A not-for-profit initiative Talk Journalism is built on the thought that there is a need to discuss & debate journalism, a profession that discusses everything, but seldom talks about itself.
In the fast developing era of technology, the media space is changing like never before. There is a need for a platform where professions, trends related to it, technological advances, challenges are discussed and debated.
How the dynamics of the profession are evolving also needs to be discussed at a non-partisan platform. Beyond this, there is a need to train the workforce in newsrooms on various new advanced technology tools for enhancing their work and increasing their capabilities.
Talk Journalism is an initiative of The Vox Media Foundation (section 8 company CIN U85300RJ2015NPL047930) which aims at bridging this gap and takes a step towards initiating the media dialogue.
OUR JOURNEY
We believe that if there’s an idea worth sharing and discussing, people will come forward, share it and contribute meaningfully to its development.
The journey of Talk Journalism started in July 2012 with a simple tweet call to journalists to come forward and discuss the Evolution of collaborative journalism and the future of ‘online’ journalism in India?
Seven journalists from different streams came forward and discussed what collaborative journalism is? How is social media impacting newsrooms? How likes on FB pages, 140 character tweets and blog posts create journalistic work outside mainstream media?
We tracked the India’s online media story; the perception of online media was discussed. Speakers shared their views on the future of online/social media journalism in a booming market. They reflected on how India fares with respect to the rest of the world when it comes to collaborative journalism.
With sharing and discussion at its core Talk Journalism embarked on its journey and we have organized six conclaves in Jaipur (2012, 2015, 2016 2017, 2018 & 2019)
Founder
Avinash Kalla
Founder
Avinash Kalla
Founder
Avinash has been a journalist for close to a decade and worked with The Times of India and Mail Today Newspapers. Masters in Journalism from University of Westminster, London. He has been the media adviser to Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Railways, Government of India. He has also been an consultant with to Ministry of Rural Development, Government of Rajasthan on a World Bank aided project. A traveler by compulsion, when not traveling can be found watching movies.
Aqueel Khan
Co-Founder
Aqueel Khan
Co-founder, Talk Journalism
Public Policy Consultant | Former RAS Officer | Chevening Scholar
Aqueel Khan is a former Rajasthan Administrative Services (RAS) officer and Chevening Scholar who has seamlessly navigated the worlds of public administration and global academia. Currently, as a Public Policy Consultant, Aqueel works at the intersection of *education, governance, and public communication*, with a sharp focus on impact and accessibility from his office in London.
He is the *Founder of WeCan Schools* and *Co-founder of Talk Journalism*, where he champions the power of storytelling to decode complex systems and spark meaningful conversations.
Through his YouTube podcast, *Switch Talk*, he brings real voices and lived experiences to the forefront—guiding students and professionals through the maze of career decisions with empathy, insight, and honesty.
Mentors
Ayaz Memon
Ayaz Memon
Prof. Daya Thussu
Prof. Daya Thussu
Daya Thussu is Professor of International Communication at the School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong. For the academic year 2018-2019, he was Distinguished Visiting Professor and Inaugural Disney Chair in Global Media at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing. For many years he was Professor of International Communication and Co-Director of India Media Centre as well as research advisor to the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster in London. Professor Thussu is the Founder and Managing Editor of the Sage journal Global Media and Communication. Author or editor of 18 books, among his main publications are: Electronic Empires (Arnold: 1998); International Communication – Continuity and Change, third edition (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019); Media on the Move – Global Flow and Contra-flow (Routledge: 2007); News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment (Sage: 2007); Internationalizing Media Studies (Routledge: 2009); Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives (Sage: 2012, co-edited with Des Freedman); Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood (Palgrave, 2013/Sage, 2016); Mapping BRICS Media (Routledge: 2015, co-edited with Kaarle Nordenstreng) and China’s Media Go Global (Routledge, 2018, co-edited with Hugo de-Burgh and Anbin Shi).
Sachin Kalbag
Sachin Kalbag
Sachin Kalbag, is the editor of The Hindu’s Mumbai edition. He’s been a journalist for 23 years, and his immediate previous assignment was editorship of Mid-Day. Apart from Mumbai, Sachin has worked in New Delhi with Hindustan Times and the India Today group, and in Washington, DC, with DNA. He is an avid quizzer, and has qualified for BBC World Mastermind Quiz. He has a degree in mathematics and statistics, and is a student of public policy. He spends most of his time these days with his eight-year-old daughter, trying to answer her incessant questions.
Founding Advisor
Archana Kalla
Archana Kalla
Archana is the first believer who agreed to the idea that something like Talk Journalism could be created back in 2012. From penning down the back end of six speaker gathering she has been silently working behind the scenes . Apart from TJ she is advisor at Womencan initiative of WeCan Society.
Founding Advisor
Naveen Choudhary
Shoeb Khan
Abhayjeet Singh
Anuj Sharma
Avanindra Mishra
Avinash Thanvi
Prateek Kasliwal
Advocate
Sandeep Purohit
Sālik Khan
- The Vox Foundation aims at developing a media festival that talks about issues, trends, best practices, challenges and developments taking place globally in the field.
- The festival will be held once every year in Jaipur in the last weekend of July.
- We will be organizing regional chapters as Talk Journalism where we rope in experts regularly to discuss journalism and related issues
- The idea is to create a global community that collaborates and supports individuals, aspiring media professionals.
- From the funds that we generate via our events, we plan to give fellowship / conduct residency programmes for media professionals.
- We look forward to collaborate with likeminded organizations, donors and institutions to give out fellowships/ start in-residence journalism programs.
- Via the event we aim to promote debate on current media issues and practices prevailing globally among media houses and start ups.
- We aim to create links among media practitioners, professionals and organizations globally to bring to table good practices prevailing globally and spreading its reach
- It will be a forum where media students will be supported with links and professional leads. We will try and facilitate collaborations on stories, reports and media related issues