This is an exciting and challenging time for journalists: Dr Pintak

Keynote speaker says profession under siege; objectivity at

risk from extremists and politicians

“The profession of journalism is under siege,” said US-based Dr Lawrence Pintak on Wednesday, “but this is an exciting and challenging time for journalists.”

Dr Pintak, the founding dean of the Edward R Murrow College of Communication at the Washington State University, was the keynote speaker at the inaugural session of a two-day conference on media education.

The conference, which aims to make media curricula more relevant to the industry by providing recommendations, was organised by the mass communication department of the University of Karachi.

“In the era of privatisation and revival of the media in countries like Pakistan and those in the Middle East,” said Dr Pintak, “journalists are faced with security challenges and vast opportunities in the form of technological advancements.”

He said journalists’ objectivity was at risk from extremists groups like ISIS and politicians like US President-elect Donald Trump. “There’s no country in the world that provides an ideal environment for journalists, but some states certainly give more space to alternative narratives.”

Dr Arshad Ali of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) hoped that the conference would also deliberate upon intellectual property rights in the field of journalism. He advised media educationists to make future journalists more responsible, as society needs responsible journalism.

He said the HEC would appreciate if universities put together a cohesive curriculum for media education. “The current curriculum is mostly not in accordance with the modern needs of the industry.”

KU Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohammad Qaiser said he had never witnessed such an attendance at any other conference, adding that this indicated the interest of students and teachers. He vowed to support all the endeavours of the mass communication department.

“Media often broadcast fake news for ratings due to lack of training. They have a pivotal national responsibility to follow journalistic ethics since they influence every segment of society.”

Opening the conference earlier, Dr Seemi Naghmana Tahir, who heads KU’s mass communication department, stressed the need to bridge the gap between the media industry and the academia. “We have reached a consensus that without taking experts from the industry on board, the question of what should be taught remains unanswered.”

She said the absence of Indian journalists would deprive the conference of a regional viewpoint. She hoped that bilateral relations would improve and enable the academia in both countries to share their experiences and researches.

In the first session – Working in Newsroom – Jang Editor Mudassir Mirza said the top positions in journalism were occupied by those who had not graduated in journalism.

Centre for Excellence in Journalism Director Kamal Siddiqi said the role of an editor in news management was changing on a daily basis, adding that social media, self-censorship and commercials were the biggest challenges every editor had to face.

On writing in the digital age, senior journalist Mazhar Abbas said social media had opened up avenues for independent writers to express their viewpoints, but uncensored social media were untrustworthy due to lack of ownership.

University of Sindh’s Badar Soomro, who recently took over the varsity’s mass communication department, said he had introduced new courses – such as peace journalism, human rights journalism, media psychology and social media – to prepare students for current and future challenges.

Presiding over the session, Dr Jaffer Ahmed of KU’s Pakistan Study Centre talked about corporate media, emphasising the need for preparation and strengthening an alternative network of citizens instead of becoming only consumers that the industry was aiming at.

In another session – TV Broadcasting: News Current Affairs – Aaj TV Peshawar bureau chief Farzana Ali said non-journalists acting as anchorpersons were harming the profession the most.

Similarly, NewsOne’s Sajjad Mir said today’s anchorpersons were not journalists but people from the showbiz. “We have turned journalism into entertainment.”

Presiding over the session, Hum TV’s Athar Waqar Azeem said 90 per cent of the anchorpersons for current affair programmes go on air unprepared. The Express Tribune Editor Fahd Husain said viewers and readers were no longer passive recipients, because the social media had turned them into active recipients. “That’s why the future of TV and newspapers both is in danger.”