Media as platform to voice concerns stressed
By Bushra Makdhoom

ISLAMABAD—It is the responsibility of the media to ensure that the people had a chance to have their voices heard, said Aidan Liddle, Head of Press and Public Affairs Section of British High Commission.
Addressing at the concluding session of a two-day workshop on Civic Journalism for Effective Citizenship arranged by Centre for Civic Education on Tuesday, he said the media should provide a platform for the individuals to voice their concerns. Aidan-Liddle argued that democracy means participation of the people. Without participation of the people there would be no democracy as the means to make people's lives better would be missing, he added.
Aniq Zafar, Matiullah Jan, Amjad Bhatti, Faryal Ali Gohar and Zafarullah Khan, Executive Director of the CCE Pakistan, were the resource persons at the workshop. Zafarullah Khan explaining the motto of the workshop said that every voice has the right to be heard and should have the means to be heard. He said immediate problems of the masses were not being mentioned on the front page of newspapers and headlines of electronic broadcasts. Stressing the need for civic journalism, he said when there is rain, there is flooding, destruction of homes and water borne diseases because of poor civic amenities in every city. Media should not be a lap-dog of the rulers but should act as a watchdog of the people's interest, he added. He announced that the Centre for Civic Education will start a Civic Journalism Award from next year which will be awarded on best civic reports in print and electronic media.
Matiullah Jan, a senior journalist and media analyst, said some journalists write on elite classes only, international and national news ones due to the interests of their target population. He said civic journalism boils down to district government, which means that the local media (radio, newspaper, and press clubs) have the most important role to play. Jan said reporting on civic issue will fosters a relationship of trust between the citizens and media.
Faryal Ali Gauhar and Amjad Bhatti spoke on the topic of "communication sparked change." Amjad Bhatti said that journalists were community's catalyst. Journalists had the responsibility to maintain objectivity and do not take sides in a conflict, he added. He stressed the importance of questioning the generic understanding of mass communication. He said today dominant themes for determining newsworthiness are fear, conflict, insecurity, and sex. He described the media's dominant characteristic as being urban centric as power and knowledge are concentrated in urban areas. Faryal Gauhar continued the discussion with a focus on electronic media. She stated that corporate media expansion had restricted the space for the voice of people in the media. She cited that most stories were male centered and only one tenth of the newspaper space was given to women related news and that too where the women are objects and passive actors. She described how females are objectified in society unfairly citing disturbing personal experiences with story placement in print media.
She argued that the print and electronic media was not addressing layers of issues that are afflicting our society. She reminded the journalists that they held an important role of forming and influencing opinions. "Media is a craft, which holds the tools for activating society around," she added.
In the group work sessions, the participating journalists examined shortcomings in people centric news stories, listed there local civic issues and vowed to report on those.
At the end of the workshop, all participants were given a copy of the Constitution of Pakistan, certificates and souvenirs.