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| May 31, 2005 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1426 |
Newsmen urged to focus on issue-oriented reporting
HARIPUR, May 30: Speakers at a workshop have said there is a strong link between good governance and issue-oriented reporting by media persons and said such practices advocated respect for people’s fundamental rights. Different journalist bodies of the district took part in the workshop titled “Good Governance and Human Rights Reporting” which was jointly organized by the Human Development Organization and Sungi Development Organization here on Monday.
Amjad Nazir of Sungi spoke about different democratic models of governance in the world and remarked that the state had nothing to do with religion and vice versa as the two had different roles to play.
“Religion is a personal matter and the state is just supposed to protect the religious rights of its citizens, not to advocate or promote them,” he added. Despite its constitutional obligations regarding provincial autonomy, he said, the federal government was wielding all powers and because of that voices of dissent had started coming out from different corners.
He traced the problems of the nation to “topsy-turvy changes in the government system”. “Unless all powers are not devolved to the provincial and grassroot levels, the state of confusion will continue to persist,” he said.
Speaking on the topic of human rights and reporting, Mohammad Sadaqat of the Human Development Organization said that unless others’ rights were not accepted as obligatory, the wave of turmoil and unrest would continue to play havoc with the world’s socio-political structures.
“When rights are not respected, protected or fulfilled, this violation often results in suffering, corruption, social injustice, abuse and war,” he said. “Rights and obligations are dovetailed with each other,” he added. He also threw light on UN conventions such as the UDHR, CEDAW, Convention for Refugees, CRC and international covenants, which guarantee civil, socio-economic, cultural and political rights of people. In this regard, he said, the last sermon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) provides exceptional guidance to the people.
According to him, over 100 industrial units of Hattar were flushing out untreated sewage in the open and causing harm to the eco-system. He also alerted participants to the health threat posed by two cement factories of Hattar, saying the two units were giving off deadly dust that could help spread diseases like cancer, TB, respiratory disorders and allergies.
He urged the participants to bring a paradigm shift in their work and attitudes and switch to outcome-based reporting from event-based reporting, because journalists must work as agents of change and help to create awareness about the rights of people. Sungi zonal coordinator Omar Javed Khan also spoke to the participants.
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