Youth Leader Magazine Pakistan just conducted its first JAM, or meeting on 5th November, the basic motto of this meeting being projected towards the media of Pakistan. The meeting was conducted as a moderated discussion in which members of Youth Leader (YL) spoke on different aspects of “Media’s Role in Crisis Situation”. After that a discussion session was conducted regarding the topic in which various attendees included their views and suggestions.
People who attended:
Marryam Chaudhry, Managing Director, Corporate Communications – Also a social media activist, webpreneur, and trainer
Farhan Masood, CEO “ Solo Smart”, CEO “QuickFix Advertising Technologies”, CEO “ SoloCards”, Director “Solo Tech” – Also, initiator of the Pakistan Youth Revolution, a visionary
Gohar Sultan – CEO, Plabesk (A telecom technologies company)
Iram Sana: Arts & Education dept, Ali institute of Education
Shoaib Iqbal: Festival Director, Lahore International Children Film Festival, Communication consultant, UNICEF CFS project, Arts education faculty advisor, Ali institute of education – Also, volunteer at Punjab Lok Rahs
Asim Riaz , Prime group of industries
Muddassir Lone, Head of institution, “Hannan Institute Electronic Media Studies” (The first of its kind in Pakistan), Also a business & Training consultant, TV & Radio Anchor, Director, Producer.
Moeen Irfan, Deputy Director R&D, Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Sohail Azad, Mutimedia artist “Din Media Group” , Animator “Business Plus –TV Channel”, 3D Visualiser “Studio III” , and Printing supervisor “Packages Limited” – Also associated with Eyebee, & Media-Bridge
Saira Ansari, who is also working wth Eyebee & Media Bridge
Rukhsana Naz, from AAj TV
Marrian Sharaf, Manager communication &Networking, ALAAP – change through art. Also working with National Geographic to develop a cultural roadmap of Lahore
Hassan Zafar, Instructor Mass communications @ Lahore School of Economics, owner Montage Media Arts.
& enlightened students who, besides studying, are also
Himayat Rasool Qadri: Public speaker & debator, (YL Pak)
Abel Naeen Griffin: Graphic designer
Shams Barry: Event organizer
Shiraz Ali: Web designer
Iftikhar Hussain: Freelance Marketeer, event organizer and coordinator
Usman Haider Khan: Article writer & webpreneur
These are only a few names. Every single one of the souls there was a special being. People from different walks and majors, Finance, Marketing, Media, Web, Culture, & even Religion participated with a true heart and were there to actually come up with a sustainable solution to what is happening around us.
First up, I initiated the JAM by an activity known as “My big idea for the World!” The audience was invited to give a written detail about his or her big idea for the world. A flex had been constructed for this purpose and this activity received many positive views and comments from all. After that we gave everyone an introduction of YL and its purpose. Then a basic overview of today’s media was given to the audience. The first opening of the discussion panel got a great response too. People agreed upon the Television being the most updated form of media and others said that print media is not recommended as it is sort of a recorded content. A slideshow gave us the list of negative news types shown today. The audience agreed that this type of news creates negativity in the society too and a social fear also develops gradually in such conditions. For this a person in the audience stated: “The things you do not know won’t hurt you!”
After that another member of YL Miss. Aarzoo Naeem told us about current journalism. This also included all the exaggerated details and add-ups to the real story. The audience was also informed that in Pakistan the type of journalism practiced includes all these factors and is generally known as Karbala Reporting. This refers to all the vocabulary and metaphors used for that incident being exploited in our daily news reports. Discussion lead to a common point that news channels and other mediums repeat gruesome news so much that the common population develops a permanent fear of attacks or common robberies. People also added that there is a need to support positive news reports physically by posting comments or so. Another solution to this problem was also to discourage channels for showing too much blood and gore in the news.
