Media Baihtak conducted a digital content strategy workshop for journalists. As many as 24 journalists were trained by senior journalist Lubna Jerrar Naqvi on November 2 (Saturday).
The training provided an opportunity to the journalists to not only explore different strategies that can be implemented on social justice stories on digital medium in an interactive informal setting but also gave them a platform to seek legal angles on the news stories with the esteemed guidance of Supreme Court Advocate Shoaib Ashraf. The counsel not only remained with the participants till the very end of the session but also helped the journalists during the group activity by giving them legal insights on their respective digital stories.
The training not only imparted knowledge regarding the technical dimensions related to the news media but also shed light on key human rights issues and responsibilities of the journalists in reporting them. This training motivated the participants to approach social justice stories with new angles and treat them with the knowledge given in the training session.
The four-hour long training session began with a brief discussion over the importance of digital stories on the rising violent extremism in society. The trainer highlighted the major flaws journalists often incorporate in the stories which put the stories’ reliability and validity in question, furthermore key issues and techniques linked with digital writing was also discussed. . Advocate Shoaib Ashraf stressed the need for using correct legal terminologies in the news report for the better understanding of the reader/viewers. Both the esteemed panelists urged the journalists to remain true to the profession while maintaining an element of integrity.
A group activity was conducted in the supervision of the senior journalist and lawyer in which the participants were divided in groups and were assigned social justice stories respectively. The journalists presented the stories and highlighted the areas which were specifically taken into account. A healthy discussion ensued on every of the presented report which allowed all the participants to know more aspects about the digital writing on social issues.
The group exercise was reviewed on the projector. The trainer and lawyer appreciated the improvement in understanding of the issues as seen in the videos. They urged the participants to continue to practice the skills learnt in the training session.
Further tips, techniques and issues were discussed in the informal networking session held after the training. The participants got the chance to discuss the training objectives with the trainers and fellow journalists.