPOSE 2020
Kickstarting Two Insightful Days of Media & Deliberations on the Issues of Today
Report by Sanjana Chawla
February 21, 2020
JUXTAPOSE is the Annual Academic Meet of LSR’s Department of Journalism and is the legacy of the Department and its students. Spread across two days—21st and 22nd of February in the college premises, Juxtapose 2020 revolves around the theme-
“Do We Dare: Will Media Change The Universe?”
The two-day long event was flagged off by Department’s President Ms. Sreya Suri in the presence of HOD Dr. Vartika Nanda; and esteemed speakers—Mr. Vikrant Tongad, Founder of Safe Green and Mr. Rajeev Kumar Shukla, an experienced Journalist and an influential speaker.
Conducted on the 21st of February, the Opening Ceremony was attended by several students, participants and the faculty.
On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the Department, three 2nd year students- Akanksha Bagai, Kritika Tiwari and Palak Khanna, in association with the First year students, made a Documentary that was screened and presented to all. The documentary featured interviews and opinions of the students, the working as well as the helping staff of the College, and threw light on the pertinent issues of today.
Mr. Tongad took over the podium and delivered an inspiring speech on the importance of Environment. An environment conservationist and a social worker, he runs an NGO and strongly believes that it is crucial to be affectionate and loving towards the nature.
Mr. Rajeev Kumar Shukla, an experienced Journalist, a published writer and an ex-AIR official, was next in the line to address the gathering. He emphasized that it’s important to cover issues of Environment and Pollution and made some remarkable statements such as “Speak truth to power, so that power be truthful and truth be power.”
Dr. Vartika Nanda, a Journalist, a prison reformer, an activist and a professor at LSR, also addressed the gathering and shared with all her experiences and urged everyone to keep their eyes and ears open, and to be concerned about the environment and the natural habitat.
The guests were given a Plant Sapling along with handmade Thank You Cards by Dr. Nanda and the teaching staff of the Department. The Union declared Juxtapose 2020 open and all the competitive and non-competitive events were brought to a start.
AD-MAD: “BIGGEST WIN IS THE IDEA”
AD-MAD is an artistic and an expressive platform for people who have a knack for acting and showcasing their convincing powers. The competition was held on the 21stof February, 2020 at Lady Shri Ram College for Women as a part of Juxtapose—Department of Journalism’s Annual Academic Meet. The event was judged and critiqued by Mr. Rajat and Ms. Vanshika, and saw a massive influx of not just participants but also audience and teachers who laughed their hearts out and lauded each performer and all the acts.
The event started with the introduction of what Ad-Mad is and the participants were thereafter given topics and themes to perform on. The teams were randomly allotted quirky, funny and out of the box topics such as—“Biscuits That Could Make a Dog Talk,” “Syrup That Brings Cough,” “Wall Sticking Shoes,” “Edible Cutlery” and lots more! The teams came up with interesting jingles and referred to famous taglines like “Humari ye chair bewafa nahi hai” to sell their product and garner everyone’s attention. Teams also imitated famous personalities like Arvind Kejriwal, Kapil Sharma and Navjot Singh Sidhu.
All the participants performed really well and displayed their act in unique ways. A notable point here is that the teams made sure they were audible to all and used the entire stage while exhibiting, which is important in the theatre and the field of acting.
The teams were extremely talented and received a lot of praise and recognition from the judges as well as the audience. After a laughter-filled performance session, judges took to the podium and finally announced the winning teams.
The First position was secured by Harshit and Anirudh of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Sri Aurobindo College respectively. Kartikey, Sumrit, Srishti and Divyansh from Dyal Singh College (Evening) bagged the Second prize, and Kanika and Manoj from PGDAV were the Third winners.
It was one of the most entertaining, innovative and boisterous events of the day!
Reported By: Palomi Gupta
LSR’s Department of Journalism held Camera Chronicles at their Annual Academic Meet—Juxtapose on February 21, 2020. A new introduction to the list of events, Camera Chronicles allowed participants to unfurl and let their creative, hidden talents out and to come up with a Photo-Series based on the theme given to them.
The theme for the event, “Metamorphosis- A Journey of Bravery/Courage” focused on a world that is as robust and evolving as its youth. The theme was open to interpretation and was all about expressing one’s views through pictures.
A set of rules and regulations were laid down for the participants to be rigorously adhered to. As a component of such rules, the pictures had to be captured within the LSR campus and were to be presented with a suitable caption.
A total of three teams participated in the competition and had quite converging interpretations of the theme. They construed the theme as an apperception and evolution of the ‘distinctions between the two genders’ and a legitimate line of intersection that can be found between them. Through the pictures, they endeavoured to trace the ‘evolution of women’ from times of stark regression to an incipient age of third-wave feminism.
The judge for the event, Mr. Sunil Mishra, found the theme quite exhilarating. He also brought to light the fact that the entries submitted had a scope of improvement and could have been presented in a better way.
Students of Bharti College, who portrayed the revolutionary transformation of women and their valiance were chosen as the Winners, and the team from Delhi College of Arts and Commerce was placed Second.
The event concluded on a profoundly joyous note as Mr. Sunil Mishra accentuated on the essentials of photography in terms of correct lighting and composition.
