Daily Times

“Journalists are the eyes, ears and pulse of the society and they should be schooled in research and trained properly so they can partake in authentic reporting and perform their professional duties with devotion,” said the Caretaker Information Minister Jameel Yusuf during an interactive session organized by Pakistan Council of Media Women.

While engaging with the audience in an interactive session on ” General Election 2018- Role of Media”, the caretaker minister asked women to come forward and contribute in every field. “The Government is working to encourage women and give them due representation at every level in every field,” said the Information Minister.

He said that women journalist should work like Justice Majida Rizvi_Nadira Panjwani, Fauzia Saeed and many others. “These women are working for the betterment of women and the society,” said Jameel Yusuf . He further said that women journalists and reporters who were working as freelancers or representative of their individual organization should polish their skills and study the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The Minister Information said that the government was working to provide better and quality facilities to media personnel. “We are considering making laws to ensure that that media professionals get their due benefits and remain safe and secure,” Jameel Yusuf informed the audience.

Jameel Yusuf also urged the media houses to get their workers insured. “Advertisements will be given to those who paid salaries to working journalists” he said. “We are fighting against corruption and malpractices, we will jointly curb and crush them, ” he said.

He also advised the media women to use their cell phones as tracking tools during election related fieldwork for their safety. “Social media applications, Whatsapp and twitter must be used with responsibilities. No content should be forwarded without authentication and verification,” he added.

Earlier in the session, senior journalist Mehmood Sham while lauding the interactive session as an enriching learning experience for newcomers, said that media women should be focused when reporting. “News must be reliable. It should not be biased or opinionated and it should be backed by research,” he said.

Senior Journalists Salahuddin Hayder, PFUJ General Secretary GM Jamaly, Manzar Naqvi, Hassan Abbas of KUJ, Pakistan Council of Media Women President, Humera Motalani also addressed the audience on the occasion.

Later the Caretaker Minister Information Jameel Yusuf and others distributed certificates among the 40 media women who participated in the interactive session.

Published in Daily Times, July 16^th 2018.