After that a very renowned professor of Mass Communication, Mr. Hassan Zafar came on to the stage to tell about the current media and its problems. At first he made it clear that the role of a journalist is only to report news and not as a prophet. A journalist is not supposed to comment on any news by himself to portray it as positive or negative by his will. This is a platform of education, communication, and coming together to do good. Cheap thrills shouldn’t guide us away from our focus.
Rizwan Takhar , also a member of YL, and a psychology major talked about media and its influence on our minds. The growing violence in children and the lack of patience was noted. People reminisced about the PTV era when people were not exposed to such blatantly “nude” style of reporting, or overly painted, perhaps. Parental control was also an issue, and the concerned parents mentioned the problems they were facing with children.
Rohan David, a blessing who put the discussion LIVE on web added a new dimension: unnecessary focus on religion to divide views. This aspect was then discussed in light of media propaganda, political issues and how we could team up against this. The fact that Rohan & Marian were among the most active members of the discussion proved that we have the potential to rise above such discrepancies. Thumbs up there!
Iftikhar hussain, a student at UCP, mentioned that the media is playing a huge role in delivering a wrong image to people outside of our country. “We aren’t all bearded and own guns!”
Hasan Zafar, along with Mudassir Lone, agreed that the media adds cheap thrills to gain volume of sales, totally disregarding the ethical or self censorship element of the profession. Mudassir mentioned that the lack of proper education inthis field is also a major cause of this. He happens to be the initiator in this regard and has set up First electronic media institute. “Quality cannot come unless you Know what you’re doing”
Farhaan Masood, of the “Go green” campaign and also “Pakistan Youth Revolution”, said that we will have to unite to make a difference.
Maryam CHaudry, a professional trainer and a social media activist, was of the view that we cannot let past mistakes take better of us.
Marian Sharaf, a journalist, mentioned how the media has been playing this game for far too long. She gave quite a few examples and a detailed insight to how the media machine works.
Once the discussion was in flow and we were getting views wave after wave, we decided to use this opportunity to gather positive news and projects that were active right there in the room!
Here’s what we found:
Media bridge: Media-Bridge is an endeavour to harness the power of the media to bring about a change in mindsets; an awareness and respect for other peoples and cultures, with tolerance and appreciation of differences.
Media-Bridge supports a constructive role of the various storytelling mediums by facilitating the creation of socio-culturally relevant content, to help heal the differences and bridge the divides between ethnicities and religions – prevailing across South Asia in particular and humanity in general.
Media-Bridge is an initiative of eyeBee. http://www.eyeBee.biz
PYR – Pakistan Youth Revolution
Collecting data from All over Pakistan, good news and distributing it using sms, and internet as the new raging media of the youth. Active in 13 cities of Pakistan and growing bigger by the day.
PYR is not a part of any political party or religious group. Its independence is a fact. It does not follow any particular religious faction nor does it have any affiliations with any religious entities or factions or sects. This organization is purely based on the concepts of Akhuwwat (Brotherhood), Musawat (Equality) and Insaaf (Justice).
Mirian developing a cultural map of Lahore with National Geographic
HEIMS – First electronic media institute in pakistan. Offered Free tutorials to youth initiatives such as YL =)
Prime Industries – Offering learning oppurtunities On job for needy students who could earn while they learn!
And on individual level,
People like Rohan David, Iftikhar Hussain, Zainab Iqtidar, Amna Usmani, Sana Arif, Hina Mehboob, Farhan Nisar, Wahhaj Anwar and other remarkable individuals who are angels of change in their own particular ways.
This electric discussion ended with the announcement of tea and refreshments and later a picture session that left everyone smiling the entire evening!
A definite success by all means, I must say!
