Media Release

Udupi, February 18: School of Communication’s (SOC) annual core communication festival, Article-19, will be held from February 19 to February 21, 2015. The festival will be inaugurated at 10 am on February 19 by Harsh Mander, a renowned social activist and writer.

A-19, as the festival is abbreviated, is the oldest core communication fest in the country and will exhibit compelling workshops, moving talks, sensational screenings and enlightening nights braided with events like ‘Alt Enter’ and ‘Fun Fair.’ The idea behind the fest is to celebrate every individual's right to expression. It also holds competitions in the areas of journalism and communication that culminate with the ‘express award’ for the best entrant.

The entries for the ‘express awards’ can be sent-in through ten different categories and are being sent from media colleges from around the country. The winners will be announced during the fest on February 20.

‘Media Un-Conference’, will feature a panel discussion on a particular topic with some of the eminent media persons, followed up by a no-holds-barred interaction with the audience. The 2015 edition of Article-19 is hosting a prodigious line-up of speakers such as:

Vidya Dinker, a social activist involved in environmental conservation movements
Hartosh Singh Bal, the political editor of The Caravan magazine
Abhinandan Sekhri, a co-founder of Newslaundry.com
Shiv Visvanathan, a social scientist
Bob Swaim, an American director based in Paris

Over the years, we have hosted a plethora of famous personalities from different fields who have shared their opinions and experiences. Previous editions of Article-19 have had Rahul Bose, Pablo Bartholomew (Photojournalist), Rajdeep Sardesai (managing editor of Headlines Today) and several other eminent media persons.

Our college has also organised many national level media events in its 16 years, the most recent being the National Editors Conference in 2011, which had eminent editors like Vinod Mehta and Chandan Mitra as speakers for the event.

Article-19 will end on note of fun and entertainment on February 21 with ‘fun fair.’ This year’s theme is Cinco de Mayo, a popular Mexican festival. Delegates from various media colleges, and constituent institutes of Manipal University will be present.

School of Communication, Manipal University

In June 2013, School of Communication (previously called Manipal Institute of Communication) was ranked as the 4th best mass communication college in India by the India Today-Nielsen Company survey.
Rooted in social philosophy, SOC tries to embody the spirit of democratic egalitarianism in education. Established in 1997, it has bloomed as one of the premier communication, media and journalism institutions of international repute.

Speakers:

The distinguished speakers we have invited to come and interact with the students in this year’s festival are from a myriad of communications and journalism backgrounds so as to provide a diverse base of knowledge, the students can draw inspiration from. They are:

Harsh Mander
Date: February 19, 2015
Topic: writers and social justice

Harsh Mander is a social worker and writer, who works with survivors of mass violence and hunger, as well as homeless persons and street children. He is the director of the centre for equity studies and a special commissioner to the Supreme Court of India in the right to food case.

He is associated with various social causes and movements, and writes and speaks regularly on issues of communal harmony, tribal, dalit and disabled persons' rights, the right to information, custodial justice, homelessness and bonded labour.

Vidya Dinker
Date: February 20, 2015
Topic: environment, displacement and development
Vidya Dinker is a social activist from Mangalore who is actively involved in environmental conservation movements especial in the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ). She has written a paper on ‘the multiple displacements of Mangalore special economic zone’ which analyses three different types of displacement - social, cultural and economic - in the lives of three women and their families which have been affected by the creation of the MSEZ. She recently tried to raise awareness about the dumping of mud into the Phalguni River.

Hartosh Singh Bal
Date: February 20, 2015
Topic: freedom of expression in India, and where the real danger lies
Hartosh Singh Bal is the political editor at The Caravan, and is the author of ‘waters close over us: a journey along the Narmada.’ He was formerly the political editor at Open magazine.

Abhinandan Sekhri
Date: February 20, 2015
Topic: shift of news from conventional forums to the online sphere (with reference to Newslaundry.com)
Abhinandan Sekhri is the founding partner of Small Screen and founding partner of www.newslaundry.com. He has been working for TV and film since 1995. He has also worked as a camera assistant on Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair), wrote Gustakhi Maaf and Great Indian Tamsha for 7 years. He has produced and directed ‘highway on my plate’ a food and travel show. Newslaundry is his latest obsession.

Bob Swaim
Date: February 21, 2014
Topic: contemporary film making with new media
Robert F 'Bob' Swaim is an American film director, producer and actor based in Paris, France. His three films that he made with several other young filmmakers, won numerous international prizes and awards and enabled Swaim to write and direct his first feature film, La Nuit de Saint Germain des Prés (1977). His film La Balance (1982) received 8 Cesar nominations and changed the face of French cinema.

Once he joined Hollywood in 1985 and signed a contract with MGM as a director, writer and producer. He has been a guest lecturer at New York University and Columbia University and is currently teaching acting and directing for the theatre.

Shiv Visvanathan
Date: February 21, 2015
Topic: freedom of speech and expression looking back and around
Shiv Visvanathan is an Indian public intellectual and social scientist best known for his contributions to developing the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), and for the concept of cognitive justice a term he coined. He is currently professor at O P Jindal Global University, Sonepat.

As a public intellectual, he is a regular columnist to newspapers like The Hindu, The New Indian Express, Indian Express and The Deccan Chronicle and The Asian Age. He also contributes to popular magazines like Outlook, India Today, Governance Today and Tehelka. His popular writings touch topics as wide as science, cricket, anthropology, development, intellectual history, and walking.

For more details please contact:
Programming Head – Dhiren Monteiro (9901832635)
Rahul (9740407740)

School of communication
Press corner
Manipal - 576104
Karnataka, India
E-Mail: a19mediafest@gmail.com