PAKISTAN OBSERVES THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY 2012

PAKISTAN OBSERVES THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ETHICS DAY 2012

Media practitioners around the world built consensus on the need to realize the significance of globalization, understand socio-political, cultural and religious values, which strengthens the fundamental rights of individuals and societies.

2nd International Media Ethics Day 2012
(L to R) Puruesh Chaudhary, Amjad Hussain,
Shafqat Abbasi, Dr. Anjum Zia and Amir Jahangir

Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) and the Center for Media Research and Development celebrate the second International Media Ethics Day in Pakistan at the Royal Palm Country Club, Lahore.

CIME Ambassador, PurueshChaudhary in her opening remarks said “the media industry, think tanks, academia, civil society organizations, public and private need to realize the significance of globalization, understand the social, cultural, political and religious values, which strengthens the fundamental rights of individuals and societies”.

Joining the debate on ethical dilemmas and the future of journalism were Adrian Monck, Director Communications at the World Economic Forum, Kirsten Mogensen, Assistant Professor Roskilde University, Amjad Hussain Honorary Executive Director and Founder, Center for Media Research and Development, Shafqat Abbasi, Chairman Press Council of Pakistan, Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan, Dr. Anjum Zia, Chairperson Mass Communication Department Lahore College Women University.

The aim of the Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide journalists around the world with an opportunity to discuss the challenges faced on the 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.

From the World Economic Forum, Adrian Monck said the future of journalism is digital and data. The hope for journalism is being more data focused and a more digital savvy group of people who still want to bring interesting information to the public domain, who have skills and the tools to successfully share knowledge”. I hope that the journalism education can be that bridge, he further added.

In 2011, there were more than 300 participants in 11 countries, this year the event has doubled in size, with 23 locations globally. Amjad Hussain, Honorary Executive Director and Founder, Center for Media Research and Development, said there is a need to create more industry-academia linkages, which can foster collaborations to enable a knowledge-based society.

Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan, on the occasion said the Pakistani information ecosystem needs to develop a mechanism, which can distinguish between good and bad journalism. Only then the society can appreciate the quality of ethical journalism in the country. A media credibility barometer or index can ensure in raising the bar of journalism standards in the country.

Participants of the 2nd International Media Ethics Day 2012, Lahore - Pakistan

The CIME Forum also organizes an annual event that brings together media professionals for training, panels and discussion in ethical practices. The Forum is held each year in a different region in the world, in order to reach a wider community of journalists and connect ethical issues of local relevance with those of the broader international media community.

The interactive event was attended by a diverse segment of society, consisting of professionals from media, academia, think tanks and intellectuals.

The International Media Ethics Day is being celebrated in: Albania (Tirana), Benin (Cotonou), Cameroon (Yaoundé), Ghana (Accra), Germany (Calw /Baden-Württemberg), Hungary (Budapest), Ivory Coast (Abidjan), India (Jamshedpur), Myanmar (Mandalay), Nepal (Kathmandu), Nigeria (Lagos), Nigeria (Mkar), Pakistan (Lahore and Islamabad), Peru (Monterrico), Romania (Iasi), Russia (Moscow), Vanuatu, Afghanistan (Herat), Nigeria (Abuja); Palestine (Birzeit); Uganda (Mbarara); Argentina (Buenos Aires)

The Center for International Media Ethics - CIME, a non-profit organization with staff members operating across several continents teamed up with Mishal Pakistan, a 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.

CIME and Mishal Pakistan, along with several other stakeholders 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.

Pakistan Loses its Competitiveness on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013

Pakistan Loses its Competitiveness on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013

Falls 6 points on the Global Competitiveness Ranking, 124 among 144 economies

Pakistan has been ranked among bottom 20 of the 144 economies around the world in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released today by the World Economic Forum.

According to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2012-13, Pakistan lacks a long-term view of competitiveness. The level of corruption and poor governance are some of the factors slowing down Pakistan’s economic growth, therefore ranking Pakistan at 124 among 144 other countries on the index. The World Economic Forum ranks countries on more than 100 economic indicators comparing 144 countries.

