UNESCO organizes workshops on safety for rural journalists in Pakistan
28-01-2011 (Liaquatpur)
Ehsan Ahmed Sehar,
President of RMNP
© RMNP
UNESCO organizes a series of workshops on safety for journalists working in rural areas in Pakistan. This activity is designed to equip participants with the information and skills on how to do their journalistic duties in hostile environments, which is currently the case in some parts of Pakistan.
Under this activity, which is implemented by the Rural Media Network of Pakistan (RMNP), four workshops are planned to be organized from January to April 2011. At least 25 rural journalists are expected to participate in each workshop, which will bring to approximately 100 the number of participants who will benefit from the training.
The activity kicked-off with a workshop held in Liaquatpur, District Rahimyar Khan, from 22 to 23 January 2011. This first event was conducted by two Karachi-based trainers, Babar Ayaz, Director of Mediators Karachi; and Khalid Saeed, former Chief Instructor at the Pakistan Press Foundation and former Research Coordinator at the Asia-Pacific Media Institute in Tokyo, Japan.
Subjects discussed at the workshop included an assessment of the security situation; how to use common sense and judgment to be prepared for possible risks; and how to manage core contacts during duties in hostile areas.
The Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists declared Pakistan the deadliest place for journalists in 2010. In the beginning of January 2011, a reporter from a local TV channel was killed in Karachi. The President of the Liaquatpur Press Club, Abdul Waheed Siyal, has hailed the RMNP-UNESCO decision to organize the workshop in Liaquatpur. He expressed the hope that the beneficiaries of this training would be able to cope with the alarming situation in rural Pakistan and would also transfer the acquired skills to their colleagues working on dangerous assignments.
The workshops on safety for journalists are part of a larger programme that is currently being implemented by RMNP with support from UNESCO. Other activities include the creation of a national database on media rights and violations encountered by media professionals in Pakistan, and publication of a manual on safety issues for journalists.
The activity kicked-off with a workshop held in Liaquatpur, District Rahimyar Khan, from 22 to 23 January 2011. This first event was conducted by two Karachi-based trainers, Babar Ayaz, Director of Mediators Karachi; and Khalid Saeed, former Chief Instructor at the Pakistan Press Foundation and former Research Coordinator at the Asia-Pacific Media Institute in Tokyo, Japan.
Subjects discussed at the workshop included an assessment of the security situation; how to use common sense and judgment to be prepared for possible risks; and how to manage core contacts during duties in hostile areas.
The Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists declared Pakistan the deadliest place for journalists in 2010. In the beginning of January 2011, a reporter from a local TV channel was killed in Karachi. The President of the Liaquatpur Press Club, Abdul Waheed Siyal, has hailed the RMNP-UNESCO decision to organize the workshop in Liaquatpur. He expressed the hope that the beneficiaries of this training would be able to cope with the alarming situation in rural Pakistan and would also transfer the acquired skills to their colleagues working on dangerous assignments.
The workshops on safety for journalists are part of a larger programme that is currently being implemented by RMNP with support from UNESCO. Other activities include the creation of a national database on media rights and violations encountered by media professionals in Pakistan, and publication of a manual on safety issues for journalists.
Participants of the workshop in Liaquatpur© RMNP
Preparation of the inaugural ceremony of the Liaquatpur workshop© RMNP
Related themes/countries
· Pakistan
· Media in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations
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- UNESCO
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