Media’s role in poverty alleviation to be discussed at Bahria varsity int’l moot

The Media Studies Department of Bahria University Karachi Campus will hold an international conference titled ‘Role of Media in Poverty Alleviation and Promoting Social Justice’ in collaboration with the Association of Media & Communication Academic Professionals on February 24-25, 2020, at the Bahria University’s Karachi Campus (BUKC).

The conference aims to provide a platform to policymakers, legislators, academicians and professionals from the development sector and the media to discuss various issues plaguing our society and recommend solutions.

It will consist of various working sessions and presentations of research papers on different themes. The inaugural ceremony will be held on February 24, and the opening address will be presented by Vice Admiral Kaleem Shaukat HI (M), rector of the Bahria University.

The keynote speakers are two prominent media and communications scholars: Dr Nico Carpentier, who is Extraordinary Professor at the Charles University, Czech Republic; and Dr Pille Pruulmann Vangerfeld, who is a professor in Media and Communication at Malmo University, Sweden.

Panellists at the working sessions will discuss issues of national importance such as the role of media in bringing social development initiatives to the grassroots, emergence of the CPEC as a game-changing initiative, portrayal of gender equality and social injustice in media, importance of information technology as a driving force for developing countries, significance of media ethics in the reporting of economic crisis and the role of media education in providing quality human resource.

Eminent guests who will attend working sessions include Dr Umar Saif, Dr Ishrat Husain, Dr Amjad Saqib, Aasim Siddiqui, Dr Kaiser Bengali, Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Li Bijian, Javed Jabbar, Faisal Siddiqui, Saeed Ghani, Shehzad Roy, Favad Soomro, Farhan Malick, Mahnaz Rahman, Mahim Maher, Tasneem Ahmar, Uzma Al Karim, Sidra Imran, Farhat Ishtiaq, Salim Ghauri, Muzammil Aslam, Mubashir Zaidi, Muhammad Junaid, Fahd Husain and Muhammad Fahad.

Over 70 academics from universities across Pakistan will present their research findings in the fields of media, culture and society, media and gender, digital media, development communications, film studies and media education.

The closing ceremony will be held on February 25, in which Rear Admiral (retd) Mukhtar Khan HI (M), director general of Bahria University Karachi Campus, will deliver his vote of thanks to the participants and organisers.