Klaus Schwab,
Founder and Executive Chairman,
World Economic Forum 

“Persisting divides in competitiveness across regions and within regions, particularly in Europe, are at the origin of the turbulence we are experiencing today, and this is jeopardizing our future prosperity.” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. “We urge governments to act decisively by adopting long-term measures to enhance competitiveness and return the world to a sustainable growth path.”

Pakistan’s secured ranking on 12 pillars: institutions (115), infrastructure (116), macroeconomic environment (139), Health and Primary Education (117) Higher Education and Training (124), Goods Market Efficiency (97), Labor Market Efficiency (130) Financial Market Development (73), Technological Readiness (118), Market Size (30), Business Sophistication (78) and Innovation (77).

Amir Jahangir
Chief Executive Officer
Mishal Pakistan,
Young Global Leader,
World Economic Forum

‘Pakistan has lost its competitive advantage almost on all the pillars of the competitiveness index except for in Health, Primary Education and Labor market Efficiency’ says Amir Jahangir Chief Executive Officer Mishal Pakistan, countrypartner for the Center of Global Competitiveness and Performance at the World Economic Forum. Further adding, although Pakistan showed good performance on the innovation and sophistication pillars, but on the factors for basic requirements and efficiency enhancer pillars Pakistan continues to show poor performance.

The Pakistani business community has identified Corruption as the most problematic factor for doing business in the country. The report indicates that Pakistan has failed to come up with effective regulations on intellectual property protection, where the country lost its position of 93 to 108 from 2011 to 2012 respectively. Poor governance in terms of favoritism in decision-making (129) and wastefulness of government spending (96) have also shown significant decline in rankings. The Efficiency of Legal Framework in Challenging Regulations has also impacted the competiveness of Pakistan’s economy as it has declined from 79 in 2011 to 97 in 2012.

The law and order situation has been a serious threat to the economic activities, with war on terror and other target killing issues impacting throughout the year, the Reliability of Police Service has gone to 127 in the current year as compared to 116 in the last year. 

On the Macroeconomic Pillar the government’s performance has been weak with the budget balance ranking (% of GDP) deteriorating from 108 to 125 from 2011 to 2012 respectively. The general government debt has also seen poor performance as it has lost 11 points from last year, by being ranked at 107 in the current year.

Although Pakistan ranked 41 in 2011 on the Tax Collection Efficiency index, however the economy has lost its competitive advantage due to decline in 2012 by ranking to 59, limitations on the ease of access to loans and venture capital availability, where Pakistan stands at 65 and 55 respectively.

The labor market efficiency pillar shows a decline in the cooperation between labor and employer relations whereas the rank has slipped from 80 to 90. The GCR also identifies that the businesses in Pakistan are shying away from reliance on professional management as the ranking has decreased from 88 to 101.

  

Although Pakistan has seen some improvement on the broadband usage, but the individual internet usage has declined, ranking the country at 120 in 2012 from 98 in 2011. The government’s procurement of advanced tech products has not been a priority where it showed deterioration from 91 to 109 this year as compared to last year.

The state of cluster development has also been neglected and reflects in the report where the rank has plunged from 48 to 62. The commercialization of research has not been a priority in Pakistan, where the industry university collaboration has also seen negative fall from 69 to 81.

Nonetheless, Pakistan has also shown some positive indicators on improving its competitiveness, where the burden of government regulation has improved from 76 in 2011 to 62 this year, similarly the transparency of government policy making has also been improved from ranking of 119 to 109. The country credit rating index has also improved from 123 this year to 116 compared to last year.

The economy has shown flexibility in the hiring and firing practices where it has improved the rank from 33 last year to 21 this year. The pay and productivity index has also shown gains where Pakistan has improved 13 points and ranks at 73.

The report has shown significant improvements on the performance of the Securities and Exchange Commission, where Pakistan has shown improvements on the regulations of securities exchanges by being ranked 55 as compared to 70 last year.

Switzerland, for the fourth consecutive year, tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 Singapore remains in second position and Finland in third position, overtaking Sweden (4th). These and other Northern and Western European countries dominate the top 10 with the Netherlands (5th), Germany (6th) and United Kingdom (8th). The United States (7th), Hong Kong (9th) and Japan (10th) complete the ranking of the top 10 most competitive economies.

Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 
Professor of Economics,
Columbia University, USA 

Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, USA, said: “The Global Competitiveness Index provides a window on the long-term trends that are shaping the competitiveness of the world’s economies. In this light, we believe it offers useful insight into the key areas where countries must act if they are to optimize the productivity that will determine their economic future.”

The report indicates that Switzerland and countries in Northern Europe have been consolidating their strong competitiveness positions since the financial and economic downturn in 2008. On the other hand, countries in Southern Europe, i.e. Portugal (49th), Spain (36th), Italy (42nd) and particularly Greece (96th) continue to suffer from competitiveness weaknesses in terms of macroeconomic imbalances, poor access to financing, rigid labour markets and an innovation deficit.

Despite growing its overall competitiveness score, the United States continues its decline for the fourth year in a row, falling two more places to seventh position. In addition to the burgeoning macroeconomic vulnerabilities, some aspects of the country’s institutional environment continue to raise concern among business leaders, particularly the low public trust in politicians and a perceived lack of government efficiency. On a more positive note, the US still remains a global innovation powerhouse and its markets work efficiently.

The large emerging market economies (BRICS) displayed different performances. Despite a slight decline in the rankings of three places, the People’s Republic of China (29th) continues to lead the group. Of the others, only Brazil (48th) moves up this year, with South Africa (52nd), India (59th) and Russia (67th) experiencing small declines in rankings.

In the Middle East and North Africa, Qatar (11th) leads the region while Saudi Arabia remains among the top 20 (18th). The United Arab Emirates (24th) improves its performance while Kuwait (37th) slightly declines. Morocco (70th) and Jordan (63rd) improve slightly. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa (52nd) and Mauritius (54th) feature in the top half of the rankings. However, most countries in the region continue to require efforts across the board to improve their competitiveness.

The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was first developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin, a co-author of this year’s report, in 2004. Defining competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country, GCI scores are calculated by drawing together public and private data around 12 key categories – the pillars of competitiveness – that together make up a comprehensive picture of a country’s competitiveness.

Mishal Pakistan is the country partner Institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Performance at the World Economic Forum. World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Read the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 at http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness

Agahi Investigative Journalism » AGAHI and Morango Films join hands to launch “60 Seconds Film Festival” in Pakistan

Agahi Investigative Journalism » AGAHI and Morango Films join hands to launch “60 Seconds Film Festival” in Pakistan

AGAHIandMorangoFilmsjoinhandstolaunch“60SecondsFilmFestival”inPakistan

Aug 06 2012

by

No Responses.

Morangofilms in collaboration with AGAHI on it’s initiative “60 Second Film Festivals”. The festival will call for entries in August for content on social issues and development, entertainment, national and international issues, and public service messages. AGAHI will be comprehensively assessing the content produced and will be participating in the evaluation process.

The 60 Seconds Film Festival will engage upcoming artists/producers from all around of Pakistan to put forward and showcase their work on various socially driven concerns in the country. This Festival will provide a knowledge field for the Pakistani Youth to display their work by capturing and confronting the challenges in our society. The focus will address critical socio-economic issues such as, education, civic sense, health, art, water, gender, extremism, entertainment, unemployment and current affairs.

http://60secondfilmfestival.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/agahi/

Health Journalists Across Pakistan Unite Against Polio

Workshop on health journalism concludes with “Journalists Against Polio” Forum.

Journalists Against Polio Forum Launched in Pakistan

The first of its kind media workshop on the coverage of sensitive issues relating to children, including their exploitation, healthcare and rights was held on Wednesday at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in which the journalists working in the health sector made a consensus to the form a journalist forum against polio. 

The focus of the workshop was to promote ethical reporting on issues related to children who remain the most vulnerable segment of the society and remain exposed to victimization and harassment even in places considered safe for them.   
One of the key issues highlighted by the speakers remained related to healthcare, especially polio, which continues to remain a major problem in Pakistan – one of the only three countries of the world where this disease continues to cripple children below the age of five years. 

The workshop was organized by Mishal Pakistan – a non-government organization working for creating awareness on critical issues relating to the media and journalistic ethics. The initiative was also supported by the press clubs across Pakistan. 

