Individual and research-based consultancy and advocacy group named Individualland, held its workshop titled ‘Improving Security for Media in Pakistan – Policies, Procedures and Best Practices’. Aiming to equip media personnel with tools and tactics to combat threats and risks involved in their line of work.
Media personnel being the vulnerable lot have always been a victim of violence especially in Pakistan. It has been estimated that since the year 2000, 113 journalists have been killed in Pakistan. The most recent attack on the media in Karachi proved deadly as violent protesters attacked a channel which unfortunately resulted in the death of a person and left several injured.
In order to ensure that the media personnel are safe, media houses need to ensure their security as well as that of their employees.
Speaking on the occasion, senior broadcaster and media trainer Tauseeq Haider said, “It is the prime responsibility of a media organisation to ensure the security of their field staff and the premises”.
Haider was facilitating a capacity-building workshop on policies, security mechanisms and best practices for media in Islamabad on 21st September 2016, organised by Individualland Pakistan. The workshop will conclude on 22nd September 2016.
Sundas Syeda, the co-moderator during the workshop said, “Absence of security protocols in media organisations has led to a rise in attacks on media houses in recent times.”
The two-day event was organised to build the capacity of media houses and to train them to take effective security measures to protect media personnel and journalists from violence. The training was attended by representatives from various media houses, Islamabad press club and Journalist Unions and included different sessions on the need of security policy, code of ethics at the national level, devising standard operating procedures, implementation of standard operating procedures and securing premises and equipment.
Tariq Siddiqui, a security and safety consultant concluded the two sessions on risk and threat evaluation and how to use the emergency equipment in case of an accident or when an emergency happens.
The participants were engaged in discussions, group work, role-playing activities during the workshop. They were also asked to develop security mechanisms for their respective organisations during a group activity.
Highlighting the importance of such trainings, a participant of the workshop said development of security protocols during one of the sessions was a highly useful activity, and added that it not only sensitised us participants on the importance of safety but provided us with an opportunity to develop the protocols according to our own needs.
All the participants actively took part in the discussions and activities during the workshop and stressed the need for more such training workshops.
