Call to promote peace through constructive journalism

By Our correspondent

LAHORE : A media conference on "Promoting Peace Narrative Through Journalism" was organised Saturday under the auspices of an organisation working for professional training of journalists and making them agents of positive change in society. The organisation has completed an eight-month project on promoting peace through mass media.

The event was also an occasion to acknowledge the contribution of journalists including trainers, trainees and mentors towards making the peace-centric project a success. The trainees produced around 100 news stories that promoted interfaith harmony and discussed actual case studies where people of different faiths were living in peace and harmony. The 50 beneficiary trainees of the project were selected from Multan division after a competitive selection process and imparted comprehensive three-day training in Lahore by senior journalists.

It was heartening to note during the ceremony that the trained journalists developed a good understanding of the concept of promoting peace through constructive and responsible journalism. They were also clear that journalists shall never become a tool to spread hatred in society and must observe restraint when and where it is necessary.

Mubasher Bukhari said journalists, who produced the stories, had established that good news was news and we must not always look for bad news. He said they had identified trigger words that create uneasiness among people from different sects and faith and advised journalists to avoid them in their reports. The other areas covered during the training were peace journalism, contours of violent extremism, media as human rights defender, ethics of journalism, impact of irresponsible journalism, media laws and different codes of ethics framed for journalists from time to time.

Senior journalists Suhail Waraich, Wajahat Masood, Mahmal Sarfaraz, Lahore Press Club President Arshad Ansari, Gohar Butt, Rana Azeem and others also spoke on the occasion and called for promoting peace through constructive journalism.