Home
+
Published : 22 Dec 2025, 07:59 PM
The University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), in collaboration with DRIK, has launched the “Ctrl+Alt+Story: Research and Storytelling in Journalism” fellowship.
The inaugural session was held on Thursday to welcome participants and introduce the four-month-long programme, according to a media statement.
It said Prof Sumon Rahman, dean of the School of Social Science and head of media studies and journalism department, delivered the welcome address, highlighting the importance of in-depth reading and writing in developing critical thinking.
He thanked DRIK for partnering with ULAB in this “important and timely initiative”.
The statement cited Shahidul Alam, renowned photographer-activist, who urged participants to focus on long-form storytelling and investigative journalism.
In his interactive session with the participants, he discussed the basics of (slow) investigative journalism by presenting several examples from his four decade-long career as well as from the others.
He noted that journalism is not a clerical job of telling people who said what at where (at which event) or what happened here and there, but it is a creative arena of explaining the “why” by digging deeper objectively and scientifically and telling that to people in a way they will understand the best.
“We must not just rush with everything, rather we need to slow down sometimes, think deeply and critically to understand the true essence of the phenomena around us”, he said.
Alam also warned the students that seeking out “why” is neither easy nor safe often; same applies to sharing the answer with people.
“There will always be ways if your intent is honest and strong,” he said.
Sarkar Barbaq Quarmal, associate professor of media studies and journalism, and one of the project coordinators, moderated the session while the other coordinator, Oliur Rahman Sun, lecturer of the Department of English and Humanities, presented the details of the initiative to the participants.
The Ctrl+Alt+Story initiative started with 21 participants selected through a two-step rigorous process, as per the statement.
It added that the participants will attend a series of workshops and masterclasses over the next six weeks, after which 10 students will receive fellowships worth Tk 50,000 each along with mentorship to pursue investigative journalism projects of their choice.
