‘Public and not vested interests should be paramount for media’

Islamabad:A cross-section of national and international media professionals has called the media to work for public interest rather than vested interests amidst rapidly changing journalistic landscape because the digitalisation of news coverage and newsroom operations, information veracity and credibility have become a challenging task for journalists.

They were expressing their views at a roundtable discussion on ‘Responsible journalism in the age of social media’ organised here by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). Speaking on the occasion, Montaser Marai from Al Jazeera said that information searching and sifting was a laborious but rewarding task where a journalist has to be objective and independent even while reporting conflicts, rights issues and corruption scams. He added that the information flow became faster than our capacity to tackle misinformation on social media. That demands that journalists shun conventional practices and modernise their reporting skills to learn countering fake content and disinformation.

Osama Javed, also from Al-Jazeera, said that media viewership revolved but electronic media in Pakistan was still operating in 1990s era. He added that media should not only work for breaking news but also for verification of news.

Iftikhar Shirazi, Bureau Chief, Dawn News, noted that social media was increasingly supplanting mainstream media and emphasised the importance of restoring credibility and self-accountability in the latter.

Nayyer Ali, secretary, National Press Club, highlighted the necessity of educating the public on managing social media before implementing regulations. Senior analyst and anchor Farrukh Khan Pitafi noted that media coverage shifted significantly from traditional newsroom practices, as social media had amplified the volume and speed of information complicating fact-checking for accurate reporting.

Anchor Faisal Raza Khan highlighted that while the journalistic landscape evolved, journalists and editorial staff had not adapted to the emerging trends and the new reporting environment.

Earlier, Jauhar Saleem, president, IRS, in his opening remarks underlined that factual and objective reporting became critically important to promote democratic values, maintain peace and stability and cohesion in societies. He also underscored that media’s job was not just to inform but also to educate.