Aaranyak holds workshop on wildlife crime reporting for students journalism in Gauhati University

way2barak, September 18: A group of around 60 students from the Department of Communication and Journalism of Gauhati University, Assam, attended a day-long workshop laced with engrossing practical sessions, on “Beyond Headlines: The seizure is not the story — understanding a reporting wildlife crime” conducted on September 16, 2026 at the department under the aegis Legal and Advocacy Department (LAD) of Aaranyak.

Senior Project Officer and Wildlife Crime Analyst of the LAD Ms Ivy Farheen Hussain was the key resource person for the workshop that the participating students on various aspects of wildlife crime reporting in a structured way. The workshop content dealt with application of various provisions Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act ,2022; how to go about wildlife crime investigation staying within the ambit of permissible limit of professional journalism. A key part of the workshop was a hands-on practical session on ‘Finding the story’ that was participated by all the students attending the workshop.

Consultant of the LAD and as well as Publicity Secretary of Aaranyak Bijay Sankar Bora set the tone for workshop by highlighting how burgeoning wildlife crime has posed grave threat to biodiversity that sustains life and livelihood on the planet earth. He also explained how the common people are the major stakeholder in the efforts to protect the biodiversity and prevent wildlife crimes.

He stated that professionals in the field of mass communication have a very important role to play in raising mass awareness level for conservation of biodiversity especially in biodiversity-rich region like frontier Northeast India that stands susceptible to global illegal wildlife trafficking cartels. He said the workshop meant to sensitise the mass communication students how to go about wildlife crime reporting in a scientific and convincing way staying within the ethical framework.

Head of the Department of Communication and Journalism, Professor Ankuran Dutta while introducing the team Aaranyak resource persons to the students underlined the importance of the workshop theme for the students of mass communication and journalism.

Dr Arunav Baruah, a teacher in the Department, felicitated the three-member Aaranyak team involved in conducting the workshop.

Aaranyak Public Relations Officer (PRO), Gunajit Mazumdar played a key role in smooth conduct and digital documentation of the entire workshop.