Theocratic Journalism in Pakistan

By Saleem H. Ali: Professor of environmental studies, University of Vermont

Pakistanis are news addicts. With a mercurial political landscape and a continuing spate of security crises, the populace has come to find a bizarre sense of entertainment in the news cycle. Life has become an ongoing soap opera with all the melodrama we may crave to be found within real news. No wonder that Pakistan's TV news channels are among the most watched and lucrative sources of advertising revenue for the country's vibrant electronic media market. Media dynasties reminiscent of the Murdoch or Luce empires can be found in Pakistan as well. The family elders who started media houses in the era of printed news have passed on the baton to their children and grandchildren, who are often educated abroad and are savvy with modern electronic marketing and social media interfaces.

Real face of Media & Champion of free press

By Musarrat ullah jan : 
Peshawar, everyone has right to information, citizen have right to say anything and the government gives “freedom of speech “. This type of word and slogan has come everywhere in different forums. Every journalist shows himself as the true journalist and some newspaper/ TV channel / Radio become the champion of the press freedom. But no one knows how much the journalist/ news paper speak / write the truth through their news and article.
Countries like Pakistan, where newspapers hold of elite class and they used it for their own purpose. Freedom of speech and truth is not nor the priority of the owner of the newspaper / TV channel. Because these people earn through newspaper/ TV channel and it’s a become an industry and journalist are labors of the Journalism Industry.

Limits of the social media

From the Newspaper DAILY DAWN | Bina Shah | 20th July, 2012

‘WHAT is this social media, and why is it so important?’
Variations of this question rang out all weekend as news spread of the Social Media Mela, a conference that brought Indian journalists, writers, and activists to Karachi to discuss with their Pakistani counterparts how the social media has affected various aspects of their lives.
According to Wikipedia, social media is, simply put, “web-based and mobile-based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organisations, communities, and individuals” (also known as Web 2.0). It includes Twitter and Facbeook, but also blogs and microblogs, online communities, YouTube and any other space on the Web that is accessible to all and enabled by “scalable communication techniques” — meaning that it can be accessed as easily on a humble mobile phone as on a sophisticated laptop.

Pakistani media’s fight against corruption: A Case Study for Afghan Media

By Mokhtar Wafayi / Haris Bin Aziz
ISLAMABAD: Since 2002, the Pakistani media has become powerful and independent and the number of private television channels has grown to 89, according to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.
Since the introduction of these vibrant TV channels, many major scams have been unveiled by journalists. Notable among them are the Pakistan Steel Mill’s Rs22 billion scam, NICL case, corruption in Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Railways, Hajj corruption case, NATO containers’ case, rental power projects and the ephedrine quota case.

Journalism and social media

The writer is former general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists and currently director of the Ethical Journalism Network.

By Aidan White
Ever since the printing press gave birth to mass communications and journalism, the news business has been driven by technology and never more so than today.
Personal computers, smart phones, digital cameras, all of them brought to life by internet technology and social media, have put the audience in the newsroom and are redefining journalism. At the same time, the boundaries between news and entertainment and between news reporting and advertising have become blurred and people are asking whether this is hurting journalism.
This was touched upon in the Pakistan-India Social Media Mela, held in Karachi, where talk ranged from the good (internet solidarity, entrepreneurship, minority rights and Twitter literature) to the bad (internet bullying) and the downright ugly (the problem of foul-mouthed internet trolls — people who post poisonous rhetoric on social networks).

Journalism school honors 1st Amendment lawyer, foreign reporters and more with Missouri Medal

Omer Cheema

Ken Paulson

COLUMBIA, Mo. — A former USA Today editor and a Pakistani reporter who risked his life to cover the news are among this year's winners of the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism.
The winners include former USA Today editor Ken Paulson, current president of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. Umar Cheema, an investigative reporter for the Pakistani newspaper The News, who also worked for The New York Times, also was honored.

PEMRA chief called to explain Amn Committee blackout

KARACHI: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) chairman has been called by the Sindh High Court to explain the television blackout of Peoples Amn Committee leaders.

A division bench heard on Friday the petition filed by Syed Iqbal Kazmi, the chairman of the newly-formed political party Pakistan Qaumi Movement. The petitioner had challenged the ban imposed by PEMRA restraining the electronic media from giving coverage to Uzair Jan Baloch and Habib Jan Baloch among other leaders of the outlawed committee.

Global media again raises Kashmir issue

SRINAGAR, (SANA): The Kashmir issue has presently finding space in reputable global media institutions amid peaceful situation in the Valley.
Over the past few weeks, international media organizations like New York Times, Time Magazine, Guardian, Christian Science Monitor, British-based Channel 4 and other well known global publications have turned their attention towards the Kashmir conflict.
The opinion pieces and programmes on Kashmir are touching a number of issues including mass graves, torture, disappearance, fake encounters and other human tragedies with a common theme: “apathy of world towards human rights abuses.”
On July 10, Channel 4 broadcast documentary – Kashmir’s Torture Trail – highlighting the issue of unmarked graves discovered in Kashmir a few years ago. The trailer of the documentary read: “Now from Kashmir, more dark secrets are emerging.”

Social media termed citizens’ diplomacy

US counsel general William Martin, Karachi

Daily DAWN
KARACHI, July 13: From an online campaign to get visa restrictions on both sides of the border eased to using social media for change and expressing opinions that the mainstream media might not be interested in, discussions on day one of the two-day 2012 Pakistan-India Social Media Mela gave a chance for ‘alternative’ viewpoints to be heard.
The event, organised by US consulates general in Karachi and Lahore on Friday, saw social media practitioners from both sides of the border under one roof.
In his speech, US counsel general William Martin said that social media often highlighted the issues overlooked by the mainstream media.

