Press Council of Pakistan Chairman Raja Shafqat Abbasi said on Friday that media had played a vital role in highlighting plight of the people who became victim of natural disasters during last several years.
He was speaking at a seminar titled ‘Media Ethics in Disaster Reporting’ organised by the Department of Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University. He said that during the devastating situation of earthquack and floods in the country in the recent years, media drew the attention of the society, government authorities as well as donors for responding to the survivors of the disaster events. Abbasi said social media could also play important role in this regard.
He urged the media not to display or show the pictures of the victims while receiving aid. Showing such pictures will injure their self-respect and dignity. If government officials or authorities provided any assistance or compensation to the victims, that was their obligation. He said the Press Council would involve the mass media educationists and advisory boards of different universities to get their guidance. He said that self-respect and dignity of the victims had to be maintained while reporting on disasters. He urged the media organisations to train journalists for the disaster reporting.
