When Sarah, a recent media graduate from a public-sector university in Lahore, walked into her first newsroom job, she did not feel unqualified; she felt out of sync. The theories she had studied bore little resemblance to the professional routines, editorial judgment calls and digital pressures shaping her working day.

“We studied theories in detail,” she recalls, “but the newsroom reality felt completely different from what we were taught at university.”

Sarah’s experience is not an exception. With media and communication programmes now widely offered across public and private universities nationwide, even conservative graduation estimates suggest that several thousand students enter the field annually. Yet many carry degrees that signal academic achievement but leave them ill-prepared for contemporary journalism and communication work.

In a media environment shaped by algorithmic amplification, artificial intelligence (AI), information warfare and fragmented audiences, this disconnect has implications for how information is produced, verified and consumed, and for the health of public discourse.

Pakistan’s media graduates are entering newsrooms trained for a world that no longer exists. Can a revised national curriculum close the gap before it’s too late?

A DISCIPLINE FROZEN IN TIME

Media education in Pakistan has evolved unevenly. Its early foundations, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s when mass communication programmes expanded in Pakistani universities, were largely shaped by Western communication theories, emphasising research models, conceptual frameworks and normative debates. While intellectually valuable, this orientation was never matched by sustained investment in technology, faculty development or pedagogical innovation.

Public-sector universities operate with tight budgets, minimal staff and ageing infrastructure. Private institutions, although better funded, remain inaccessible to many due to high tuition fees. Classroom teaching, therefore, still depends largely on lectures and textbooks, even as the media industry has moved toward digital workflows, data-driven editorial methods and AI-assisted content creation.

Prof Dr Altaf Ullah Khan, the dean of the faculty of humanities at Lahore’s Forman Christian College (a chartered university), identifies a deeper structural imbalance. He argues that the field has leaned too heavily toward “media studies” at the expense of journalism as a professional craft.

“The dominance of postgraduate media studies programmes has produced an academic bias toward theory, while journalism-specific training — its ethics, methods and practical rigour — remains underdeveloped,” Prof Khan tells Eos. The result, he warns, is a steady stream of graduates who must relearn the profession once they enter the newsroom.

THE NEW HEC CURRICULUM

Against this backdrop, the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) revised Media and Communication Studies curriculum for 2024–25 represents a welcome, though incomplete, change. The framework introduces a competency-based structure and places renewed emphasis on ethics, research skills and digital proficiency. It also makes media and information literacy (MIL) a core component of undergraduate education.

Dr Savera Mujib Shami, the co-convener of the National Curriculum Committee and chairperson of digital media at the University of Punjab, explains that the revision was driven by urgency. “The traditional curriculum could no longer respond to a digital-first media environment shaped by AI, evolving audience behaviour and platform-driven information flows,” she tells Eos. “The aim is to establish national academic coherence, while allowing institutions the flexibility to develop market-relevant specialisations,” Dr Shami points out.

The revised scheme introduces a compulsory interdisciplinary course on AI, covering AI-assisted content creation, data analytics, deep-fakes and algorithmic ethics. In principle, these additions align Pakistan’s media education with global trends.

Yet policy ambition cannot replace institutional capacity. Many universities lack working media labs, current software or trained faculty to deliver the curriculum effectively. Departmental newsrooms often exist only in name, while podcast studios and multimedia labs appear in brochures but not in practice. Without sustained investment, the curriculum risks remaining aspirational.

TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE

Dr Salma Umber, associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Mass Communication at Government College University, Faisalabad, argues that reform must go further. “Media education today must be inseparable from information and communication technologies (ICT), AI and even computer sciences,” she says, warning that Pakistan risks falling behind global standards if technology is not embedded at the core of training. She also emphasises that media literacy is foundational to informed citizenship.

At the same time, an over-technologised curriculum detached from linguistic and cultural realities carries risks. As Urdu and other regional languages recede in undergraduate reforms, concerns grow about the relevance of media education to Pakistan’s communicative environment. Journalists unable to write fluently in Urdu or engage with regional narratives remain ill-equipped to serve much of the population.

Dr Umber also highlights the creative and entertainment industries. Film, drama and theatre, she tells Eos, are spaces where identity is shaped and remembered. At a time when global streaming platforms have collapsed borders, she argues that media education must not only teach tools but also nurture storytelling.

INDUSTRY DISCONNECT

One of the most enduring weaknesses of media education in Pakistan is its weak link with the industry it is meant to serve.

Syed Talat Hussain, a senior journalist, points to troubling numbers: nearly 60 percent of universities offering media degrees have no structured engagement with media organisations, while about 40 percent operate without functional digital labs or studios. “It directly affects the employability and professional confidence of graduates,” he tells Eos.

Even where internships are mandatory, they are often loosely organised and poorly supervised. Students frequently perform clerical tasks rather than gaining exposure to editorial or production processes. Hussain argues that meaningful reform requires sustained collaboration between universities and media organisations, shared curriculum planning, structured internships and joint research initiatives.

Faculty capacity remains another constraint. Dr Babar Hussain Shah of Allama Iqbal Open University highlights the pressures facing public universities. “In many institutions, a handful of faculty members run programmes from bachelors in sciences (BS) to PhD,” he tells Eos, noting that specialised areas such as digital media and emerging technologies demand expertise that institutions struggle to provide. He advocates sustained faculty development, inter-university cooperation and international exchange, to ensure the revised curriculum can be implemented “in letter and spirit.”

WRITING AND REASONING

Debates on reform often prioritise technology and newsroom skills, while core communication competencies — writing, speaking, reasoning and ethical persuasion — receive less attention.

For Prof Nasir Jamal Khattak, vice chancellor of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, this reflects a misunderstanding of communication itself. He describes it as a two-way process that requires the parallel development of verbal and written skills.

Drawing on his experience teaching communication courses at US universities, Prof Khattak argues for restoring creative expression, particularly writing, to the centre of journalism education. “Students should be trained not only in routine reporting but also in analytical writing that enables them to contextualise events and engage diverse audiences,” he tells Eos.

Prof Khattak also highlights a structural imbalance in mass communication programmes, in which training remains anchored in print or broadcast traditions. Systematic instruction in writing for contemporary digital platforms, he notes, is still underdeveloped. Such skills require deliberate teaching, sustained feedback and ethical reasoning built into the curriculum.

BEYOND POLICY, TOWARDS PURPOSE

The revised HEC curriculum provides a necessary foundation, but foundations alone do not build institutions. Meaningful reform requires digital-first media labs, sustained faculty training, functional student-run media platforms and effective industry partnerships integrated into academic structures. Above all, it demands recognition that media education is not merely a professional pipeline but a public good.

In an age of disinformation, hybrid warfare and AI-generated deep-fakes, media literacy underpins democratic resilience. The quality of Pakistan’s future public discourse will depend on how seriously the country invests in educating those who shape it.

If this moment is seized, the gap between the classroom and newsroom can narrow. If not, graduates like Sarah will continue to discover — too late — that they were prepared for a media world that no longer exists.

The writer holds a PhD in Media Studies and is a Muzaffarabad-based freelancer. X: @SMubasharNaqvi

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 1st, 2026