23 & 24th May 2016, Delhi
A two-day educational trip to Media groups/offices in Delhi NCR for members of Association of Tibetan Journalist (ATJ) was facilitated by Empowering the Vision Project (ENVISION on 23 & 24th May 2016. The ten-member team from ATJ visited India Today Group (Noida), BBC India (New Delhi), Associated Press (
New Delhi) and The Indian Express Group (Noida) and were exposed to the daily workings/operations of these media houses.
This was the fourth such exposure tour organised by ENVISION jointly with ATJ since 2010. These exposure/educational trips are a part of Empowering the Vision’s support extended to young Tibetan professionals – under the Global Tibetan Professional Network initiative – to enrich and enhance their experience and career goals.
The two-day programme started with visiting the India Today Group office in Noida. India Today Group boasts of more than 1800 staffs, publication of 35 magazines and broadcasting of four TV News which are India Today, Aaj Tak, Tez News and Dilli Aaj Tak. Here the team engaged in an interesting and interactive session with Mr. Gaurav Sawant (Senior Editor for Strategic Affairs and News Anchor) on issues ranging from personal anecdotes about reporting, to experiences about news on counter-terrorisms and Sino-India border coverage. When asked his opinion on the lack of reportage on Tibetan issue in mainstream Indian media, he responded saying that it is primarily due to lack of access to such information. This interaction was followed by touring of the India Today Group TV News and radio studios led by Mr. Virendra Kapoor – Managing Administrator. Mr. Jay Menon Chief Administrator- was kind to spare his time in making sure ATJ members felt at ease.
The next stop for the ATJ 
Members was BBC India regional office in Barakhamba, Connaught Place (CP). Ms. Niraj Nirash –Office Bureau Manager- led us to the TV and radion studios and editing room, with representatives of each division briefing us about their work and the functionality of their news section – Hind/Urdu/English. Ms. Divya Arya, reporter of News Feature at BBC India explained the importance of featuring ‘Human Interest Stories’ and emphasised on ‘live the story’, a BBC motto to reporting the news. Mr. Ashwini Tyagi and Mr. Shakeel Akhtar, Chief Editor of Hindi and Urdu news section respectively interacted with the ATJ team and attended to their queries and curiosities about BBC’s operations in India.
The second day of the educational trip for the ATJ members started with a visit to the Associated Press (AP) office in Barakhamba, CP. Like all other media houses that were visited, the AP team too was very welcoming and warm to the ATJ members. Mr. Tim Sullivan (Senior Asia Correspondent), Ms. Katy Daigle (South Asia Correspondent), Ms. Vineeta Deepak (Chief Producer, South Asia), Mr. Bernat Armangue (Chief Photographer South Asia) amongst other AP team patiently listened to the questions posed by the members of the ATJ as well as shared their insights on how to bring out the best blend of both reportage and photography while delivering news 
to the readers. Ms. Chonchui (Editorial Assistant) was very supportive to the ATJ members and ensured the visit was engaging and smooth for us.
The final stop for ATJ team was the Indian Express Group office in Noida. The session began with an hour and a half discussion on how the dynamics and medium of news coverage, reportage and readership has changed over the past several years. They emphasised the fact that digitalization and smart phones are the future and that there is a gradual shrinking of print newspaper readership. Two of the three Journalists of Tibetan origin, working at the Indian Express Group, Ms. Dawa Lhamu la and Mr. Tashi Topgyal la not only took us to all the departments and studios but also gave their time for discussion with the ATJ members on news and sharing Tibetan heritage.
Mr.Tenzing Norsangla (Voice of Tibet) felt the trip was very useful in understanding different approaches to local, national and international news and their coverage. “It was interesting to interact with the journalists and editors about the significance of a news story. Such as how to prioritise amongst a host of stories out there, the ranking of these news stories in the dailies, website or on electronic media”, he added.
The two-day trip despite t
he scorching heat of Delhi was very satisfying and engaging for the ATJ members. The ATJ members felt the trip to these national and international media agencies really helped them to understand the different and important aspects of news reporting. They committed to sharing the knowledge gathered from this tour with their colleagues back home and also to practice it in their daily journalistic profession. Ms.Phenthok la, a Mandarin language journalist at Voice of Tibet said she was overwhelmed with the size and reach of these Media houses and said “it is very inspiring to me to see editors, reporters and staffs working in sync and so professionally to get the news out and up on the site running twenty-four /seven”.