RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Ministry for Information and Broadcasting is working on a new draft Journalist Protection Act to be tabled in the National Assembly.

“I am committed to the protection of journalists and their interest. Health insurance to working journalists also being worked out,” said Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, speaking as a chief guest at an awards ceremony.

The Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) hosted the event in collaboration with the Centre for Communications Programmes Pakistan, Palladium Pakistan and the Sukh Initiative at the Institute of Business Administration’s city campus on Tuesday.

Fawad elaborated the reforms he was trying to introduce at the ministry. He said new legislation would be similar to the one enacted by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Apart from the proposed Act, Information Ministry is trying to work on the development of a media technology school, he said.

The Minister said he felt honoured to be invited at the event. He praised the CEJ’s efforts and its brilliant initiative. He said future belongs to ideas and only superior ideas would win. He said the ideas can only be generated through constructive debate and dialogue.

In his welcome address, CEJ Director Kamal Siddiqi said that the idea behind the award was to encourage good journalism and highlight distinction in reporting on social issues. “We all know that we can do much better and this is one way to recognise people doing good journalism,” he said, noting that these are challenging time and good journalism is under threat.

Senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin concurred with Siddiqi that indeed time was challenging for the media. “Media shouldn’t be alone in its fight for freedom rather the society should also support it. Media is the voice that protects the freedom of the society,” he said.

The ceremony was organised to honour the journalists from across Pakistan who submitted those of their news stories published between July 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. The independent annual award is aimed at recognising and promoting rights related reporting in Pakistan, especially on the issues that affect the most ignored and marginalised factions of society. Awards were given away to print and broadcast journalists who developed exceptional stories which brought to fore some of the most imperative issues afflicting society. 

An independent jury, comprising veteran journalists assessed the short-listed submissions following a comprehensive criterion to select the winners.

They judged the ‘Excellence in Reporting’ in various categories: Ashraf Khan and Owais Tohid were judges for TV and Radio, Farah Zia for District Correspondents, Ayaz Khan for Urdu Newspapers and Online Content and Zaibunnisa Burki for Excellence in Reporting for English Newspapers and Online Content.

The stories were divided into three categories: child rights, health rights and women rights. These were then further divided into four awards for each category.

Muhammad Atif Sheikh, Henna Saeed, Rashida Sadiq Kiani, Saman Khan, Mureeb Mohmand, Umar Bacha, Muhammad Yousaf, Zofeen Ebrahim, Xari Jalil, Ghulam Dastageer and Muhammad Rizwan Safdar were winners of the awards.