Conviction without knowledge may lead to fanaticism and knowledge without conviction can drift into anarchism. This was the theme which although remained unspoken but realised well during the two hours long consultative meeting on The Need for Skill Development in Print Media, jointly organised by JRC Islamabad Chapter and Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ).

The meeting was held on 29 September in Islamabad at a local hotel and was largely attended by senior and junior journalists of twin cities numbering about 85.
Najam Usmani, a journalist from daily Jang and recently elected General Secretary of RIUJ, opened the house and Tahir Rathore, President of RIUJ initiated the consultative meeting. They identified major issues that media people are often prone to neglect in the face of their meeting the daily deadline syndrome.

Tahir observed that media is increasingly losing peoples' confidence. Moreover, it acts as a spectator of human miseries banking upon the rhetoric journalism. Investigative journalism has declined since last couple of decades, he added.

Bureau chief of daily Dawn, M. Zia-ul-Din furthered the discussion by defining the characteristics of a socially responsible and professionally sound journalist. He said media and masses enter into an unwritten agreement where media is required to keep the trust of masses, but an unskilled and insensitive journalist may cause to breach the trust. A journalist is supposed to let the people know what the government is doing on a particular issue and on a specific front. If informer has no knowledge about what is happening in the decision-making institutions of the state and society, he can not disseminate valid information and knowledge to the recipients. That is the point where a journalist is always in need to learn more about the facts and realities of an ongoing changing world, he elaborated.

M. Zia-ud-Din spoke at length about the monopoly of government, which does not make the information of public related issues open to reporters. He said that access to information on state issues is very limited in It deprives the masses of their right to know at one hand and hampers the professional obligation of a reporter on the other. He said the failure of investigative journalism in Pakistan is mainly due to the concealing nature of state institutions. They deny journalists in approaching the information lying with the ministries and other government departments.

He was of the view that government treats 99% of the information as national secret. Ministries do not provide the correct information about their working, targets, and successes or failures. Even, a trivial information like rate of inflation has been categorised a secret by the ministry of finance on some occasions: while, to conceal is to mislead. He emphasised to avoid such a situation of darkness by enacting laws to ensure the freedom of access to information. 

Zia-ud-Din also criticised successive governments on controlling and manipulating newspapers tactically through ABC certificates, newsprint and advertising quotas. He said the newspapers are obliged to print officially approved photos and hollow statements of ministers on front pages, just to secure commercial interests. This practice is unanimously persuaded by newspapers and it abuses the space of a paper that in principle should cater the real issues and problems faced by the poorest of poor.

He also apprehended that state controlled organs like radio and television are misleading 85% of the population. He stressed upon the training of working journalists to fill the vacuum.

Mohsin Raza, Editor daily Kainat, pointed to the lack of sound training mechanism in media industry. He contended that our universities are producing more ignorant pupils by merely imparting theory to them. This, he said, proves to be a useless exercise when they decide to become media practitioners. A semi-educated person may turn into a better journalist than a degree holder is, he added.

He also said that with the current wage structure in the press industry we can not expect more quality and perfection from a reporter, who is economically too weak to withstand the dailyness of life. Moreover, our reporting is generally quantity-driven rather than quality-based. Reporters are also unable to maintain their balance when they are asked to cover a particular political party, he added.

Ahmad Hasan Alvi, a senior journalist from daily Dawn, identified the lack of confidence and inadequate essential knowledge among young journalists as a major cause. That, he said, threatens the professional integrity. He also referred to the decline of the institution of editorship whereby owners have taken over offices of professional editors and a culture of proprietor-editor is growing day by day in Pakistani print media. 

He also lamented the prospects that only a wealthy person now can become journalist with professional integrity, since only he could maintain his personality because of his sound economy.

Mustansar Javaid, however, reacted to this notion and termed it as a feudal attitude, which makes journalism as an exclusive domain of the economically well off. He called upon participants to evolve a system of self-accountability within media industry.

He was of the strong view that on the excuse of economic vulnerability, we can not condone the prevalent corruption in media; rather journalists will themselves have to maintain their in-danger credibility. Mustansar made his point clear by saying that Urdu journalism is fond of exaggeration and it generally uses heavy adjectives. That's, indeed, a misleading norm. It hurts the innocence of readers' mind and distorts fact. However, he added, the overall degeneration of society is reflected in media also.

