-- Samir Umarye
BICHOLIM, SEPT 21 - If you can't beat them, make efforts to understand them. It was a political gathering with a difference, as 60 BJP workers were given a crash course on media techniques at a two-day media management training camp in Mulgao-Bicholim, which began on Saturday. The two-days residential camp was organised by the State BJP in association with the Rambahvu Mhalgi Prabhodhini (RMP) of Mumbai. "This is the first time that we are organising a two-day training camp for BJP workers from every taluka," explained Shubhash Salkar, BJP General Secretary and Goa Media Cell Incharge. "This is an attempt to make our BJP workers aware of the importance of the media in the political arena. There are several developmental works and meetings held at every level from the panchayat level onwards, but not all issues are reported in the newspapers," Mr Salkar added. He informed that representatives from all constituencies are attending the camp and experts would guide them on several media issues. "Today, we need to explain to the people the efforts of the BJP and without the media, this is not possible. We cannot expect the media to come to us all the time and so, we need to approach the media. This is exactly the idea of the camp," Mr Salkar said. During the two-day camp, BJP workers were made aware on issues such as building relations with the media, writing press notes, organising press conferences and focusing on importance topics while writing news and stories for the media. "We would like a BJP representative to handle the media and in this regard, there will be a special Press Unit of the party in every constituency," Salkar said. Resource persons at the camp include Maharashtra BJP Media Cell Incharge Keshav Upadhya (writing press notes), AIR News Reporter Balaji Prabhugaonkar (radio journalism), DD News Reporter Sunil Naik (television journalism) and RMP Chief Co-coordinator Ravindra Sathe (propaganda and publicity). National BJP Spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy will address the concluding function on Sunday.
