Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Michel Temer, President of Brazil has expressed concern over threats to reporter of Roma News Portal.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter has called on the Brazilian authorities to immediately investigate the matter and hold the officers involved in threatening a journalist.

According to Brazilian Association for Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI), the journalist, whose identity was not disclosed for security reasons was threatened by the officers of Military Police of Para while covering the match between Paysandu and Atlético-GO.

On November 24, while the reporter was taking views of the supporters about the match, the officers threatened him to stop covering the event, else they will shoot him with a rubber bullet.

The News Portal is still figuring out what steps to take in the case as a formal complaint will reveal reporter’s identification and incite the reprisals.

The statement of Military Police of Pará stated that, “the Battalion Police connected to the Specialized Police Command has already taken notice of the incident.”

درخواستوں کی وصولی کے لئے دوسرا اعلان
آخری تاریخ 20 اگست 2017ء

پاکستان پریس فاؤنڈیشن (پی پی ایف) کی جانب سے فیلوشپ برائے تحقیقاتی رپورٹنگ کےلئے درخواستیں موصول کی جارہی ہیں۔
فیلوشپس کے لئے درخواستوں کی موصولی “پاکستان میں تحقیقاتی صحافت میں معاونت” کے پراجیکٹ کا حصہ ہیں جس کا مقصد تحقیقاتی صحافت کو فروغ دینا اور میڈیا سے وابستہ افراد کو عوامی دلچسپی کے امور بشمول حکومتی نظم و نسق، شفافیت، صنف، بدعنوانی اور انسانی حقوق کے بارے میں گہرائی سے کی جانے والی رپورٹس کے بارے میں مدد فراہم کرنا ہے۔
فیلوشپس میں صلاحیت سازی کے لیے ورکشاپس کے علاوہ ادارتی اور تکنیکی معاونت بھی فراہم کی جائے گی تا کہ ایسی تحقیقاتی رپورٹس تیار کرنے میں مدد کی جاسکے جو صحافت کے پیشہ ورانہ اصولوں اور قانونی معیارات کے مطابق ہوں۔ فیلوشپ کا دورانیہ تین ماہ اورمعاوضہ ساٹھ ہزارروپے ہے۔ معاوضے کی ادائیگی کا انحصار اہداف کی تکمیل پر ہے۔
منتخب امیدواروں کو سینئر صحافیوں کے ساتھ کام کرنے کا موقع ملے گا جو فیلوشپ کے دوران ادارتی رہنما کا کردارادا کریں گے۔
پرنٹ، ٹیلی ویژن، ریڈیو اور آن لائن میڈیا میں کم از کم تین سال کا تجربہ رکھنے والے صحافی فیلوشپس کے لیے درخواستں جمع کروانے کے اہل ہیں۔ بلخصوص بلوچستان، فاٹا، گلگت بلتستان اور آزاد کشمیر کے صحافیوں کواہلیت کے معیار میں رعائیت دی جا سکتی ہے۔
درکار دستاویزات:
۔ پروفیشنل ریزیومے/سی وی حالیہ تصویر کے ساتھ
(۔ مکمل اسٹوری پروپوزل فارم (ڈاؤنلوڈ کرنے کے لیے کلک کیجیے
۔ شائع یا نشر کی گئی خبروں کے تین لنکس/نمونے

  پر بھیجیں ppf@pakistanpressfoundation.org درخواستیں
درخواست بھیجنے کی آخری تاریخ 20 اگست 2017ء، شام 5 بجے ہے۔ اس کے بعد بھیجی گئی درخواستوں کو شامل نہیں کیا جائے گا۔
صرف شارٹ لسٹ ہونے والے امیدواروں سےرابطہ کیا جائے گا۔

تحقیقاتی رپورٹنگ فیلوشپ کے پہلے مرحلے کے ورکشاپ کی وڈیو نیچے دیئے گئے لنک پر دیکھی جا سکتی ہے ۔

Second Call for Applications
Closing Date August 20, 2017

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in collaboration with Netherlands-based Free Press Unlimited, seeks applications for fellowships on investigative journalism.
The call for applications is part of the “Supporting Investigative Journalism in Pakistan” project, which aims to promote investigative journalism by providing support to media professionals focusing on in-depth stories related to issues of public interest including those on governance, transparency, gender, corruption and human rights.

The fellowships will include capacity building workshops as well as editorial and technical support to produce investigative reports that meet professional, ethical and legal best practices in journalism.The amount for the fellowship is sixty thousand rupees. The duration of the fellowship is three months and payment is based on completion of milestones.

Selected participants will be paired with senior journalists who will act as coordinating editors during the term of the fellowship.

Journalists with a minimum experience of three years working for print, television, radio and online media can apply for the fellowships.The criteria for journalists from Baluchistan, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir may be relaxed for otherwise qualified applicants. Female journalists are encouraged to apply.

Applicants must send:

1. Professional resume/CV with recent photograph
2. Complete story proposal form (Click to download)
3. Three links/samples of published or broadcast pieces.

Applications should be sent to ppf@pakistanpressfoundation.org

The deadline for submitting applications is 5:00 pm, August 20, 2017.Applications received after the due date will not be entertained.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Video of the first batch of the investigative reporting fellowship and workshop can be viewed at:

The television programme “Sar-e-Aam” of ARY News television channel produced a program on transport of weapons and explosives with connivance of corrupt railway officials. Instead of investigating the serious security lapse, the railway authorities registered a case of arms smuggling against the media team itself. ARY News said its program caught railway officials taking bribes to transport illegal weapons from Karachi to Lahore, ARY News reported.

