Media organizations should train journalists to work in war zones: Ziauddin

JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 4 February 2015

Veteran journalist M. Ziauddin calls for urgent training of journalists to cover war zones in Pakistan. He points out the long-standing reliance on foreign news agencies for reporting on local conflicts.
Summary

ISLAMABAD: Veteran journalist and columnist M. Ziauddin has urged all media organizations to start crash courses for journalists to work in war zones as almost entire country has turned into a battle field.

In his article Wednesday, “Wanted: Trained war correspondents,” in The Express Tribune he said that Pakistan has been at war for almost the last 35 years but media organizations have failed to produce even a handful of trained war reporters.

He recounted Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan to defeat Soviet Union and in Indian-held Kashmir to back freedom fighters but the local media organizations remain totally dependent on foreign news agencies for news.

“There was no coverage from the war theatres by correspondents of our mainstream media. Whatever coverage appeared in our major newspapers was courtesy of foreign news agencies,” he wrote.

He said the whole country has now turned into a battle field due to terrorism and terrorist attacks but there are no trained journalists to cover the violence.

“And that is perhaps why we have lost so many journalists in this war in the last 10 years or so. Pakistan, today, is known as one of most dangerous places for media practitioners,” he said.

He urged all media organizations to train their journalists on the principles of working in a war zone to better cover the terror incidents and save precious lives of journalists.

KEY POINTS:

Ziauddin emphasizes the need for crash courses in war journalism.
Pakistan has been at war for 35 years with insufficient trained correspondents.
Local media heavily depend on foreign news agencies for coverage.
Rising terrorism has made Pakistan one of the most dangerous places for journalists.
Training in war reporting is essential to protect journalists and enhance coverage.