AGAHI in collaboration with UNESCO Pakistan organised a town-hall dialogue on ‘Media and Information Literacy and Education Journalism in Pakistan’
By Aslam Chandio for TwoCircles.net,
Islamabad: Media literacy and freedom of information continuously sways the practices of the industry in Pakistan, which in turn, raises many questions about media’s influence on the cognitive behavioral response of the public, it was debated and discussed at a town hall dialogue organised by AGAHI and UNESCO, Pakistan here.
Academicians, journalists and development sector professionals, students debated and discussed safety and security of journalists, the psychological effect of media’s exposure. The programme was held also to highlight and identify the need to develop editorial space for education journalism.
AGAHI in collaboration with UNESCO, Pakistan had organised the town-hall dialogue on ‘Media and Information Literacy and Education Journalism in Pakistan’ on Tuesday here.
Puruesh Chaudhary, founder and president, AGAHI, while opening the discussion forum, encouraged the stakeholders to review policy gaps and devise sustainable interventions that enable the citizenry of Pakistan to make decisions that improve the quality of not only their lives but also those which empower the society to move forward.
Vibeke Jensen, UNESCO representative/director while talking about media and information literacy said empowerment of people through Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is an important pre-requisite for fostering equitable access to information and knowledge; promoting free, independent and pluralistic media and information systems.
She mentioned that UNESCO’s strategy brings together the two fields, Information Literacy and Media Literacy, as a combined set of competencies, knowledge, skills and attitude, necessary for life and work today. “MIL considers all forms of media and other information providers such as libraries, archive, museums and Internet irrespective of technologies used,” she said.
The first interactive session of the town-hall meeting had experts on education journalism in Pakistan. “Education plays a catalytic role towards human development, both at the individual as well as at the societal level,” said Dr Abdul Siraj, head of Mass Communications Department of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad.
The second session focused on the cognitive behavioral response and psychological limitations to learning by emphasizing on the importance of using media’s editorial and broadcast content as a tool for molding and changing perceptions to create a prosperous society.
While talking to the participants, Nausheen Shahzad, educational psychologist, said, “Continuous reporting of terrorism and extremism can be suggestible, adolescents may turn into terrorists by identifying themselves with these terrorists, considering them as reformers. Or they simply become conditioned and show no empathy towards such news, becoming insensitive to world issues altogether.”
The issue of safety and security of journalists in Pakistan with respect to ethical dimension was explored in the third session. The session addressed challenges related to access, privacy, safety and security of journalists.
AGAHI is a not for profit organization established in Islamabad in 2011 under the Society Registration Act 1860. Its primary function is to create non-paid communication strategies, content intelligence structures, development collaterals and tools for diverse sectors and organizations.
This year AGAHI celebrates ‘AGAHI AWARDS – Beyond 2015’ by recognizing best reporting practices on categories such as: Business & Economy (Competitiveness), Creating Shared Value, Disaster & Catastrophe, Education, Gender, Health, Youth Empowerment, Human Rights, Infotainment, Innovation Journalism, Judiciary, Millennium Development Goals, Journalism for Peace, Photo Journalism, Entrepreneurship, Sports, Energy, Water, Agriculture, Environment, Foreign Policy, Foresight and Futures.
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(Aslam Chandio is an Islamabad based journalist. He tweets at @aslamchandio )