General Manager Railways, Javed Anwar told the journalists that the railways employees guilty of transport of arms and explosives had been suspended.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Rana Azeem amd Secretary General Amin Yousuf strongly condemned attack and demand that the case should be withdrawn immediately.

Pakistan Press Foundation

From 2011-2012, the young media professional has worked in close collaboration with press clubs in Pakistan (in Sindh, Punjab, Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), initiating comprehensive Investigative Journalism and Media Ethics courses for journalists across the board. Currently the director of Mishal Pakistan (a social enterprise) and the founder of non-profit Agahi, under which she launched the Agahi Awards, Pakistan’s first annual journalism awards, Chaudhary is presently also serving as a member of the World Futures Society as a contributing reviewer on the millennium project which unites futurists the world over to improve global foresight.

In an interview with The Diplomat, Chaudhary speaks about the downside of Pakistan’s media industry, media ethics and the state of investigative journalism in the country.

You have more than a decade’s experience as a media professional in Pakistan. From your perspective, has the Pakistani media industry evolved?

Yes it has evolved. However it still has a lot of growing up to do. Recent trends indicate that consumption patterns have switched from linear to non-linear media, where much of the responsibility and the onus of public opinion principally come from the broadcast medium – be it television or radio. But then the question arises: are these information outlets doing a promising job? Unfortunately the struggle is still there. I believe the media can play a progressive role in nation-building, especially when it comes to a nation as young as ours. It can enable governments, corporations and other non-state actors such as the civil society and academia to create an environment that can assist in bridging gaps within the existing socio-economic and political structures.

Do you think a free and fair media exists in Pakistan today?

The media in Pakistan is free, whether or not it is fair, that’s an entirely different debate altogether. How many developing nations does one comes across that gets to see news coverage vehemently criticizing the government, the armed forces, the intelligence agency, the judiciary, etc? In Pakistan, these institutions are not only ridiculed but are also disgraced. Now, is that fair? I suppose not, because not enough research and competence goes into planning content. One can easily judge this by the sheer absence of quality programming one gets to see on a day-to-day basis.

What are our drawbacks?

The industry has yet to become professionally competitive. Our media lacks integration into a broader policy agenda on governance and public sector reform. The role of the media in a country clearly situates it as an actor on the political stage. The media cannot fulfill their democratic roles if they are not embedded in an enabling regulatory environment and a culture of transparency.

As of now the industry benchmarks its performance essentially based on two factors; sensationalism and who breaks the news fastest, neither of which qualifies as credible or even educational. The industry is missing performance-based mechanisms, indicators that observe the credibility and rationality of the content being delivered. These gaps are then exploited by either an extremely incompetent workforce or by other vested interests. The lack of industry-academia linkages is another issue – a common understanding on the relationship is that the collaboration between the two will not only produce quality research but would also contribute towards new information and knowledge building of the collective wisdom of the society. A corporate governance structure that safeguards the interests of various stakeholders in the information ecosystem is missing from within the media industry, which is leading to malpractice and exploitation.

Do you think we have solid investigative journalism being carried out on a local level?

It is well established that local and national journalists are prone to unhelpful sensationalism or single, unsubstantiated narrative. This often is a result of a lack of investment in investigative reporting. Public and institutional awareness of the benefits of investigative journalism creates indigenous demand for quality reporting and accountability of public representatives. Having said that, advertising revenues for both electronic and print are declining; unfortunately this has had a significant impact on human capital development. The Pakistani media industry lacks the capacity to understand and appreciate data, a key factor for quality investigative journalism. The amount of data available in Pakistan has not been properly exploited to create worthy investigative journalism pieces on governance, social injustice, and economic mismanagement.

Please comment on the lack of security provided by the state and media houses for journalists. How many more assassination attempts, murders and threats is it going to take for them to start taking security for media professionals seriously?

“I say protect the innocent. Protect those journalists who are doing their duty and who are serving both the public and the government by criticizing the government freely, independently, honestly which is an education for any government.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the condition of the Press in India in the Imperial Legislative Council, September 19, 1918.

Need I say more? Pakistan is the world’s most dangerous country for the press. More than 90 journalists have been killed since 1947. These figures tell many stories, not all of course related to the buzz around “freedom of press.” Much of it has to do with training, competence, and capacity to operate in volatile areas and destabilizing conditions. Life before any story – a journalist can remain committed to his/her profession if he/she is committed to surviving.

Please comment on media ethics in Pakistan today.

Media organizations in Pakistan, just like elsewhere around the world, are owned by corporate, political and media persons. Different stakeholders in the industry exist to mold the public opinion for their own interests, [at the cost of] the ignorance of [ordinary people], exploiting their basic right to information. The thin line between rating vs. credibility is gradually disappearing. There’s no denying the efforts that have been made to revisit ethical codes of journalism and codes of conducts for journalists have been reframed nationally and internationally. But even [now], an institutionalized mechanism that sets benchmarks and demands quality journalism is still being overlooked and deliberately ignored.

What’s next for Agahi? How does it intend to aid in the evolution of investigative journalism in Pakistan?

Agahi intends to continue training journalists on emerging tools and technology for investigative reporting. Analysis of and synthesizing “big data” is something that is essentially required, since our audiences are no longer confined to traditional boundaries. Agahi will be focusing on data-driven journalism and hopefully, this will improve the quality of investigative reporting in Pakistan.

Sonya Rehman is a journalist based in Lahore, Pakistan. She can be reached at: sonjarehman [at] gmail.com

The Diplomat