Three days of seclusion. Five journalists. Interviews done purely online.
ACFJ alumni Rajneesh Bhandari and Guna Raj Luitel were among the journalists who took part in New Media Gufa 2012 held at Hotel Mandap, Thamel, Nepal, 7 – 10 September 2012. Bhandari represented Kantipur Television while Luitel, Nagarik Daily.
New Media Gufa (or cave) was created to “find out the actual value of new media and their content in the development of news stories on issues that matter to the everyday lives of ordinary citizens,” as cited on the event’s official website. The participating journalists were expected to gather information through social media and produce high quality stories. Bhandari, through his tweet, messaged: “I am missing the newspapers. But I am reading online.”
In a tweet, Guna Raj Luitel said, “Finally accomplished reporting challenge using only new media. It’s possible to use new media as reporting tools.”
Rajneesh Bhandari, an ACFJ scholar, belonged to the first batch of DMJ students. He was recently named as Journalist of the Month by the International Journalists’ Network. On the other hand, Guna Raj Luitel was an ACFJ fellow when he took up MA Journalism in 2007.
New Media Gufa was organized by Vision for Nepal Foundation and Hotel Mandap.
