Basic Journalism Training Workshop May 20-21-22, 2012 Sub Tehsil Uch Sharif , Bahawalpur District

Uchsharif: May 22 (2012)A three days  long training work shop was organized by the  Rural Media Network Pakistan in collaboration with IPDC/UNESCO on Basics of Journalism in town Uch Sharif District Bahawalpur from May 20 to May 22,2012.. In this workshop twenty one journalists belonging to national and regional newspapers and  TV channels were equipped with journalistic basics professional skills and modern techniques of the profession as well.

During the interactive communication session the journalists of Uch Sharif vicinity told the workshop about the problems and hardships they face. On the other hand they all agreed that they don’t receive any sort of threat from intelligence agencies of the government but some police officials used to do so. Mr Sajjad from daily Ausaf told that he had been attacked with gunshots by the drug peddlers on reporting their illegal activities but he was safe at all. Mohammad Amin from daily Kainat said that some doctors threaten him on reporting the illegal clinical practices and use of substandard medicine and its business in the area. Mr. Asif Raza from daily Khabrain told that  that a local politician belonging to this area also threaten him on reporting news of his corruption. Several other journalists also shared their views about threats on sectarian and religion rivalry reporting.

Mohammad Sajjad from Daily Ausaf said that this workshop provided him an opportunity to groom his skills in the field of journalism. Another journalist Asif Raza from Daily Khabrain and channel 5 shared his views about this training workshop that this workshop has built confidence in him to cope with difficult tasks. Syed Zakir Hussain Naqvi said that this training workshop has satisfied his urge for knowledge.
In this workshop 9 sessions of lectures were conducted. On the very first day, after beginning with the name of Allah Almighty District Information Officer Bahawalpur, Mr. Nauman Masood Khan Resource Person delivered the first lecture on the philosophy of journalism as a profession. He taught about the definition of Basic journalism, history of journalism and discussed the characteristics of a good journalist. He also told the journalists different elements of News .He also elaborated the specific language of journalism. He helped the journalists in learning News making, types of news, shape of news, intro making, and types of intro.

On the second session of first day the resource person Mr. Nasir Hameed District Information Officer Multan delivered his lecture on resources of news, crime reporting and political reporting. He asserted on various dimensions of political beat and told the agile journalists of Uch Sharif how to tackle political celebrities with news sense. He stressed upon research and complete knowledge regarding respective beats. He described a few methods to get exclusive scoop. He told them technical aspects of crime beat and briefed them about precautionary measure of  filing crime stories. He also described the security measures during any untoward situations. After that a practical exercise was conducted and a crime story was formulated. The trainer paid satisfaction over the practical performance of the trainees. Professor Shehzad Ahmed Khan,Syed NajamulHassan Bukhari and President RMNP Ehsan Ahmed Sehar also delivered lectures on the freedom of expression issues in two sessions. President RMNP informed  participants about the killing of journalist Razzaq Gul in Turbat Balochistan and said that this is the fifth killing of the journalist in Pakistan this year.He constituted seven members press freedom monitoring committee headed by senior local journalist Mohd Akmal Sheikh while Abdul Ghani Langha,Siddique Khan Sodha,ZiaulHaq Shehzad Badani,Ameer Haider Rizvi,Azhar Iqbal Mughal and Khawaja Ghulam Shabbir wrere included as its  members.Fateha Khawani was offered for the departed  soul of slain Baloch journalist Razzaq Gul.
On the second day, Resource Person Nauman Masood Khan briefly described the philosophy of inverted pyramid to the journalists. He told them that this basic principle of news can be used in news making, article writing and feature writing at the same time, on the 2nd day’s session he explained the methods of article and feature writing. He taught the journalists that how they could select the topic of an article. He told them about characteristics of a good article. He also delivered lecture on feature writing and different types of feature i.e. historical feature, research feature, autobiographical feature.
Resource Person Mr. Nasir Hameed on second day taught about interview its types, techniques and pre requisites. He told them good interview can be had with proper research and planning. The resource person described the proper methods of questionnaire making and language of the interview. He defined various types of interview questions and stressed upon the importance of open ended questions. In second topic he explained the procedure of press conference. He trained them how to cover press conference and defined Jargons of press conference in understandable language.
On the 3rd day Mr. Nauman Masood Khan delivered lecture on disaster reporting. He discussed technical terms of disaster reporting hazards, risk, vulnerability, response, preparedness, mitigation and also reporting during the rescue, relief and rehabilitation process, In the last lecture he discussed the ethics of journalism as a profession.In general discussion mostly journalists said that they received continuous threats from feudal and drug peddlers on reporting or to raise curtain from their corruption.

Mr. Nasir Hameed in this session demonstrated the press laws. He explained the major clauses of law of libel, defamation and slander. He expressed the official secret act and contempt of court. He vowed that the reporting should be objective and abide by laws and a reporter must aware of the laws concerned before filing a story. Question ad answer sessions were also held in all the three days of the training workshop. A practical exercise was also conducted by the resource persons.

At the end the trainees filled up the evaluation Performa and paid their utmost gratitude to  the Rural Media Network Pakistan  and Unesco for organizing such a fruitful workshop for the journalists of the far flung area. They termed it a mile stone in the capacity building of their professional career.
Certificate giving ceremony was held  on May 22,2012. The chief guest of this ceremony was Mr. Hassan Askari Sheikh Vice President Pakistan People’s Party Southern Punjab and guest of honor was Mr. Sheikh Nasir Saleem  Advocate  President Agriculture Chamber of Commerce Punjab , Mr. Hassan Askari said that underdeveloped areas like Uch Sharif practically and socio economically needs such type of trainings and workshops to uplift the skills and knowledge of journalists belonging to native areas .He thanked  Rural Media Network Pakistan  and UNESCO  for the provision of  such a great opportunity to the journalists of Uch Sharif. Mr. Sheikh Nasir Saleem  said that journalists are eyes of nation, who perform the function of accountability in our society. He further said journalists also help us to reach our destination and they raise their voices against injustice and cruelty. Both Hassan Askari Sheikh and Sheikh Nasir Saleem gave certificates to participants Syed Azahar Ali Rizvi,Ahmed Hassan Awan,Mohd Saleem Shehzad,Syed Ameer Haider Rizvi,Sajjad Hussein,Rana Mohd Irfan,Mohd Siddique Khan Sodha,Khawaja Asad Nawaz,Syed Zakar Hussein Naqvi,Sheikh Suleman Sajjad,Khawaja Ghulam Shabbir Mohd Aamar, Abdul Malaik Badani,Mohd Ismael,Khalid Mehmood Langha, Mohd Aamar Sial,Mohd Tehneem Jaffer,Hameed ullah Khan Aziz,Asif Raza,Mohd Sajid Khan and Mohd Akbar Khan.President RMNP Ehsan Ahmed Sehar presented gifts of RMNP training manuals to both guests alongwith senior journalists Shahid Bashir Chaudhry,Mohd Akmal Sheikh,Abdul Ghani Langha,Khawaja Suhail Siddiqui,Zafar Iqbal Mughal, and ZiaulHaq Shehzad .