Karachi Press Club and Mishal announces Joint-Scholarship “The Karachi Press Club Scholarship”.

To honour the ones who have lost their lives in the line of duty, Karachi Press Club and Mishal (Pvt) Ltd. announced two scholarships “The Karachi Press Club Scholarship” for students who wish to study Masters in Mass Communication, Journalism or Media Studies offered at all public sector universities or any degree awarding institutions in Karachi. KPC will help Mishal in identifying the most deserving candidate for this joint-scholarship.

The Karachi Press Club and Mishal Pvt. Limited signed a memorandum of understanding on capacity building and training initiatives at the Press Club on Saturday 15, 2011.

MISHAL in collaboration with KPC will also identify the gaps in the curriculum of Mass Communication/Journalism and Media Studies and will provide a guideline to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for improvements in the curriculum to develop the capacity of the media industry.

The MoU envisages of empowering media by capacity building initiatives for the members of KPC through interactive workshops, seminars and courses on specific sectors. Both parties will identify the gaps in the reporting structures and develop different media forums within the Press Club on various socio-economic and political sectors.

KPC and Mishal will create knowledge exchange platform; whereby media exchange programs will be developed to build synergies in the field of journalism and technical knowhow. Mishal will develop a framework on journalism/media recognition awards in consultation with KPC. The awards will be developed according to the areas of activities of KPC as well as on national level media and journalism initiatives. Mishal in collaboration with KPC will also develop an annual report on the “State of Media in Pakistan”.

According to the details of the understanding reached between the two parties; Mishal will develop communication collateral in collaboration with Karachi Press Club on the achievements of its members. Mishal will enable collaborative platforms which will assist media in creating and improving the quality of its content.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Tahir Hasan Khan, President Karachi Press Club expressed his support for the initiative. Khan said that such an opportunity to be available for the media persons, which enhances their capacity and the ability to report on issues relevant to the society, will strengthen the communities and the infrastructure. He further said that, KPC will facilitate MISHAL in identifying the areas/sectors for capacity building of its members and it will also share its knowledge-based resources in developing the annual report on the State of Media in Pakistan.

Amir Jahangir, CEO for Mishal Pvt. Limited appreciated KPC for reposing confidence in Mishal and becoming a partner for a wide-range of activities to empower the media professionals through media trainings, interactive workshops and sector-wise content development trainings for the journalists. Jahangir expressed his concern over the alarming rate of which journalists are losing their lives to suicide bombings, abductions, cross-fires and target killing, the recent most case being the young and dynamic reporter, Wali Khan Babar. He emphasized that Pakistan does not have to be the most deadliest place for Journalists but such cases are making it difficult for these professionals to practice their occupation. He said media can cover issues related to extremism through communicating message of hope by creating media diversity and building capacity of the journalists to report and create more content on the state of economy, innovation, entrepreneurship and on the nexus of water, energy and food security.

He further said, that Mishal will finance technical consultancy for the development of social media platform to create the knowledge-based initiatives for the journalists.

Jahangir has been recognized as the Young Global Leader for 2010 by the World Economic Forum for creating initiatives for sustainable development of the media sector in Pakistan. He is also the programme advisor to Stanford Research Center of Innovation and Communications on Global media and Journalism in Pakistan.

Moosa Kamal, Secretary of the Karachi Press Club appreciated the idea of more interaction between the KPC and academia. He said the KPC would like to facilitate the academia and the students to share their initiatives.

The signing ceremony was attended by the vice President of the club, Fazil Jamili and other office bearers of the Press Club and journalistic community at large.

Mishal, launched in 2003, has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organization in the region for media development.

Mishal has undertaken the task to build the capacity of the Press Clubs and Associations in Pakistan by creating a knowledge-sharing learning platform for the media and journalists across Pakistan. The initiative will build the capacity through interactive workshops, conferences, collaborative thinking and media and journalism awards for the professionals in the field of journalism and media.

The Karachi Press Club, is an association of primarily news journalists, but also includes academics business people and members of the public service, and is located at Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. KPC was the first press club of Pakistan. Its first election was held in 1958, I.H. Burney was the first President of the KPC.

KPC today has more than 1500 members and plays a vital role in the democratic struggle in general and the struggle for press freedom in particular.

The club is proud to have luminaries such as Prince Karim Aga Khan, scientist and Nobel laureate Prof. Dr Abdus Salam, Prof. Dr Saleemuzzaman Siddiqui, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Alys Faiz, Habib Jalib, Ahmed Faraz, Josh Maleehabadi, Jahangir Khan, Imran Khan, and Javed Miandad, and Air Marshal (retd) Noor Khan were among the first members on this roll of honor.

Mishal’s foremost domain of activity is strategic communication with a spotlight on media, behavior change communication, media capacity building and future scenario predictions using methodologies and resources that service the lifestyle and social needs of individuals, their families, the communities they live in and ultimately their larger domains.

Mishal’s projects, therefore, aim at assisting people gain the awareness, knowledge and ability to meet their developmental needs. The projects center on people, their needs and perceptions, helping them understand issues and be able to act in ways that improve their health, education or economic well-being.http://injo.stanford.edu/node/155