KASHMIR PRESS CLUB TO COLLABORATE ON ISSUES OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE THROUGH INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM WITH AGAHI

JOURNALISTS TRAINED FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AND RESPONSIBLE REPORTING

Mishal Pakistan, a strategic communication policy design social enterprise in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics, Zigron Training, Center for Investigative Journalists in Bosnia-Sarajevo, Naya Jeevan conducted a workshop on Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting in Kashmir Press Club in Mirpur Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The initiative, known as Agahi covered areas such as; Investigative Journalism and Ethics, Anti-Money-Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding, Journalism and Society “Millennium Development Goals’’, Reporting in Terrorism and Conflict, Social Media and Safety Training. The initiative was launched in Multan Press Club on August 22^nd 2011. 

Syed Abid Ali Shah,
President, Kashmir Press Club, Mirpur - AJK

Talking to the gathering of the members of the media, Syed Abid Hussain Shah, President of the Kashmir Press Club, Mirpur expressed his gratitude for creating an opportunity for the journalists and emphasised the need for for more training and assured his support from the press club for improving the state of media in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. There is a need to upgrade the skills of the journalists on new media tools such as social media and crowd sourcing journalism, he further added. 

    

Mishal Pakistan and Kashmir Press Club, signed a memorandum of understanding on capacity building and training initiatives. The initiative aims to empower the journalist community by creating learning platforms through interactive workshops, seminars and courses in specific sectors.

Puruesh Chaudhary,
CIME Ambassador to Pakistan and
Director Content MISHAL and AGAHI

On the session, Puruesh Chaudhary, Ambassador to Pakistan on Media Ethics on behalf of the Center for International Media Ethics emphasized on the formulation of a unified ethics policy for the entire journalistic community to be adopted, implemented and adhered to counter special interest groups and sensationalism. The session dealt with the problems being faced by journalists, which also underscored the need for a joint code of conduct for reporters and cameramen. Journalists in Mirpur proactively discussed issues such as lack of training, non-supportive management, unavailability of basic resources, pressure groups, wages and the absence of a unified code of conduct.

The trainers highlighted socio-economic disparities which included gender/social discrimination, access to clean drinking water, environment, health and education  that continue to impact the community and stressed on how investigations into such areas can reflect the changing needs and priorities.

There was a special session on safety for journalists on how to journalists can also acquire the knowledge of life saving, as journalists are usually the first people to reach a place of accident or an act of terrorism. 

Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan

Mishal Pakistan Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Amir Jahangir in his closing remarks announced two scholarships in collaboration with the Kashmir Press Club who wish to enroll for the Masters Programme in Mass Communication, Journalism or Media Studies at any public sector universities or any other degree awarding institution in Azad Jammu Kashmir and other parts of Pakistan. The Kashmir Press Club will help Mishal in identifying the most deserving candidate for this scholarship.

Agahi, aims to utilize institutionalized, sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards through training to increasing responsible, balanced reporting and investigative journalism. The initiative is being carried in collaboration with the Press Clubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Azad Kashmir; In these series of interactions with the stakeholders a special Journalism Awards is being created to identify the most respectful and responsible journalists in investigative journalism.

The workshop was attended by more than 50 press club members. The Kashmir Press Club was founded in 1978 and has more than 70 full time members and almost 100 affiliated members.

Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

AGAHI, a set on Flickr.

Pictures from Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

Multan Press Club launches AGAHI – Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting initiative.

 

AGAHI to address the gaps in media ethics and reporting on investigative journalism on terrorism financing, socio-economic issues, new media, anti-money laundering and safety training

Mishal Pakistan, a strategic communication policy design social enterprise in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics, Zigron Training, Center for Investigative Journalists in Bosnia-Sarajevo, Naya Jeevan launched “Agahi’’, an initiative which will increase the capacity of Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting at the Multan Press Club.

The programme covered areas such as; Investigative Journalism and Ethics, Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding, Journalism and Society “Millennium Development Goals’’, Reporting in Terrorism and Conflict, Social Media, Journalism and Safety Training. The sessions were designed to be interactive with the audience to improve the understanding related to investigative journalism and responsible reporting.

Agahi, aims to utilize institutionalized, sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards through training to increasing responsible, balanced reporting and investigative journalism said Puruesh Chaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan and the Chief Strategy Officer to the project.

The session in Multan underscored the need for a joint code of conduct to agree upon basic guidelines for reporters and cameramen. Journalists proactively discussed the issues they face as the threats remain real. Journalists not only fear for their own safety but for the safety of their families and relatives as well. The basic problems highlighted were lack of training, non-supportive managements, little or no backup by editorial teams, unavailability of basic resources, pressure groups (criminal and commercial), and absence of a unified code of conduct.

Mishal Pakistan and Multan Press Club, signed a memorandum of understanding on capacity building and training initiatives earlier this year. The MoU envisages empowering the media by capacity building initiatives for the members of the Multan Press Club by creating learning platform through interactive workshops, seminars and courses in specific sectors.

