KARACHI: Health reporting in Pakistan has gone unrecognised for far too long - probably because the health sector in Pakistan is neglected.
Therefore efforts of the Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA), Karachi and Center for Communication Programs Pakistan (CCPP) to appreciate the work of health workers are commendable.
Reporters from across the country were awarded for their work at an impressive event held in Karachi on Monday.
The CEJ and the CCPP organized the first ever "Excellence in Journalism Awards 2016" held at CEJ in Karachi awarding 13 health reporters. Dr. Seemi Jamali, Executive Director at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), was the chief guest on this occasion.
The reporters were selected by a panel of prominent senior journalists based on news stories published between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 from three categories: Mainstream broadcast (TV, Radio); Mainstream Print/Online; and District Correspondents (Print, Online, TV, Radio).
The panel included Rahimullah Yousufzai, resident editor of The News Peshawar, Wusatullah Khan, freelance journalist and analyst on Dawn News and Farah Zia, editor of The News on Sunday.
The winners in Mainstream broadcast (TV, Radio) were Ovais Ahmed Tanveer (Express News); Danyal Hasan (Dawn News) and the runners-up were Safdar Hussain Shah (PTV News) and Saifullah Cheema (Dawn News).
Winners in Mainstream Print/Online were Zofeen T. Ebrahim (Independent journalist); Muhammad Suleman (News Lens Pakistan). Runners-up were Izhar Ullah (The Express Tribune); Sameer Mandhro (The Express Tribune) and Moniza Inam (Dawn newspaper)
And in the category of District Correspondents (Print, Online, TV, Radio), the winners were Adnan Khatri (The Nation); Mohammad Shahid (AWKUM VOICE). And Runners-up wereAmjad Ali (Daily Mashriq); Nisar Ahmed Khan (Dawn).
The work of senior journalists Mukhtar Alam, Asif Chaudhry and Shahida Parveen was also recognized for their vast contribution in health journalism.
Speaking on the occasion, senior journalist and CEJ director Kamal Siddiqi said, “Health is a neglected area in journalism and we need to do more in terms of highlighting the issues that relate to health in Pakistan.
” These awards would recognize people who have written on health and encourage more reporting on this subject,” said he.
Senior journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai applauded the CEJ-CCPP efforts and said that it was a good initiative to recognize the crucial work which has been largely ignored.
Dr. Seemi Jamali said while addressing the gathering, “both the public and private sector have to play a bigger role in training journalists to report on issues like health with the knowledge that is required for such assignments.”