LAHORE: Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab Hasaan Khawar has stressed the need to maintain balance while reporting issues and events.

He was addressing the closing ceremony of the Doctoral Spring School organized by the Association of Media and Communication Academic Professionals in collaboration with the Institute of Quality and Technology Management at its auditorium on Friday.Mr Khawar said that a number of changes had occurred in the international as well as national media.

He said that Covid-19 had reflected the importance of data journalism and we had witnessed how fake news took a toll on precious lives.

He said that the media could play the role of a torchbearer in society and lead the people in a specific direction.

He said that the ecosystem of the media should serve society.

Appreciating the role and hard work of reporters of private media organisations, he said that it was difficult to understand that around 20 newsmen from government institutions could not perform the task equal to the work of one newsman of a private TV channel.

He said that there was a need to answer many research questions related to various fields of media and expressed the hope that the AMCAP Doctoral Spring School would address this gap between academia and industry.

He said that the media was the fourth pillar of the state and it must expose the bad characters of society.

However, he said, the media should also present a positive image of the country and maintain balance in reporting.

Irrigation Minister Mohsin Laghari said that the media should promote a culture that it was always affordable to be late rather than being early but wrong.

He said that the media should report facts as such and include correct ingredients in the news content.

He said that our genuine issues did not get much time and space in the media.

For instance, he said, water shortage was one of the most important issues of the country, but we rarely see any discussion or awareness campaign on it.

PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad, while discussing the concerns of Mr Khawar, said that only those institutions survive that understand the contemporary challenges and work harder for the betterment of their organizations.

He said that there was a need to change the mindset of employees at our public sector institutions, keeping in view the present state of affairs of the Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA, Pakistan Railways, etc.Souvenirs were distributed among the distinguished guests.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2022