By Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LAHORE: Oslo Metropolitan University in collaboration with Forman Christian College Lahore arranged a three-day training workshop for working journalists and journalism teachers in Lahore.
The workshop was themed “Peace journalism workshop and the onslaught of social media on mainstream media”.Dean of humanities departments at Forman Christian College and University(FCCU) Dr. Altafullah Khan thanked the participants and highlighted the aim and purpose of the workshop.
Fifty participants including teachers and heads of the journalism departments at various universities in Pakistan and journalists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and merged districts participated in the workshop.
Dr. Altafullah Khan said that journalism has a key role to help maintain peace and harmony in society. He said journalists and media organizations must understand that they could mould people towards either side. He said fake news is a tough task for readers to understand. He said freedom of expression on social media was also restricted at some stage. He said social media was spreading unauthentic news but still it becoming an important tool for readers.
Head of journalism and media studies at Oslo Metropolitan University Norway, Anne Hege Simonsen said that along with the fake news fake photos surf on social media. She said every citizen must check and confirm whether the picture uploaded is genuine or not.
Senior journalist Rifatullah Orakzy also shared his experience with his work. He said the journalist was being harassed every day by various schools of thought add followers of political and religious parties on social media just because of his news and views.
Oslo Metropolitan University professor Elisabeth Eide talked about the media’s role in war times. She said media and social media had been used as propaganda tools by individuals, groups and even by countries. She said the main tool that has been used as media against opponents in wars is so that rivals could be defeated easily. He added that the aim of propaganda spread through social media was to demoralize rivals and get the sympathies of others who read and watch on social media.
Brigadier(R)Dr. Muhammad Fayaz said they were in the era of media war. He said the media was more powerful that could not be avoided. He said journalists must be very responsible and honest with their profession. He said one single word by a journalist can ruin and make a life of a citizen.
Professor doctor Tahira Tariq talked about physical and online harassment. She said that most of the time harassment of both male and female take place but most people did not disclose it. She said if they do not talk about harassment it would encourage those who do it.
Britta Peterson of GIZ talked about the challenges of social media and the public sphere in democracy. She said that media played an important part in the public sphere in many transitional periods in the past. She said the media also face criticism but it should keep maintaining its work in the best interest of the public. She said that democracy could be further strengthened if social media could be used positively
