AudiencScapes

Hundreds of citizens from disadvantaged communities are now using video cameras to report on issues that affect them and their neighbors. With training from the Video Volunteers, local video producers are changing the dominant model of media in the country to make it more democratic and diverse. Paromita Pain reports.

By Paromita Pain

Mukesh Rajak, from the eastern state of Jharkand makes an unlikely activist in India. Born poor and Dalit, Rajak faced a life of discrimination with little access to education and developmental resources. Yet despite not being born into the “right caste,” Rajak has improved the schools in his village with the aid of a video camera.

“I had done a video on this school reporting that the teachers employed were taking bribes from students for teaching and conducting examinations,” explained Rajak proudly. “I showed it to the Block Education Officer. She saw this video and came to visit the village school. She demoted the headmaster of the school and now no teacher asks for bribes. Students are happy that they can now study for free.”

“India Unheard”
Rajak produced the video as a community correspondent for “India Unheard ” a relatively new community news service. Launched in February 2010, India Unheard has community correspondents in every state in India reporting on issues ranging from poverty and human rights to local culture.

“IndiaUnheard” is one of several citizen journalism projects in the country established by Video Volunteers, a U.S.-based international organization that trains people from disadvantaged communities to create their own locally relevant and locally produced media. In India, Video Volunteers operates an intensive training in all aspects of video production for aspiring correspondents for “IndiaUnheard” and others interested in video journalism.

Journalists from all walks of life
Through its training efforts in India, Video Volunteers has created “the largest, most diverse network” of community video producers anywhere in the world, according to Video Volunteers Communication Manager Siddarth Pillai.

“Nearly 200 villagers and slum dwellers—former diamond polishers, rickshaw drivers and day laborers – are currently working as community producers,” Pillai said in an email interview.  Pillai explained that more than 50 percent of these producers are women, and also come from communities “most affected by human and civil rights violations,” namely Dalits, Muslims and Tribal people.

Video production a marketable skill
After training, some of the producers work for Video Volunteers’ Community Video Units . These locally owned and managed units are set up in areas that rarely receive coverage from the mainstream media. They produce community-specific news and documentaries.

Despite the implication that producers work as “volunteers,” Video Volunteers is actually quite focused on creating business models to lift people out of poverty. For example, the Community Video Units contribute to the economic well-being of the community by employing residents on a full-time basis. According to Pillai, many of the units earn revenue, some as high as 25 percent of yearly operating costs.

In settings like outdoor screenings held in villages and slums, the work of these producers has been seen by hundreds of thousands of Indians. But beginning earlier this year, some of the producers have begun attracting a national audience. In January, community producers trained by Video Volunteers started submitting videos to a 30-minute weekly news program with “News X,”  a popular English-language television channel in India.

For the Video Volunteers staff as well as the producers this was a moment to celebrate: “A news station is recognizing the poor as legitimate news producers,” explained Pillai. “They are being paid for their news reports by a TV station; and, most importantly for the first time these communities will voice their issues directly to a national audience.”

Documenting problems and inspiring solutions

As a result of the work produced by trained correspondents, Video Volunteers claims that "thousands of people" in slums and villages have been motivated to take action on issues like health, sanitation and women’s rights. Certainly there is anecdotal evidence that “IndiaUnheard” and other work by community producers is having an impact.

In August 2010, a video shot by Daniel Mate, a correspondent from Chandel district of Manipur helped more than 500 people in a remote village of Manipur in North East India get healthcare. His story inspired a local organization to donate a carload of lifesaving medicine for villagers.

Rohini Powar, “IndiaUnheard” Maharashtra correspondent, has five siblings, all of whom are farm hands.  
“When they see me, they say ‘we want our children to follow you, become like you.’ It makes me want to cry! I could have been like them, but for IndiaUnheard,” she said. “When I go to the village, the women smile. I always talk to them about their problems. I always shoot them, even if I don’t include their clips in the final footage. This makes them happy because they feel that I am covering all their stories, their problems. I feel strong.”

Another producer, Bhan Sahu from Chattisgarh, a region with a high concentration of tribal residents, believes that video can change people’s lives.

“Because of a video I made about the village of Atari, which lacked a bridge and forced students to travel by boat to school, the villagers became aware of me, my videos and their issues,” she said.
Sahu went on to describe how the Panchayat secretary of the village told her that a bridge would be built as a result of her video. Sahu is convinced that that video is a pioneering tool that can be used to form networks to bring people together: “I want to use the power of video to fight for the rights of tribal people.”

Pillai says that Video Volunteer’s plans for the future are “ambitious.” They want expand the IndiaUnheard network to include one correspondent for every district in India (625). The aim, according to Pillai, is “to create a viable media business at the base of the pyramid whilst simultaneously empowering communities to devise solutions and take action on the issues that matter to them.”

Paromita Pain has been employed with The Hindu Newspaper, Chennai, India since January 2003. She writes for young people on a range of themes, with a special interest in media for young people, health issues, human rights and youth in situations of conflict.
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