12 Ummah is an independent media organization, which aims at informing and educating Arabic speaking population, especially the West-Asian countries about the pressing social, political, and economic issues concerning more than 200 million Muslims in India
12 Ummah publishes breaking news, feature articles, analysis, commentary, interviews, book reviews, info graphics, and videos with a particular focus on minority rights, human rights violations, Islamophobia, hate crimes, civil liberties, press freedom, among others.
Today, India’s media landscape needs quality journalism from underrepresented populations covering unreported and under reported perspectives affecting their communities.
CSAS’s six-month fully funded fellowship on International Multimedia Journalism is designed to address this issue and equip early-career journalists from India’s minority and marginalized communities with the technical tools and critical thinking skills to create and distribute professional multimedia stories grounded in the principles of ethical journalism.
Through online and offline coursework, fellows will develop a strong sense of news literacy and the skills to tell compelling stories across various media—text, audio, video, photography, graphics—and use social media and other digital platforms to reach domestic and international audiences. Throughout the six months, fellows will develop a portfolio of works and the opportunity to publish their stories on national and international news organization as well.
Over six months, the early-career journalists will understand the fundamentals of journalism in the 21st century from a theoretical, practical, and economic sense. They will also develop the technical critical thinking skills necessary to produce professional multimedia stories.
In addition to teaching competency with professional tools like DSLR cameras and handheld audio recorders, the fellowship will also emphasize the importance of mobile journalism in today’s landscape. Fellows will learn to use familiar tools like their cell phones and social media as powerful storytelling devices
The CSAS Media Grant Program supports independent media organizations in India that are led by individuals from minority or marginalised communities.
The grant will allow the media organizations to hire and contract with editors, journalists, data journalists, video producers, and more to tell the unreported and under reported stories concerning minority or marginalize communities. The overall program will help in educating, informing, enlightening and enriching the public discourse.
Democracy in any country is reflected through media’s freedom, access to critically evaluate those in power, and its efficiency in upholding the objective truth. It is the duty of media, the fourth pillar of democracy, to act as a check and balance organ towards the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary— to ensure these three organs execute their duties as enshrined in the Constitution. While mainstream media have largely been inefficient in these facets, we believe the media organizations from minority and marginalized communities can play a pivotal role and step up to be that much-needed voice.
The grant amount to each media organization is decided on the basis of the proposal submitted.
An announcement inviting applications will be made online.