The Krea Newsroom Simulation || Speakers Club Event || IFMR GSB Krea University

Media is known to be the 4th pillar of democracy. Lately, we have seen the media being questioned for the kind of news being broadcast. The Krea Newsroom held by the Speakers Club on 26 December 2020 from 5 pm to 8 pm, was a newsroom simulation-based competition with a team of 3 members. The teams were given current or hypothetical topics/situations, 40 minutes before their discussion on the same in the Newsroom. Each team represented a channel that consisted of a newsreader, news reporter, and victim/protagonist/antagonist. The teams were given 3 topics, using which they had to make headlines and hold a discussion featuring the reporter and victim/protagonist/antagonist.

The competition was an effort to scout the best articulate speakers and give them an opportunity to showcase their talent. The 4 teams that participated were put into the breakout rooms and one member from the Speakers Club accompanied them to give them their topics. Once the topics were allotted, the participants were then asked to present in front of the judges and the audience for 15 minutes and later, the team was open to questions from the judges as well as from the audience.

Some of the hot topics on the table were:-

• Is the Indian population going to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by 2022?”
• The Sabarimala Issue
• Censorship of OTT platforms
• Healthcare workers not being paid during Covid.

Despite the Christmas break, several students tuned in to catch their peers in action. Evidently, the teams presented their topic well owing to their out-of-the-box thinking and witty impromptu answers. Goes without saying that the judges -- Mr Ameesh A S and Mr Aditya Kankar -- had a tough time picking the winning team. Mr Ameesh A S is one of the senior-most members of the PhD community at Krea University. Mr Aditya Kankar is an alumnus of IFMR GSB, currently working in HDFC.

The winners were:- Team ‘Free India News Channel’ comprising Amit Sahoo, Sumesh Khatri and Akash Bahl was announced as the winner; followed by Team ‘Holmes’ comprising Pragya Priya, Kshitij Garg, Ayush Surana from the cohort of 2022.

Without the collective efforts of the Speakers Club, this virtual event featuring eclectic speakers and news enthusiasts could not have been possible.

By:

Speakers Club of IFMR GSB, Krea University