Speakers at a one-day engagement organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) at the National Press Club on Tuesday stressed the need for a self-regulatory mechanism to ensure responsible reporting on terrorism and extremism.
The purpose of the engagement was to finalise the PFUJ’s proposed media framework on coverage of terrorism and extremism, the first ever initiative of its kind led by Pakistan’s journalist community.
The PFUJ developed the media consensus framework to address the problem of sensationalised and inaccurate coverage of terrorism in Pakistan. PFUJ President Afzal Butt stressed on the importance of creating specialised guidelines for media houses, news staff and reporters to ensure responsible coverage, prevent any sensationalised glorification of terrorism, and educate journalists on how such media coverage can potentially undermine investigations and prosecutions related to terrorist incidents.
Federal Information Secretary Mohammad Azam, who was chief guest on the occasion, supported the PFUJ’s initiative, and committed to future government-led engagement on institutional capacity building and training of journalists on conflict reporting.
Among the recommendations of the agreed framework is the strengthening of editorial boards by all media houses to oversee and set policies for any terrorism related content. Also included is the set-up of an independent Media Complaints Commission to oversee any issues related to conflict reporting, as well as specialised training in conflict reporting at par with international standards and practices for all news staff and field staff in media houses.
The meeting was attended by several senior prominent journalists, anchors, editors and experts, including Hamid Mir, Rana Jawad, Owais Tohid, Bushra Taskeen, Munizae Jahangir, Adnan Rehmat, Iqbal Khattak, Matiullah Jan, Nasir Zaidi, Mohsin Raza, Mahmood Jan Babar, Amir Ilyas Rana, Javed Siddique, Siddique Sajid, Asmatullah Niazi, Riaz Khan, Khalid Azeem, Rao Khalid and Tahir Imran Mian.
The meeting was chaired by PFUJ President Afzal Butt. Other representatives included National Press Club General Secretary Tariq Chaudhry, PFUJ General Secretary Khurshid Abbasi, President Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) Ali Raza Alvi and RIUJ Secretary Bilal Dar.
The participants discussed and finalised the PFUJ media framework, following which it was presented to the Information Secretary, who endorsed the framework.
The PFUJ media consensus framework was developed after a series of roundtable discussions and consultations with senior journalists from all over Pakistan over the last two months, with particular importance given to journalists from conflict-ridden areas. The consensus framework has been divided into three sections. Section 1 covers the parameters for the institutional stance of the journalist community on terrorism and extremism. Section 2 covers the guidelines for live reporting of terrorist incidents, and Section 3 covers the general long term reporting on the subjects of terrorism and extremism.
Following the meeting, a training workshop on terrorism reporting was conducted by the PFUJ. Over 60 journalists from print, broadcast and online media specializing in conflict reporting participated at the event. Prominent legal and law enforcement experts trained the participants, including former Federal Law Minister Ahmar Bilal Soofi, DG Punjab Forensic Science Agency Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Tahir, and former Director Counterterrorism NACTA Dr. Manzar Zaidi.
The current reporting especially on TV Channels is downright pathetic and silly. The quality of reporters is that of a street vendor. Then there is this shrieking woman on every channel who does not have the faintest idea of what she is reading. For God’s sake grow up and stop this nonsense.
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