Basic Journalism Training Workshop for District Correspondents Junpur, District RahimYarKhan. Oct. 21-23, 2011

Jun Pur : A Photograph taken on the eve of certificate giving ceremony of three days long basic journalism training workshop PPP MPA Ghazanafar Langah, Nazir Khalid Ehsan Ahmed Sehar and Khalid Saeed are seen on the stage

Journalists from Junpur and adjoining areas unanimously approved a resolution demanding the government to immediately approve the Freedom of Information Ordinance at federal and provincial level. The demand was made at the concluding session of 3 day long RMNP-UNESCO training work shop on basic journalism. 25 local reporters working for print and electronic media participated in the event.A committee was also constituted to monitor press freedom violations, headed by Khursheed Ahmed Khrursheed from Liaqatpur. Muhammad Iqbal Gorgej from Tranda Muhammad Panah, Malik Azhar from Junpur, Niaz Dashti from Thul Hamza, Rana Qasim from Khan Bela and Malik Aftab from Shidani Sharif were opted as member of the committee.

They were assigned the responsibility to watch the freedom of press situation in their respective areas and if find any violation they should immediately call a meeting of the committee to gather information. They were also asked to pass on their report soon as possible to the Rural Media Network Pakistan (RMNP) to take further action.”14 journalists have been killed while performing their duties this year. These incidents took place in different parts of the Pakistan which has been declared the most dangerous country in the world for media men.” Ehsan Ahmed Sehar, chairman RMNP told the gathering.

Jun Pur: President RMNP Ehsan Ahmed Sehar highlighting press freedom situation while participants learning how to design action alerts in basic journalism workshop.

He said that Freedom of Information Ordinance is still on the papers. It should be made formal law and journalists should have the access to official documents without any discrimination. He deplored that delaying tactics are being adopted to deny the media men of their right of information.

He condemned the position taken by government attorneys during the hearing of a corruption scandal in Supreme Court involving billion of rupees, that journalists should disclose their sources of news. He said that protecting the source is a sacred duty of journalists all over the world which can not be compromised at any cost. Journalists in Pakistan have waged a long struggle for the freedom of press and they will defend it. He said.

Member Punjab Assembly from the area Ghazanafar Khan Langah was Guest of Honor in concluding session who distributed the certificates among the participants. He appreciated the initiative of RMNP and UNESCO to arrange training workshop in this small town to educate the local journalists. He appreciated the efforts of local media team and said media has freed the society from the clutches of bureaucracy and feudals.

Jun Pur: Participants of basic journalism training workshop while writing a political news.

Two trainers, Khalid Saeed from Karachi and Nazir Khalid from Lahore delivered lectures on news writing, intro/lead, structure of news, sources of news and information gathering. They also informed about the techniques to write the story on corruption in development projects, protecting the rights of citizens, covering crimes, and social issues.
Covering press conference and art of interview were salient features of the event.

Practical exercises were also conducted in two sessions. The participants were given a press statement from a political leader. The statement was made by trainers to evaluate the editing skills of the local reporters. They were asked to point out the mistakes made in the “statement” and delete the irrelevant things. This event was a good interaction and participants took great interest in this activity.