Join Facebook group : Youth Leader Magazine – The Pakistan Chapter for pictures and all the fun facts daily!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pakistan-Youth-Revolution/163814246479#/group.php?gid=120342559678
16/11/2009 at 13:38 |
I think we should be in a position now – with so many influential people eager to spread positive news to the young generation – recognising it as a major PRIORITY & following up by walking their talk – to receive financial support for launching & maintaining a weekly National Edition on youth, sustainability, learning, positive change in all means – to go into schools via Positive News Boards – flanked by events, trainings…
*E*
16/11/2009 at 15:19 |
well i surly agree to one thing and that is our media needs the cheap thrills…fortunately we usually discuss this alot as luckily Mr Hassan Zafar happens to teach Mass Comm nowadays..and i agree with him in this regard
but i guess this question really needs to re-addressed that is a journalist`s only role is to report things? ok thats for sure that he is human afterall and would/could be biased in his reporting..but its not bad to have analysis coming up as well..though the reputation and credibility of the analyst is of high importance since its here where the yellow journalism also creeps in where large no of journalists are being paid and eventually used as propaganda weapons
secondly Pakistani media, in my view often exaggerates and exploits the events..they can make issue of nothing..let aside the politics and miss-meera-ji crap, just look at the issue of younis`s captaincy was handled..mr kamran khan doing special shows, breaking news at geo and all..and eventually the expected happend..so i guess in this regard we really need to set up some criteria
lastly one healthy improvment in this regard have been the recent policy adopted themselves by the newspapers that bomb blasts reporting needs to be controlled and not more than 3 columns..i guess its a wise move as we are finally atleast setting up criteria what we want.
regards
16/11/2009 at 16:41 |
What can I say, just proud to be a part of YL (The Pakistan Chapter) =). People normally ask me that what do you do there? You spend a lot of time, even hurting your regular University event performances. I just don’t answer them and give away a smile, they understand that the work I’m doing, is lot more important than those Bonfires and Funfares taking place every next month at the University =), yes may be they get to see that positivity in my eyes which I’ve been working for…
16/11/2009 at 21:09 |
True that, Eric. Hitting schools would be the best way to target the masses i.e youth with positivity as the majority of the Pakistani population is ‘young’. Let’s get it started!
16/11/2009 at 23:46 |
Folks,
great to read that your spirit has caught fire with YL. Yes – indeed a special … adventure, isn’t it? In case you haven’t read it : Shimmers from the Shoal may be a delight for you: http://www.cafeweltgeist.org/shoal (follow updated link)
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media : are the macro communication tool for communication. and for solving problems. they have to be meaningful. A simple new approach is in the USA… JOURNALISM THAT MATTERS… adding to who, where, what also WHAT’S NEXT – and THAT is a straightforward, responsible, natural and intelligent thing to add – under the light of UN resolutions, common sense and practical, feasible solutions offered by different actors in civil society etc locally and abroad.
PEACE JOURNALISM http://www.transcend.org is another major approach. Johan Galtung founded it decades ago, and he is still… little present in mainstream and educational institutions… because, well, he is very avantgarde. Can you imagine that he has already solved more than 70 long term large scale conflicts!??!?!? He also has offers for some of the grave conflicts today but no one wants to hear because his approaches go beyond the understanding, walls etc of the mainstream.
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Today, one of Berlin’s most progressive schools – they have a weekly lesson on GOOD NEWS! – is joining on a full power adventure on having positive news boards, intro to youth leadership for positive change, new media culture and youth journalist training sessions FOR launching a POSITIVE NEWS BERLIN edition. incl sponsors etc. YA!
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We are getting the final interview responses from youth participants in last weeks European Business Campus on sustainable business culture… and their responses go “learned what grave state the world is in”, learned there are many solutions”, “we have to act fast” “youth can do it”, “best week in my life” “totally inspired, will look for large and small actions every day” “am amazed you could lead me to find my life purpose in the final 2 hour workshop!” and “amazing teamers – Epic Eric” !! HAHA, just to share the fun and pride and joy of having spent and offered a gift for life to these 50 kids from 5 countries. Positive Change embodied in real!
We could do this in Pakistan…
Our 6 teamers, 1 week + prep and post event activities, 50-100 youth – with media outreach to all schools, multipliers etc., 9,000 Euros + flights.
~*~