Media pushed for objective poll reporting

Islamabad: The participants of a training workshop on Wednesday declared impartial and objective reporting by both print and electronic media mandatory for ensuring fairness and transparency of the upcoming general elections in the country.

They said the media should inform people about the conduct of elections, the political parties and candidates and their manifesto and policies, and their previous electoral participation so that they could vote for right candidates.

The three-day event on election reporting was organised by the Individualland

Pakistan. Both journalists of print and electronic media attended the workshop, where senior journalists spoke on the occasion about the role media and basic concepts of election reporting.

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Additional Director General (Gender Affairs) Nighat Siddique, Tabeer Programme Director Amir Khan Goraya and British High Commission's Political Counsellor William Middleton were also among speakers, who said social media was the ultimate equaliser as it gave a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage and also plays an important role in the election process.

The Individualland Pakistan a research based advocacy group, focusing on promoting and strengthening democratic procedures and enhancing the role of citizens in governance recently started working on an initiative ‘Engaging Journalists on elections reporting, civic education and political processes.

The training focused on enhancing the skills of media personnel on topics including election laws, role of political parties in articulating interests of their constituents and role of journalists as civic educators.

The participants lauded the efforts of Individualland Pakistan and demanded such events should also be held in the future. Farhan Khalid moderated the event on behalf of the Individualland Pakistan.