International Islamic University, Islamabad to Collaborate with Mishal to Develop the Media Credibility Index

Department of Media and Communication Studies, IIU Collaborates to Develop Media Credibility Index

First time in Pakistan Mishal is framing a Media Credibility Index after deeply examining media laws, ethics, rules and regulations, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Chairman Department of Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University.

Department of Media and Communication Studies (DMCS), International Islamic University will collaborate with Mishal Pakistan to develop the Media Credibility Index, an initiative to create new frameworks and methodologies to measure current trends and indices on media ethics, journalism standards, media credibility and rankings to be measured on international benchmarks.

“There is an urgent need for the Pakistani media industry to come up with an innovative methodology, which can complement the current trends and establish the authenticity of the content on the basis of credibility, reliability and professional matureness of the people creating news on daily basis” said Dr. Zafar Iqbal Chairman Department of Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University.

For the first time in Pakistan, Mishal has designed a media credibility index after an in-depth study of media laws, ethics, rules and regulations drafted by different media groups, regulatory bodies and journalistic organizations, both, nationally and internationally to explore the state of media in Pakistan. The Media Credibility Index is measured on the six credibility indicators and twenty sub-indices, said Dr. Iqbal.

Sharing his views about Media Credibility Index, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, said that we are honored to be a part of this research initiative with Mishal and to put all our efforts to make this initiative credible, objective and an informative and model study to contribute in the knowledge ecosystem. He further said, we appreciate Mishal Pakistan’s effort of bridging the gap between the industry and academia through this important initiative for Pakistan.

He said that the Department of Media and Communication Studies (DMCS) has been envisioned as a centre of excellence for promoting media and communication studies in the country. We aim to accomplish this in a manner that can be useful for the media professionals, academic scholars, researchers, NGOs, policy makers and regulators. The department offers a unique opportunity to combine innovative media and communication studies with involvement in joint research projects, engaging prominent media institutions and experts of national and international repute.

Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan and lead editor of Media Credibility Index (MCI) Amir Jahangir shared that the Media Credibility Index utilizes a qualitative empirical evidence-based approach, towards measuring the credibility of these professionals through an extensive analytical observation process across the six pillars of credibility. These pillars consist of: professionalism, accuracy, balance, timeliness, ethics and fairness. These pillars have been derived from examining and comparing more than thirty codes of conducts, ten of which are from the Pakistani institutions and twenty four from international code of ethics of media entities, regulatory bodies and other research institutions. Codes of Ethics framed by Pakistani media groups have also being included such as Jang group’s Geo Asool, Dunya’s code of ethics, Express group’s journalism code of conduct and Dawn Group’s principles and code of conduct.

The MCI will assess the media discourse and credibility of current affair content in the country. This extensive study entails thirty-five current affair programs of the mainstream leading Pakistani news channels.

Mishal Pakistan is the partner institute of the Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks, World Economic Forum. Mishal assists the forum in creating the soft-data on Pakistan, identifying Pakistan’s competitiveness challenges. Mishal has also launched Pakistan’s first journalism awards on the framework designed jointly with the Center for International Media Ethics and UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators.