Aga Khan’s J-School Will Educate Media Owner

By KHALID MAGRAM
Aga Khan University’s new Graduate School of Media and Communications in East Africa soon will commence on a unique mission of teaching media owners about their responsibilities in a society. It will also concentrate more on training journalists from developing world on how to deliver quality analysis in wake of events such as referendum, civil conflicts and elections.

HH the Aga Khan delivering a lecture on pluralism & Journalism in front of a packed audience at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

“One of the things we looked at for our school of journalism is who has the ultimate responsibility for what is sold on the streets and what is shown on TV,” said His Highness the Aga Khan, during the LaFontaine-Baldwin Symposium lecture at the Royal Conservatory of Music Friday. “And I think our conclusion is been essentially that it is the owners rather than manufacturer of the product.”

His Highness said, therefore the school of journalism is going to be about educating the owners on what are their responsibilities in a society, what are their responsible to the region – because ultimately they have to decide what it is that they want to distribute within their own countries.

“Conveying quality information in developing world has been very challenging for many years for our network (the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN)).”The Aga Khan added. “For example finding a competent journalist to write on comparative government in developing world is very big problem, which mean when there is referendum on constitution the actual value of that referendum becomes subject to question.”

He was quick however to point out some exceptions efforts of journalists work in the developing world. He cited a veteran Ghanaian journalist, who recently wrote of African journalists’ contributions on number of essential events in Africa.

Kwame Karikari, executive director of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), recently summed up the power of autonomous journalists when he wrote of their

“…remarkable contributions to peaceful and transparent elections in Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Mali, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia; to post-conflict transitions … in Liberia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone; and to sustaining constitutional rule … in Guinea, Kenya and Nigeria.”

Aga Khan’s host, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s John Ralston Saul and founder of the Symposium asked the Aga Khan how exactly the new grad school would be able to do things different from other j-schools elsewhere, which seems to be engaging more in teaching of technical stuff and not the content of what is it to be a journalist.

The Aga Khan replied that the media owners would be primary beneficiary of the graduate school – by ‘educating the media owners’. A fascinating concept Saul noted – bringing thunderous laughter from the audience that included senior Canadian journalists.

The Aga Khan once again emphasized the urgency of pluralism challenge during his speech at Royal Conservatory of Music in Downtown Toronto.

“Independent news media and journalists free from external control and constraint are key element in building stronger pluralist societies,” said Aga Khan, who is also spiritual leader of world’s 14-million Shia Ismaili Muslims

His Highness also noted that a wide-open internet allows divisive information to travel as far and as fast as reliable information. There are virtually no barriers to entry and anyone responsible or irresponsible – can play the game.
“The way we communicate with one another has been revolutionized,” he says.

“However, more communication has not meant more cooperation.” More information has also meant more mis-information – more superficial snapshots, more shards of stray information taken out of context, he said.

“We are at a particularly complex moment in human history. The challenges of diversity are frightening for many people, in societies all around the world. But diversity also has the capacity to inspire,” His Highness the Aga Khan said.

Toronto’s Ethnic Neighbourhoods

Canada’s multiculturalism is nowhere more apparent than is in it’s commercial capital Toronto. So while I wait to get into my journalism internship in January next-year, I have decided to visit these ethnic pockets in the city. I will be speaking with bussiness people, residents, community leaders take pictures and much more in order not to keep dormant my novice journalism skills. Visit this site frequently to get the treat multiculturalism in Toronto. You even might see your own community profiled in the near future.

Little Bangladesh (Victoria Park and Danforth ave)
Photos By KHALID MAGRAM

Little Bangladesh/DACCA - near Victoria Pk/Danforth - One of many Toronto's ethnic neighbourhoods.

Bangladeshi family shopping at little Bangladesh

Some of the Bangladeshi community businesses along the little Bangladesh whic streches from Victoria Park Ave to Sibley Ave

GERRARD INDIAN BAZAAR(Coxwell and Gerrard)

Gerrard Indian Bazaar in Toronto is largest South Asian bazaar in North America. Located at Coxwell and Gerrard Street just south of Danforth Ave, Bazaar is a favourite Sunday location for a stroll. Indian restaurants, video stores and paan houses are main trade mark of the strip.

Residents from different ethnic background visit Gerrard Indian Bazaar on Sunday and on public holidays for taste of ethnic food, clothes and refereshments

Sugarcane vendors are a parmanent fixtures in hot summer days

Bookstore in Gerrard

Sari store

Global warming is irreversible but…

By KHALID MAGRAM
Events such as Earth Hour will not reverse global warming. It can however buy our planet some precious time, a world-renowned scientist and environment crusader, David Suzuki says.
“When individuals do something beneficial for the environment – turning off the lights for an hour to show support for a good idea, or using energy-efficient appliances,” David Suzuki said. “They are expressing a bold statement about their values.”
Suzuki’s comment comes on the eve of Earth Hour, in what has become a global annual environmental friendly event. Earth Hour idea is simple. Everyone is to flick off lights and non-essential appliances for an hour.
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008, the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights.
For more than a decade now David Suzuki, a staunch environment campaigner, has been saying that the environmental issue is a political issue of our time.
Speaking with CBC’s Ian Hanomansingh, Suzuki gave tips on conserving energy and urged on the need of political leadership for implementing sound environmental policies.
Suzuki also said Canadians are far ahead of politicians when it comes to fighting climate change. The bad news is that our so called leaders in business and government aren’t interested, they just want to keep doing things the same old way, Suzuki added.
This time around, the global call for action is mainly directed to negotiators who need to reach agreement on a new global deal on climate change at a UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December. The last global accord, the Kyoto Protocol, is set to expire in 2012.
This year, Canadians in about 150 communities, including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, have pledged to turn off their lights for 60 minutes at 8 p.m. local time on March 28. National sites will also go dark, including Toronto’s CN Tower.
Grammy-winning singer Nelly Furtado will entertain Earth Hour partygoers at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, starting at 6:45 p.m. Power for the event will be supplied by Bullfrog Power, a company that uses emission-free sources like wind and water.