KARACHI: As much as 150 content creators gathered at the Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ-IBA) for ‘Click! The Digital News Ideathon’ to learn how to monetise their content and diversify revenue streams.

The event was organised by the CEJ-IBA in collaboration with the Deutsche Welle (DW) Akademie.

Multimedia journalist Sabah Bano Malik kicked off the event and spoke about the constant evolution of the digital landscape.

According to a press release, CEJ Director Amber Rahim Shamsi called for need to reinvent journalism.

Ambassador Alfred Grannas encouraged the participants to learn how to monetise, with a caveat, “Make money, become millionaires! Just do not forget your duties as a journalist.”

The first panel discussion for the day, ‘Journalist or Influencer’, moderated by Ms Shamsi, invited panelists, including Sahar Habib Ghazi, Shehzad Ghias, Syed Muzammil and Azaz Syed, to reflect on the blurred lines between a journalist, influencer, citizen journalist and vlogger.

Broadcast journalist Syed Muzammil spoke about the strategies available for content monetisation.

Selected participants were taught how to make monetisation work for them, not the platform.

Content creator and entrepreneur Amtul Baweja spoke about her personal journey in leveraging her social media to become an entrepreneur.

Journalist Alia Chughtai moderated an engaging panel discussion on ‘Clickbait’, where panelists including Munazza Siddiqui, Ali Warsi, Maria Memon, Zeeshan Ahmed, and Risham Waseem discussed the accusation that content creators and digital news platforms often use misleading headlines to bait audiences.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2023