The speakers highlighted the fact that in 2012 so far 22 polio cases have been reported in various parts of Pakistan with the highest number of victims hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA where a total of 15 cases have been brought to the notice of authorities. In Sindh the number of reported polio cases is three, while in Balochistan and Punjab provinces two polio cases each have been reported. One of the major reasons for the polio cases in Sindh remains the influx of internally displaced people (IDPs), while in KP and FATA remains the continued conflict situation.

The trainers included senior journalist Fahad Hussain; Richard Leiby, Bureau Chief of the Washington Post, Puruesh Chaudhary, Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) Ambassador to Pakistan; Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan; Dr. Shamshair Ali Khan and Azmat Abbas from UNICEF Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Fahad Hussain, former director news Express, ARY TV and editor shared his views on how an Editor’s mind works. He told the participants how should a journalists position their stories on social issues, especially on health and children related topics.

Richard Leiby, bureau chief of the Washington Post, while speaking on the occasion said that children issues should be covered with extreme care and sensitivity, ensuring their safety and privacy. He emphasized the role of a journalist in creating awareness and fighting myths which curbs basic child rights and even denies them basic immunizations including polio drops in many parts of Pakistan.

In the presentation on the Health Indicators, Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal Pakistan and Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum shared the importance of health indicators and how journalists can benefit from the WHO’s World Health indicators, UN’s MDGs and World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index. He said that “Journalists Against Polio” will play their part in creating awareness regarding the alarming situation of growing number of Polio cases in the country.

Puruesh Chaudhary, Ambassador to Pakistan from the Center for   International Media Ethics, a Brussels based media think tank, highlighted the importance of media ethics in reporting on child-sensitive issues. “Pakistani media has to play its role in bringing issues like polio into public debate,” she said. "It has been researched that thousands of children missed their polio drops in the past couple of years with the worst-affected areas being in FATA and Baluchistan, a high number of IDPs influx into Sindh has resulted in increased number of Polio cases from Sindh especially in Karachi”.

Dr. Shamshair Ali Khan representing UNICEF said that Pakistan reported 198 polio cases in 2011, whereas 23 were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 59 in FATA, 73 in Balochistan, 1 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 9 in Punjab and 33 in Sindh.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The World Health Assembly declared Polio as a global emergency during the recently held meeting in Geneva, whereas the Government of Pakistan declared Polio as a national emergency in January 2011.

The “Journalists Against Polio” forum was launched by the Peshawar Press Club president Saiful Islam Saifi earlier last month and the journalists from Quetta Press Club and journalists from Lahore and Karachi have also extended their cooperation on this. 

Senior journalists like Amir Ahmad Khan, Global Head of BBC Urdu Service and Amir Zia, Editor The News International along with Fahad Hussain, Director News Waqt TV and Richard Leiby, Bureau Chief for Washington Post also extended their support in building the capacity of journalists on ethical reporting on health and children related issues. 

The day-long workshop was attended by health journalists from leading publications, news channels and radio stations.

World Economic Forum ranks Pakistan at 102, dropping 14 points on the Global Information Technology Report 2012

World Economic Forum ranks Pakistan at 102, dropping 14 points on the Global Information Technology Report 2012.

Mishal Pakistan in partnership with the Center for Global Competitiveness and Performance, World Economic Forum releases Pakistan’s ranking on the Global Information Technology Report, measuring the Network Readiness Index of 142 economies over 10 different pillars.

The lack of seriousness from the government of Pakistan reflects in the 11^th Global Information Technology Report 2012 of the World Economic Forum. According to the Report, the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology being headed by Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister of Pakistan; shows lack of efficiency and poor governance at the part of the Government of Pakistan.

Despite efforts over the past decade to develop information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure in developing economies, a new digital divide in terms of ICT impacts persists, according to the latest rankings of The Global Information Technology Report (GITR) 2012: Living in a Hyper connected World, released today by the World Economic Forum. The GITR indicates Pakistan’s challenges and opportunities on 10 different pillars, where Pakistan has not been able to show any remarkable improvements in the previous year.

Pakistan lost its competitive advantage on the fixed broadband internet tariffs, where it dropped the ranking from 36 in 2011 to 79 in 2012, which means residential monthly fee in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). The extent of information and communications technologies improving access for all citizens to basic services (health, education, financial services, etc.) also took a dip to 113 with losing 30 points from last year. Government prioritizing of ICT also achieved a rank of 103 from 83 last year, making a variation of 20 points.

