ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a conference, held on Wednesday on the challenges being faced by the country and the role of the media in this regard, stressed upon the national institutions to remain in their respective domains in order to avoid confrontation.
The conference was organised by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE). The speakers said the media had always played its role in promoting democracy but it should also highlight the achievements of democratic governments.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) chief Fazalur Rehman said that politics and journalism were interlinked, adding journalism flourished only in a democracy while in a dictatorship it was strangulated.
He said the media should also highlight the positive aspects of politics and politicians. He said that honesty was a prerequisite of journalism and without honesty journalism was useless.
He said that all segments of the society would have to join hands to steer the country out of the present situation.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman said that media professionals had played an important role in the restoration of democracy in the country, adding that freedom of expression was not a slogan but a responsibility.
The PPP leader said the media had to play its role at a time when the country was standing at the crossroads of history. She said that the PPP had always practiced politics of ideology, and its leadership was alive in history. She said the sacrifices of late Benazir Bhutto for the sanctity of vote were matchless.
Office bearers of CPNE, including Sardar Mehtab Khan, Shaheen Qureshi, Ikram Sehgal, and Zia Shahid, also spoke on the occasion.