The role of the media is enormous in waging the war of ideas. Given its importance as the fourth pillar, it requires high quality of ethical and informed reporting.

The media is now expanding the space it provides to report on matters of concern to the average citizen: how does the government spend my money, what is the status of school education, health care facilities, electricity, water, infrastructure in other parts of the country and the world, how do international institutions affect my day to day life, what do I need to know about old policies and new ideas before adopting a new public policy? We see increasing number of instances, the stories broken by media houses are the force that have commanded and delivered an immediate response action by government.

Therefore, for media professionals, a better understanding of public policy, how it is formulated and how to evaluate its impact on citizens enables them to better report on important social, political and economic issues. Increased knowledge sharing expands their horizon to challenge conventional solutions and explore innovative community and market-based solutions to public policy issues which can address the problems in the long-term.

To expand its services to media, CCS organizes a three-day residential Certificate Course on Public Policy for Journalists (CPPJ). The graduates from last year’s CPPJ were enthusiastic to take the learnings from the Course to their fellow journalists in their respective cities. As a result, this year we are organizing two Public Policy Workshops for Journalists in Jaipur and Ranchi with the assistance of our CPPJ 2009 graduates.

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