JournalismPakistan.com
July 23, 2022

ISLAMABAD—Media in Pakistan cannot say they are inclusive when very few marginalized community members hold decision-making positions, German media house DW noted while reporting a national diversity conference.

It was one of a series of DW Akademie events on media diversity and constructive journalism for marginalized groups held in Islamabad.

According to Asif Khan, DW Akademie's country representative for Pakistan, when a newsroom is not diverse, entire communities can be missing from TV screens and radio airwaves.

"Media and government officials clearly need a proper understanding and acceptance of diversity in the areas of policymaking, human resources, workflow, content creation and the coverage of issues," he pointed out.

"Our media is very typical in thinking and in their portrayal of local culture, women, marginalized communities and ethnicities because our newsrooms and owners lack diversity," stated Pakistani female journalist Mehmal Sarfaraz. "They are either from Karachi or Lahore, so they are looking into every subject with the same lens." According to her, the only solution for diversity is to diversify ourselves.

DW Akademie believed that diversity in Pakistan's news coverage could improve, citing enthusiastic conference participant feedback.

"With a combination of inclusiveness and constructive approach, media standards and content have a huge potential to improve so that they can serve all communities in the long run."

DW Akademie is a German-based leading media house Deutsche Welle's center for international media development, journalism training, and knowledge transfer.