The workshop was arranged at Mindpark in Helsingborg, a co-working space next to Lund University Campus Helsingborg. The participants were students from the School of Journalism, Strategic Communication and SASNET's network. The workshop was based on short presentations and interactions between the presenters and the participants.
The first presenter, Johanna Sommansson, editor at Sydsvenskan Magazine, highlighted the South Asian subcontinent and its diversity. By using several examples from the magazine, she guided the participants through all countries and shared perspectives from some of the social challenges in the region.
This was followed by up by the second presenter, Maria Ullsten from Reporters without Borders Sweden, who gave an introduction to the concept of press freedom and shared insights from all countries in South Asia. She also shared ideas and experiences from how Reporters without Borders works globally and opened up for a discussion about censorship and self-censorship.
The third presenter, Vibodh Parthasarathi, who is affiliated researcher at SASNET, explored the Swedish word "sanningssägare" and gave a presentation on media diversity and media policies with examples from India and Sweden. He also showcased previous examples from the collaborative project around pop-up newsrooms that he and Andreas Mattsson, also affiliated researcher at SASNET, has conducted in Lund and Stockholm.
Freelance reporter Johan Mikaelsson shared insights from his fieldwork and network in Sri Lanka, and also gave examples of the power struggle between journalists and politics. This was during the afternoon followed up by a joint presentation by freelance journalists Urban Hamid and Martin von Krogh who shared their experiences from working in conflict areas in Afghanistan and gave practical advice to the students.
Starting in 2014, SASNET and School of Journalism has organized a series of workshops, seminars and conferences to highlight the media situation in South Asia. Read more about the previous sessions here
The workshop is part of Social Information and Hybrid Power: A Strategic Platform for Political Communication at Lund University. Read more about the research platform here