The initiative is being carried in collaboration with the Press Clubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir; in the series of interactions with the stakeholders a special Journalism Awards is being created to identify the most respectful and responsible journalists in investigative journalism said Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer Mishal Pakistan.

Teresa Allen, representative for CIME joining the Multan Press Club journalists from California via video conference stressed on the need for continuous educational programmes for journalists in the field and the formulation of an Ethics Policy for the entire journalistic community.

Osama Bin Javaid, News Editor with DAWNNEWS highlighted that every day social issues that impact the community should be part of the news content. He further identified that the millennium development goals (MDGs) as the best tool that flags significance content development to Pakistan. The journalists discussed best practices for issues such as gender/social discrimination, health, education etc. The MDGs provide areas and in those areas specific entities to be investigated.

Asaf Akhtar, an expert in financial sector specializing in frauds and anti-money laundering gave firsthand knowledge on Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding techniques and methodologies while giving references to the abduction of Daniel Pearl, the cases of transactions through non-banking channels such hundi and the case of NICL.

The session on Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting dealt with the problem being faced by journalists in far-flung conflict areas that are not major cities and where the dynamics of investigation and threats are different. Pakistan remains the most dangerous place on earth for journalists. Dr. Kamran Akmal, representing Naya Jeevan a not-for-profit organization facilitating micro-healthcare instruments encouraged journalists to take precautionary measures while covering incidents and briefed them about basic life support.

The Agahi initiative plans to engage the journalists from other parts of the country as well and it will build the capacity of the press clubs and its members to undertake initiatives on investigative journalism for responsible reporting in Pakistan.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY TO BE CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY TO BE CELEBRATED IN PAKISTAN, a photo by ajjano on Flickr.

Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics to mobilize the journalism community on September 23rd, 2011

The Center for International Media Ethics - CIME, a non-profit organization with staff members operating across several continents teams up with Mishal Pakistan, a leading strategic communication social enterprise, specializing in media and communication for policy design in a bid to bring together a network of journalists and students in Pakistan to provide training, discussion and expertise in the ethics of their profession.

“The Pakistani media industry, since its deregulation in the year 2002, has expanded exponentially. While the media has come a long way, from a singular national media outlet, to a vibrant and proactive community of news channels and print media, it is still far behind in the implementation of a media ethics protocol. Special interests and above all, sensationalism continue to compromise objectivity, especially in the electronic media. Such trends can be countered, most effectively, with better training of journalists and a wider campaign to promote ethics in journalism. – said Melisande Middleton, founder of the Center for International Media Ethics

The aim of Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide journalists around the world with an opportunity to discuss media ethics issues, examine case studies, and participate in role-plays and debates related to the various ethical dilemmas they might expect to face on the job.

The Center for International Media Ethics - CIME has appointed Mishal’s Director Content, Puruesh Chaudhary as its Ambassador to Pakistan on Media Ethics. “CIME and Mishal will work on indigenous platforms that will serve the journalistic community, policy-makers and students to participate and share opinions that will strengthen the understanding of ethical dilemmas facing the media industry”, said Puruesh Chaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan.

Through this partnership, both CIME and Mishal Pakistan intend to promote respect for truth, accuracy and privacy by engaging relevant stakeholders to create dialogue on ethical practices through training programmes on quality reporting that results in educating the public. The two organizations would drive the emphasis that journalists together have the power to formulate a tacit code of ethics as a status quo of their profession, which is evolved and observed, mutually by the community, the regulatory authority and relevant stakeholders.

A recent web-based survey launched by CIME, reflects on how media professionals themselves see their position at work, ethical standards of media in their country and the need for improvement of ethical standards among journalists and media professionals. A significant number of respondents from Pakistan and Bangladesh indicated that it is difficult to follow ethical rules due to lack of awareness regarding the code of ethics established by respective employers.

CIME encourages journalists to take on a proactive role in defining ethical practices through the choices and decisions made at work on a daily basis. This partnership between CIME and Mishal will urge journalists to work together to make their own judgments and identify their own strategies.

CIME has already hosted its Forum three years in a row, to provide panel discussion sessions for a group of selected journalists on the topic of ethics. This provides a framework for media professionals to share strategies on local ethical dilemmas that come up in their work. CIME hosts the annual CIME Forum in developing and emerging economies where journalists cannot normally afford ethics training, with the goal of improving the overall journalism ethics standards in each given country.

Mishal, launched in 2003, has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations in the region to develop their communication strategy and solutions for better understanding and creating synergies between different members of the information ecosystem. Mishal has been at the forefront of creating a knowledge-based ecosystem and is actively pursuing to improve the state of media and journalism in Pakistan.

The team behind Mishal has been developing, creating and managing media entities and content for the last 20 years at various platforms. Taking this initiative to the next level Mishal has been actively pursuing to build the capacity of the media in creating better understanding the issues in global perspective.

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.