LAHORE: The closing ceremony of the 4-Day Professional Faculty Training Workshop was held at the School of Media and Communication Studies, University of Central Punjab, Lahore.
The 4-Day training workshop was organised by “Pakistan Peace Collective”, a project of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with University of Central Punjab Lahore. The Ministry’s project, “Pakistan Peace Collective” it may be recalled, works on the peace-building campaigns to counter the trends of violent extremism in Pakistan and subsequently on the capacity building of officials of concerned institutions.
After the above training of the faculty, the course titled “Introduction to Conflict Reporting” which has already been approved by HEC’s National Curriculum Revision Commission will be introduced during next year (2019) in all the universities of Pakistan which have Mass Communication and Media Studies departments.
A select team of highly qualified resource persons and trainers from academia, media industry and research institutes shared their expertise with the participants/faculty members who attended the 4-Days training program/workshop. The subjects/themes related to the specific course also covered the following aspects: –
Psychological Impact of Conflict Reporting on Public.
Challenges of Conflict Reporting for Journalists.
Subjectivity vs. Objectivity in Reporting on local conflicts in Pakistan.
Communication Theories and application.
Gatekeeping Issues on conflict coverage – Censorship and Self-Censorship.
Laws and Regulations on Conflict Reporting in Pakistan.
Fake News vis-a-vis Conflict Reporting.
Development of Research Papers on Conflict Communication.
Dr Muhammad Zafarullah, The Pro-Rector University of Central Punjab commended the efforts put in by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the Trainers and the participants for shaping such a successful training program at UCP, Lahore. The training workshop he said, was aimed to enhance the knowledge of faculty on conflict reporting and their research skills on the particular subject. It would help in imparting the knowledge to their students.
Addressing the concluding session, Mr Shabbir Anwer Acting CEO PPC, paid his gratitude to the Pro-Rector Dr Muhammad Zafarullah, University of Central Punjab; Dr Mughees Uddin Sheikh, Dean School of Media and Communication Studies, UCP; all the trainers and the participants who contributed their time and knowledge in this training program.
He further said that “Pakistan has been affected by the phenomenon of violence for so long, and through better communication strategy and engaging the media professionals, we can create appropriate response to minimize the influence of extremist elements. Media, he emphasized can play a significant role in peace building and in countering the narratives of those who believe in violent extremism. This training arranged by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, he said, was designed to bridge the gap between academia and media industry so as to produce skilled journalists and correspondents who could befittingly report on issues which lead to conflicts in Pakistan.
Dr Mohammad Zafarullah Pro-Rector UCP and Shabbir Anwer Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Peace Collective distributed certificates among 33 faculty participants belonging to 17 leading universities from all over Pakistan.