Social Media Mela: Should brands build or buy blogger loyalty?

By Erum Shaikh ; THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE
KARACHI: Do bloggers have more freedom as compared to journalists when it comes to writing about brands? And is that freedom necessarily a good thing?
A debate revolving around this question and more was held between those from the corporate world and bloggers at a session titled “Corporate Blogger Meetups: Building or Buying Loyalty?” on the first day of the Pakistan-India Social Media Mela on Friday.

Journalists express concern over media freedom in Balochistan

* Imitiaz Gul says state, non-state actors, should spare media from rivalries, not subject it to fear, intimidation

By Mohamamd Zafar, Daily Times

QUETTA: There is no free and independent media in Balochistan, as different pressure groups and powerful elements have been harassing and terrifying media persons, which have led to the killing of 22 journalists in the last four years.

This was declared in a workshop on ‘Media and Civil Society in Balochistan’, organised by Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) in collaboration with Association for Integrated Development (AID) on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, senior journalist and CRSS Executive Director Imtiaz Gul said, “Media is facing challenges, constraints and operational difficulties in reporting in Balochistan. It is the duty of all state and non-state actors, and stakeholders, to spare the media from their rivalries and not subject them to fear, intimidation and dictation.”

The good and the bad

By: Zahrah Nasir | Daily The Nation

It is never easy being a journalist – not even when things are going smoothly and they certainly are not doing so for journalists here in Pakistan right now. Aside from the ever present watchfulness of the ‘authorities’ and the inescapable fact that your personal, as well as office, phones and other lines of communication may be monitored around the clock and that your colleagues, particularly those specializing in investigative reporting, may vanish at the drop of someone’s hat, there are now the scathing comments of the general public, most of whom have never particularly liked journalists anyway, to contend with and this, rightly or wrongly, is all the fault of the press corps itself. 

Cost of foreign media temptations

Local journalists complain that officials of various ministries routinely quote a government notification that ‘we are asked not to talk to media.’ But the same rule is waived for the foreign press.

By Sumera Khan, The Express Tribune

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan’s media managers prefer to talk to the foreign media instead of local outlets when major news breaks in the country. But this comes at a cost. These foreign media outlets report the news with a slant or without context, leaving Pakistani officials to clean up the mess that is caused as a consequence.

But the lure of the foreign media is too hard to resist and many Pakistani leaders – both civilian and military, prefer to be humiliated on the Western media than be honest on the local ones.
A recent example was a stuttering Yousaf Raza Gilani telling a pushy CNN interviewer that those Pakistanis who are not happy with the way the country is run “are free to leave.” Many recall how a bumbling Sartaj Aziz, then foreign minister in the Nawaz Sharif government, gave away Pakistan’s case on Kargil in his eagerness to be interviewed on a BBC talk show.

I Exhibition of Brazilian Documentaries in Pakistan

The Embassy of Brazil in Islamabad is proud to present the I Exhibition of Brazilian
Documentaries in Pakistan, which will take place from July 12 to 15 (5:00-7:00 p.m),
at the Embassy (House 1, Street 72, F-8/3). The Embassy will showcase four
awarded documentaries about major Brazilian personalities, linked to culture and
sports.
Sports will be represented by the first and last movie, which are about two
legendary Brazilians: Ayrton Senna - three times Formula 1 champion, and Pelé -
the best football player in history.

The Second World Media Summit (WMS) ends in Mascow

The challenges faced in these changing times 

The two-day meet will seek to examine in close detail the so-called fourth estate

The conference opened on Thursday
Second World Summit: More than 300 mass media professionals from 213 media outlets in 102 countries are gathered in Moscow for the second world media summit that is exploring, among other things, the transformation of traditional media under pressure from the Internet, and journalistic ethics in a hyper-dynamic world. While discussing journalist ethics in a changing world – the boundaries of the permissible and rights of the journalist, media professionals agreed that both media and governments have equal responsibilities.
The AP correspondent, based in Pakistan, said that governments should guarantee freedom of press, freedom of speech, opinion and expression, while media should have the right to disseminate information without fear or favour, but in a responsible way. “Journalists should also be responsible to disseminate information with objectivity and accuracy, in the interest of the public,” he said.

Call to promote ethical reporting on child issues

A media workshop on the coverage of sensitive issues relating to children, including their exploitation, health care and rights, was held on Wednesday here at a local hotel in which the Lahore Press Club announced the formation of a Journalist Forum against polio.

The workshop was organized by the Lahore Press Club in collaboration with a non-government organization (NGO) working for creating awareness of critical issues relating to the media and journalistic ethics.

Qaim, Marri grieved : Senior journalist Irshad Gulabani passes away

Senior journalist Irshad Gulabani

KARACHI: Senior journalist, Irshad Gulabani, passed away on Saturday afternoon at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT). He was 48.

He was admitted there due to pain in kidney. Doctors had conducted an operation of his one kidney few days back. According to Dr Adeeb Rizvi, cancer had spread to his lungs and liver. Deceased left behind a widow and three sons.

A large number of journalists reached SIUT after knowing the sad news. Dr Rizvi was also among those who had reached the spot. He also participated in shifting of the body from the hospital to the ambulance.

Social media ‘reporting’ hurting real journalism

" Journalists are bound by rules and ethics. Unlike social media, journalists are required to give information in a responsible way," Coalition for Ethical Journalism Director Aidan White.

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan has laws and a constitution, but nobody follows them. Similarly, the country’s media does have codes of conduct, but very few journalists practice them. Newsrooms need to create a culture that inculcates ethics in workers who would go on to collectively uphold morals in professional journalism.