A serious concern and bottleneck on Pakistan’s business and entrepreneurship initiatives have been identified by the GITR on Pakistan’s policies on the tax regime introduced in 2011, this actually sum of profit tax, labor tax and social contributions, property taxes, turnover taxes, and other taxes, as a share (%) of commercial profits, Pakistan stood 58 this year from 39 last out of 142 economies in the world. The GITR also identified that the extent of information and communication technologies creating new organizational models are also weakening in Pakistan, going 81 from 63 last year.

However, Pakistan improved its competitiveness in certain areas including, efficiency of the legal system in challenging regulations, where Pakistan improved from 95 in 2011 to 79 in 2012 out of 142 countries. The judicial independence was also highlighted as one of the advantages in Pakistan, where the improvements were made on 11 points, thus ranking Pakistan at 62 in the world. The effectiveness of the law making body has also improved 9 points, with a ranking of 93 this year. The quality of education system and the capacity for innovation also shows improvement of 7 points each ranking at 79 and 51 respectively. 

On the ten pillars of the Global Information Technology Report (GITR) 2012 out of 142 countries Pakistan scored as follows: on the 1^st pillar; Political and regulatory environment (110), 2^nd pillar; business and innovation environment (96); 3^rd pillar, infrastructure and digital content (108); 4^th pillar doing well on the affordability pillar (26); 5^th pillar; Skills (129), 6^th pillar; individual usage (104); 7^th pillar; business usage (96), 8^th pillar; government usage (103); 9^th pillar; economic impacts (94) and on the 10^th pillar; of social impacts (99).

Pakistan's Ranking on the Global Information Technology Report 2012

Sweden stood (1st) and Singapore (2nd) top the rankings in this year’s report in leveraging information and communications technologies to boost country competitiveness. Switzerland (5th), the Netherlands (6th), the United States (8th), Canada (9th) and the United Kingdom (10th) also show strong performances in the top 10.

However, ICT readiness in sub-Saharan Africa is still low, with most countries showing significant lags in connectivity due to insufficient development of ICT infrastructure, which remains too costly, and displaying poor skill levels that do not allow for an efficient use of the available technology. Even in those countries where ICT infrastructure has been improved, ICT-driven impacts on competitiveness and well-being trail behind, resulting in a new digital divide.

Despite improvements in many drivers of competitiveness, the BRICS countries– led by China (51st) – still face important challenges to more fully adopt and leverage ICT. An insufficient skills base and institutional weaknesses, especially in the business environment, present a number of shortcomings that stifle entrepreneurship and innovation.

With a record coverage of 142 economies worldwide, the report remains the most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on competitiveness and the well-being of nations. After a two-year review process, the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) featured in the report has evolved to ensure that it captures the main drivers of a rapidly changing ICT industry and remains relevant for public- and private-sector decision-makers.

Established in 2003, as a social enterprise, Mishal has recently being signed as the country partner institution of the World Economic Forum’s Center for Global Competitiveness and Performance. The Data on Pakistan for the for Global Competitiveness Report for 2012-13 and the Global Information Technology Report 2013 is being collected through the Executive Opinion Surveys.

Mishal is at the forefront of devising and delivering communication solutions for a cross-section of stakeholders and is actively pursuing and supporting initiatives to improve the state of media and journalism in Pakistan. Mishal has recently launched Pakistan’s first journalism awards to create media diversity and to promote journalism across all platforms of media delivery mechanisms, including print, television, radio and the internet journalism.

Mishal has undertaken the task to build the capacity of press cubs and journalist associations in Pakistan by creating a learning platform for the media and journalists across Pakistan. The initiative is building the capacity through interactive workshops, conferences, collaborative thinking and knowledge sharing. It is also focusing on improving the competitiveness of the media by creating competition amongst the various verticals through media and journalism awards for the professionals in the field of communications by creating a national knowledge grid.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971, and head-quartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.

The winners of the AGAHI Awards 2012 showcased counter-narratives discouraging radical mindset in Pakistan.

The AGAHI Awards 2012, Pakistani Journalists Shaping the Future of Journalism

Winners of the first journalism awards in Pakistan, the "AGAHI Awards 2012" showcased counter-narratives discouraging radical mindset in Pakistan.

