Director Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, Kamal Siddiqi, has said that smartphones are rapidly replacing television among the young generation in Pakistan. Kamal said this while speaking at the concluding session of a two-day workshop on "Humanitarian Reporting" at a local hotel, here on Wednesday which was organised in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to sensitise journalists about humanitarian reporting in a better way.
More than 32 young journalists across the province participated in the workshop. The training was conducted under the guidance of Instructor Shahzad Sharjeel, Communication Officer of the ICRC Najam Abbas, CEJ-IBA Director Kamal Siddiqi and Clinical Psychologist for Trauma Ayesha Iftikhar. They guided the journalists about media ethics and how they can improve skills in humanitarian reporting.
The director while throwing light on the confluence of traditional and social media said although the media industry is using technology, it is striving hard to enhance its viewership after increase in the use of smartphones. "The youngsters have now no time for televisions."
He said decades back there were quite few media channels or outlets in the country. However, due to the mushroom growth of media outlets the demand for advertisements has also multiplied giving rise to wrong practices in the industry, he added. Kamal alleged that some media outlets run news with sensationalism to pressurise the advertising party.
"Many TV channels are not making much profit. Their expenses are afforded by their newspapers." According to Kamal, most of the journalists are very less paid and non-professional which has resulted into misreporting and corrupt practices in the industry. He also came hard on television anchorpersons, criticizing their characters as "dubious". He said the role of media channels is now changing rapidly because of social media.
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