Farooq Faisal, Editor daily Din, while participating in the discussion analysed the media-government relationship in pragmatic terms. He said that it is a commercial compulsion of the newspaper owners to publish propaganda material given by the government, since no newspaper can survive without the co-operation of state and the government. While conceding that variety of compromises have to be made to make a newspaper financially viable, Farooq stressed to examine the aptitude of prospective journalists and students of journalism before they enter into journalism.
Hamid Mir, Editor daily Ausaf quite aggressively rejected that people are losing their confidence in newspapers. He said that a lobby of particular ideological adherents is propagating hatred against Pakistani media. "The confidence of readers on newspapers is rather increasing day by day," he posed a counter argument.

He analysed the weaknesses and strengths of media in the context of economy and explained the need of advertisements to run newspapers successfully in the given system. "Ideal journalism does not exist anywhere in the world," he stated.

Hamid also raised some other points that led the session to a heated debate. He drew a sharp line between intellectuals and journalists and stated that intellectuals are incapable to communicate with masses. "In the times we are living, intellectuals like Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Abul Kalam Azad can not become success stories in mainstream journalism. They will be bound to fail if they come again in the world to compete in present media industry," he commented.

Naeem Mirza refuted Hamid's assumption and said that circulation ratio can not be taken as the sole criterion to define credibility of a newspaper. He elaborated further that even in today's journalism different newspapers are supporting different interest groups and some of them have become the virtual mouthpiece of various political parties and militant groups. So, the supposition of objective and unbiased journalism stands invalid. Media that once was the public service institution has now become a total commercial enterprise, he said.

Abu Zar Wasim, a young journalist emphasised to equip journalists with better understanding of issues of public interest. He said media is not only a mirror reflecting what happens in society, rather it can also show the direction to society for a dignified transformation. Wasim said we are passing through the third most powerful revolution of human history and that is the revolution of information technology. We must incorporate modern knowledge and techniques with a sense of criticality, so that we might not be carried away by the onslaught of uneven globalisation.

Dr. Mohammad Tanveer a senior journalist and Executive Director of JRC thanked the participants for their contribution and reinforced the need of professional capacity building of journalists in his concluding remarks. He assured the participants that JRC will design a followup training plan in consultation with journalist community through out the country and issues brought up by the discussants will be incorporated in further activities.

Fauzia Shahid, general secretary of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), moderated the discussion. C.R Shamsi, senior vice president of PFUJ greeted working journalists who are the last hope of downtrodden. He urged upon journalist community to upgrade their professional skills, to be able to provide relief to helpless masses through the power of pen.

Khurram Mehran, Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Habib, Imtiaz, Isar Rana, Zia and Saadia were among those who actively took part in discussion. Mussarat Bashir from SDPI, Khawar Mehdi from The News, Kamran Khan from The News, Farida Hafeez from daily Pakistan, S. Abdul Rashid from the News, Aslam Dogar from daily Din, Moin-ul- Din from daily Ausaf, Arshad Sharif from Online International News Network, Suhail Chishti from Ausaf, Hazrat Sham, Jahangir Minhas, Saqib Paul, Arshad Mahmood from Jang,Tariq Butt from Jang, Saqib Shehzad and Mian Tahir Mahmood from Ausaf, also attended the consultative meeting.

Although the discussion went well but some of participants were found complaining that junior journalists were not given an opportunity to speak at the event. It was also observed that overall discussion was dominated by editors' point of view and a common working journalist present in hall could not convey his opinion and grievances to the forum.

This, being the first activity of its own kind in recent media history of Pakistan where journalists sat together to discuss and identify their own weaknesses, also brought up many issues to be debated within journalist community to discharge the most sensitive duty they owe towards the public in large.
As a statement of an interim agreement, it may at least be partially realised that the blend of essential knowledge and rightful amount of conviction among journalists can save the society from the extremes of fanaticism and anarchism.

Of skills and salaries.......

The skill development of journalists is an uphill task. Until the salaries of journalists are increased, it will be difficult for them to promote professionalism. Pakistani Journalists especially Urdu journalists have to live by means other than their regular salaries. So, in Pakistan, there is no immediate need to promote professionalism, rather increasing the salaries of journalists is required in the first place.

A slip forwarded to the panellists by a young reporter present in the meeting....