‘Your Shoot’ Wanbao Watermelon Festival in Miaoli County

PeoPo’s Citizen Journalism Platform took the ‘Your Shoot’ activity to its second stop at the Wanbao Watermelon Festival in Miaoli County, where farmers promoted local agriculture and recycling. This year’s 11th Wanbao Watermelon Festival was hosted by the Homemakers United Foundation, and even without any assistance from the local authorities, the festival was simply dazzling. Wanbao is widely considered to possess first-rate farmland, and watermelons produced in the area are fragrant and sweet. A few years ago, the government planned on expropriating the land and situating Hou-long Science and Technology Park in the area. Fortunately, after numerous protests by locals, the people finally managed to save their land.

Participating in this ‘Your Shoot’ activity, countless citizen journalists from all over the country developed their powers of observation and dexterity, uploading stories from their own unique viewpoints. PeoPo’s Citizen Journalism Platform’s Jian-xiong and Qing-ling used a photo-sharing style to tell their story. The festival provided a wonderful stage for citizen journalists to interact and build camaraderie, and everyone came away much richer from the experience.

PeoPo 公民新聞

(以下為中文對照)

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踹拍Try拍 苗栗灣寶西瓜節 PeoPo公民新聞平台舉辦的踹拍Try拍活動，第二站帶著公民記者來到了苗栗灣寶的西瓜節。灣寶農友推動當地的農業再造，今年與主婦聯盟舉辦第十一屆西 瓜文化節，即使沒有苗栗縣政府的補助，依然將「灣寶西瓜節」辦的有聲有色。被評定為優良農地的灣寶，出產的西瓜是出了名的香甜，然而幾年前卻差點因為苗栗 縣政府計畫建設後龍科技園區而被徵收農地，幸而經過灣寶農民無數次的抗爭，好不容易才保留下他們的農地。

而透過參加這一次的踹拍活動，來自全台各地數十位的公民記者朋友，發揮自己的觀察力與行動力，報導出極具個人觀點的西瓜節報導。PeoPo平台的建雄與晴 玲也分別分享了用照片說故事與尋找公民新聞議題的方式，與現場參與的公民記者互動交流，大家都收穫良多。