QUETTA: The adviser to the Balochistan chief minis­ter on information, Sardar Raza Baraich, said on Wed­nesday that TV channels must end the rating and breaking news trend since it had caused security threats to journalists.

He was addressing a media workshop on security of journalists organised by Individualland.

Mr Baraich said that a number of journalists were killed in targeted attacks in different parts of the country, particularly Balochistan, due to the emergence of commercialism in media and the breaking news trend.

“On one hand, some media houses earned money by in­­creasing their ratings throu­­gh a sensational way of bre­a­king the news, and on the other, their reporters lost their lives as they were forced to be part of the trend,” he said.

“A journalist must follow ethical journalism and balanced reporting,” he said, urging journalists to adopt an unbiased attitude towards their work to ensure safety.

“Avoiding ethical journalism by some media groups is also one of the major causes which posed threats to the media community,” said the Executive Director of Individual­land, Gul Mina Bilal Ahmed.

“All staff of a media orga­nisation should be assigned duties to perform during any emergency-like situation to avert any untoward incident,” said master trainer Touseeq Haider.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2016