JournalismPakistan.com
August 28, 2021

KARACHI—Independent and responsible digital news platforms are the future of journalism in Pakistan, senior journalists said during an online event, organised by the Global Neighbourhood for Media Innovations (GNMI) under its Pakistan Entrepreneurial Journalism Program.

Broadcast journalist and president of GNMI, Najia Ashar said in her keynote address that the objective of the program was to provide essential training to journalists in content production, digital marketing, and monetization and resources to help them launch their news projects independently.

“It was a learning process not only for our participants but also for us. A pool of twenty national and international experts in media, technology, and business was engaged in conducting the training with us. They also provided them one-on-one mentoring and today we are launching twenty independent digital news startups,” she said.

Speaking to the session on the importance of ethics in digital journalism, journalist Mazhar Abbas said that mainstream media often ignores local news and relies on big events only. Digital news platforms can change this pattern by covering stories from remote areas.

Speaking during the gender representation and social media session, journalist and anchorperson Amber Shamsi said that the mainstream media lacks diversity and creativity. The digital news platforms allow journalists to cover diversified issues from their perspective. She said that digital platforms give more freedom to women journalists that mainstream media does not offer.

Journalist Aoun Sahi said that these startups could introduce solution journalism in Pakistan as they were not only highlighting the issue but were also suggesting the solution to solve it.

Journalist Haroon Rashid said that our society needed better media that focus on issues of common men rather than only politics. He advised the entrepreneurs to work on their content strategy and revenue generation for sustainability.

GNMI launched Pakistan Entrepreneurial Journalism Program last year to support journalists by building their capacity in using technology and brand marketing for broadening the scale and number of independent and responsible news media platforms in Pakistan.

In the first phase of the program, a total of 66 journalists, content creators, and independent bloggers/vloggers were provided technical training in entrepreneurial journalism.

The project was supported by the United States Consulate General Karachi. Deputy Council General Matt Ference was also present at the ceremony. In his speech, he appreciated the commitment and dedication of GNMI in support of media innovation in Pakistan. He said independent and responsible platforms are essential to ensure democracy and accountability in society.

Several journalists, including Gharida Farooqui, Kamal Siddiqui, Ayesha Bakhsh, Tanzila Mazhar, Sabookh Syed, Afia Salam, Zoofeen Ebrahim, Faisal Karim, Iffat Umer Rizvi, Tehreem Azeem, Masood Raza, Lubna Jerar Naqvi, Uzma Alkarim, and Nadia Naqi and a growth hacker and co-founder of Bramerz Badar Khushnood and entrepreneur Marjan Arbab attended the virtual event.