Camera Chronicles proved true to its name and accorded every participant the opportune occasion to chronicle the theme from every corner of the lens!
PANEL DISCUSSION:
“THERE ARE NO REAL OR UNREAL ISSUES IN JOURNALISM, EVERYTHING IS INTERCONNECTED”
By Anushree Mukherjee
An enriching Panel Discussion was organized as a part of Department of Journalism’s Annual Academic Meet—Juxtapose on 21st February, 2020. The theme of the event was- “The Overlapping Circles of Media and Social Conscience,” and had on board Mr. Mayank Aggarwal, Ms. Urmi Goswami, Mr. Pallava Bagla and Ms. Kanchi Kohli as the esteemed panelists. The session was moderated by Dr. Anil Dutta Mishra.
The discussion commenced with Dr. Mishra’s comment on how mainstream media’s ignorance of the numerous environmental issues and injustices is prevalent in the society. Adding to his statement, Ms. Goswami rightly mentioned that the economic prosperity of any nation depends on saving as well as preserving its ecological balance. She also emphasized on the role of the collective consciousness of the society. The panelists agreed that there is an existing hierarchy of issues in the media industry and suggested that journalists need to break the binaries in order to address the upcoming issues.
Mr. Bagla spoke about journalism and said, “Journalism is the mirror that reflects the needs of the society.” He went on to say, “A journalist empowers democracy by echoing information that the society requires in order to make informed decisions.”
Ms. Kohli spoke about the importance of investigative research and urged all to dig deep into stories, be more inclusive and report only when they know it all.
The discussion then changed its course and moved towards the deprivation faced by the poor and the media industry practices. Mr. Aggarwal noted how one can always find solutions by acknowledging, reading and addressing the issues to develop a sustainable model that replaces the traditional one. Ms. Goswami remarked, “Journalists owe their fidelity to facts, and one’s allegiance to facts needs to be more powerful than the competitive spirit in any newsroom.”
The audience also put forth many nuanced questions to the panelists, ranging from issues such as “stories being more reactive than proactive,” “the capitalist tendencies of media houses” and more.
Mayank Aggarwal summarized his opinions by talking about how one must use social media to democratize the modern journalistic space, while Pallava Bagla focused on the importance of finding passion as a journalist.
Urmi Goswami concluded the discussion by reiterating the three golden words- FACTS, QUESTION and THINK as a journalist’s guide to success, and all the budding journalists and the audience had a wide smile of satisfaction as they left the room.
WORLD MEDIA MEET: THE INTRICACIES OF WAR COVERAGE
By: Samridhi Chugh & Shehjar Bhat
As a part of its Annual Academic Meet Juxtapose, LSR’s Department of Journalism took the diplomatic reins to organise one of the most revered events—World Media Meet on the 21st of February. Moderated by Ms. Tayyaba Rizwan and Mr. Anuvrat Anand, the event brought together delegates of various countries and made them deliberate, debate and resolve the impending crisis of macabre violence against journalists and war reporters.
The theme of the World Media Meet was “War Coverage and Press Laws.”
The discussion started with a hypothetical scenario of an emergency UNSC meet to discuss the brutal killings of 15 journalists by the ISIS in retaliation of the strikes that killed ex-chief, Baghdadi. The motions of discussion continued to see a shift in the course of the proceedings from the ‘protocol of protection’ to the extent of ‘free expression’ and ‘ethics practiced by journalists’ reporting from the site of sensitivity. A thorough debate on granting journalists arms for self-defence preceding the motion changed to discussing the utility of UN Peacekeeping Forces to avert such looming dangers.
An update on the crisis that the ISIS seemed to have besieged the Print-House of Al-Khabaria, a leading Syrian news agency, and taken to hostage about 80 journalists, led to a relative polarisation in the Committee amongst those in favour of military action to evacuate journalists and those against it. While the Delegate of the USA called it a fragile situation and asked a coalition of First-World states to resolve the crisis, the fact that one journalist was being killed every two hours shook the Committee to discuss a consensual resolution in an Unmoderated Caucus.
Upon resumption, the Delegate of the USA suggested an immediate evacuation of hostages by aerial surveillance. The decision was supported by the Delegate of Italy, who further proposed the creation of civilian camps with the support of the Syrian Government and a SEAL Team action by all the members of the UNSC. In contrast, the Delegate of Germany, who was supported by the Delegate of Saudi Arabia, expressed total opposition to military intervention and suggested mediation between the UN Peacekeeping Forces and the terror group, brokered by a neutral third party. The Delegate of Russia in disagreement emphasised on military intervention for immediate resolution and the establishment of an International Body to prevent such a crisis in future.
The Crisis was brought to a resolution through a Written Working Paper 1.0—authored by the Delegates of Syria, USA and France in support with others who suggested negotiation, aerial surveillance and cooperation between the Government and the Forces to resolve the exigency, which passed the House by 2/3rd majority.
The Delegate representing USA bagged the “Best Delegate” title. The House succeeded in mutually agreeing upon the essentials of sensitive reporting and primary protection accorded to all journalists in volatile ground circumstances.
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