Agahi Awards are Pakistan’s First Journalism Awards, aimed at recognizing the country's best journalists. These awards were organised by Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with the leading press clubs across the country, local and international media development bodies, regulatory authorities, the private sector and other stakeholders.

Puruesh Chaudhary, President for AGAHI and Ambassador on Media Ethics with Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) said the initiative was launched as essentially an effort to raise the standards of journalism in the country, creating a new crop of correspondents and editors who can develop counter-narratives to offset extremist ideologies and work towards greater peace and harmony in Pakistan.

Amir Jahangir, CEO Mishal and Young Global Leader with World Economic Forum, emphasized on creating Media Development Fund in Pakistan promoting  investigative journalism and quality content.

The presidents of eight of the leading press clubs in Pakistan on a platform in encouraging raising journalistic standards in the country comes as an unprecedented move.

The winners of the AGAHI Awards 2012 showcased counter-narratives discouraging radical mindset in Pakistan.

The judges panel comprising of some of the most senior media professionals from around the world assessed the entries submitted by journalists from all over the country in over 15 different categories including business, economy, conflict, corruption, crime, education, infotainment, the nexus between water, energy and food security, gender and governance.

In addition issues like human rights, interfaith, judiciary, media ethics, terrorism and extremism have also been included to create more awareness for social issues affecting society. A special People’s Choice category was created for the most favorite current affairs anchor and news channel.

In the People’s choice category the award for the most Favourite Current Affairs Anchor and News Channel went to Hamid Mir of Capital Talk and GEO News of the Jang Group.

Haroon Baloch of Rohi TV bagged three awards in the categories; conflict, crime and environment. Haroon Baloch has been commended by the judges as one of the most effective content producer on the blogging sphere in the context of the evaluation criteria over which he was assessed; along with his ability to converge traditional media content over new media.

Mohammad Ali Khan on Business and Economy, Idrees Bakhtiar and Mohammad Ali Khan on an exclusive piece on Corruption in Herald, Saadia Khalid on Education, Mubarak Zaib Khan on Energy, Water and Food Security nexus, Fazal Khaliq on Gender, Mashkoor Ali on Governance Ibrahim Suheyl on Health, Ali Usman on Human Rights, Usman Ghafoor on Infotainment, Naveed Nasim on Interfaith for his documentary on Gojra Riots, Asad Kharal on Media Ethics, Zaheer Chaudhry and from Balochistan Matiullah Achakzai in Photo-Journalism, Waheedullah Afridi on Terrorism and Extremism.

Arif Rana from Express Group, won the award for the best Investigative Journalist 2012; for his extensive work on issues related to corruption and governance.

Arshad Sharif from Dunya TV; was recognized for his contribution on Pakistan’s war against terrorism and his counter-narratives on undermining radical ideologies.  

Mishal launched a series of media development initiatives and helped journalists interact with each other through knowledge-sharing platforms. It also encouraged them to introduce new perspectives and produce diverse and pluralistic content to reduce intolerance in the society.

Members of the AGAHI team have worked with likeminded institutions to enhance the impact of these capacity building initiatives. It has established linkages and collaborations with leading knowledge centers from across the world. They have collaborated with different press clubs and media associations in the country and have always encouraged journalists to launch similar initiatives on their own.

For more information on AGAHI Awards Winners, the evaluation committee, and the judging criteria please visit: www.agahiawards.com

Agahi Awards - Pakistan's First Journalism Awards 2012

Agahi Awards - Pakistan's First Journalism Awards 2012 a video by ajjano on Flickr.

A Media Development Initiative in Pakistan – scaling up its training and capacity building efforts by recognizing the best journalists reporting on critical issues concerning; Terrorism, Conflict, Interfaith, Millenium Development Goals, Safety and Security of Media Workers, Ethics – Code of Conduct etc etc.

AGAHI, a programme launched in 2011 by Mishal Pakistan, is increasing the capacity of Investigative and Responsible Journalism in the country. This programme aims to use institutionalized sustainable media structures in Pakistan to raise the bar of journalistic standards. The programme has been able to successfully create a debate amongst the journalists from Multan, Karachi, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Mirpur-AJK on media ethics, interfaith harmony, anti-money laundering and the importance of investigative journalism.