Asian Media Barometer Pakistan Organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

14 members panel concludes its consultation in Lahore
Ehsan Ahmed Sehar presented RMNP analysis of the media landscape in Pakistan

Lahore September 6: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Pakistan organized two days long panel consultation to inaugurate The Asian Barometer – Pakistan at Avari Hotel Lahore on 5th and 6th September .Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) had invited seven leading experts from media and seven from civil society for conducting home grown analysis of the media landscape in Pakistan. Mr Rolf Paasch Director FES-Media Project Southern Africa and Mr Ghazi Salahuddin Editorial Director GEO TV were the moderators with Ms Sehar Ali Country Representative PANOS South Asia as Rapporteur while Dr Mehdi Hassan Chairman Department of Journalism Beconhouse National University (Lahore), Adnan Rehmat Country Director Internews (Islamabad), Ehsan Ahmed Sehar President Rural Media Network Pakistan (AhmedpurEast), I.A.Rehman Secretary General Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Lahore), Javed Jabbar, former federal minister for Information & Chairman J.J. Media Private Limited (Karachi), Aftab Alam Advocate at [Media] law and Policy, (Islamabad) Mazhar Arif Executive Director Society for Alternative Media &Research (Islamabad), Najam Sethi Editor-in-Chief The Friday Times (Lahore), Najib Ahmed President Association of Independent Radio/Director Power 99 FM Radio (Islamabad), Zafar Abbas Resident Director Dawn (Islamabad), Ms Moneeza Hashmi General Manager International Relations HUM TV (Lahore) and Matiullah Jan Senior Correspondent Dawn (Islamabad) were invited as the panelists.

Asian Media Barometer Model Programme started in the function room of Avari Hotel on 5th September at 9.30 AM.Both moderators and panelists introduced themselves.Mr Henning Effner Resident Representative and Mr Abdul Qadir Country Programme Coordinator FES Pakistan were also present on this occasion as hosts with their team. A four sector framework for panels deliberation was sent two weeks ago to all invited panelists to judge the each sectorial indicator by allocating individual scores to all 45 indicators after the qualitative discussion in an anonymous vote according the following scale.
1 Country does not meet indicator
2 Country minimally meets aspects of the indicator
3 Country meets many aspects of indicator but progress may be too recent to judge
4 Country meets most aspects of indicator
5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator and has been doing so over time
All panelists went in self accessment process through the indicators in a detailed discussion and determined (quantative)scores for each indicator of Freedom of Expression,Media diversity,independence and sustainability,Broadcasting regulation and Professional Standards sectors. In two days long deliberations, members of the panel attached their individual point-score (1-5) to each sub-indicator of the sector. The sum of all individual scores was divided by the panel members .The result was considered the final score for the sub-indicators.

After the completion of this process, to facilitate new strategy for the next two years, the following five questions were discussed by the panelists in last session.

1) Positive developments in the media environment in the last two years.
2) Negative developments in the media environment in the last two years.
3) Main drivers/actors for positive change.
4) Possible obstacles for further development.
5) Activities needed over the next few years.
President Rural Media Network Pakistan (RMNP) Ehsan Ahmed Sehar actively took part in panel discussions and presented hardcopies of RMNP analysis of the media landscape Pakistan to Mr Henning Effner Resident Representative FES, Pakistan and Mr Rolf Passch Director FES Media Project Southern Africa. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Pakistan office will publish this report in near future, said Abdul Qadir Country Representative FES Pakistan.

Source.RMNP

Lahore: President Rural Media Network Pakistan Ehsan Ahmed Sehar talking in FES Panel Consultation held in Avari International to inaugurate The Asian Media Barometer Pakistan.

Lahore: Professor Dr Mehdi Hassan, Najib Ahmed, Najam Sethi, Ehsan Ahmed Sehar, Matiullah Jan, Abdul, Qadir, Henning Effner, Rolf Paash, Ghazi Salahuddin, Javed Jabbar, Zafar Abbas, I.A.Rehman, Ms Moneeza Hashmi, Mazhar Arif, Adnan Rehmat, Ms Sehar Ali, Ms Sabina Franze and Malik M. Rashid consulting in Conference room of the Avari International hotel to inaugurate The Asian Media Barometer Pakistan.

Dessi Damianova