‘International Media Ethics Day’ to be celebrated in Pakistan
Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with the Center for International Media Ethics is going to mobilize the journalist community on September 23rd, next month.
The Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) a non-profit organization with staff members operating across several continents teams up with Mishal Pakistan, a leading strategic communication social enterprise, specializing in media and communication for policy design in a bid to bring together a network of journalists and students in Pakistan to provide training, discussion and expertise in the ethics of their profession.
“The Pakistani media industry, since its deregulation in the year 2002, has expanded exponentially. While the media has come a long way, from a singular national media outlet, to a vibrant and proactive community of news channels and print media, it is still far behind in the implementation of a media ethics protocol. Special interests and above all, sensationalism continue to compromise objectivity, especially in the electronic media. Such trends can be countered, most effectively, with better training of journalists and a wider campaign to promote ethics in journalism,” said Melisande Middleton, founder of the Center for International Media Ethics.
The aim of Media Ethics Day is to mobilize the journalism community and provide journalists around the world with an opportunity to discuss media ethics issues, examine case studies, and participate in role-plays and debates related to the various ethical dilemmas they might expect to face on the job.
The Center for International Media Ethics - CIME has appointed Mishal’s Director Content, Puruesh Chaudhary as its Ambassador to Pakistan on Media Ethics. “CIME and Mishal will work on indigenous platforms that will serve the journalistic community, policy-makers and students to participate and share opinions that will strengthen the understanding of ethical dilemmas facing the media industry”, said Puruesh Chaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan.
Through this partnership, both CIME and Mishal Pakistan intend to promote respect for truth, accuracy and privacy by engaging relevant stakeholders to create dialogue on ethical practices through training programmes on quality reporting that results in educating the public. The two organizations would drive the emphasis that journalists together have the power to formulate a tacit code of ethics as a status quo of their profession, which is evolved and observed, mutually by the community, the regulatory authority and relevant stakeholders.
A recent web-based survey launched by CIME, reflects on how media professionals themselves see their position at work, ethical standards of media in their country and the need for improvement of ethical standards among journalists and media professionals. A significant number of respondents from Pakistan and Bangladesh indicated that it is difficult to follow ethical rules due to lack of awareness regarding the code of ethics established by respective employers.
CIME encourages journalists to take on a proactive role in defining ethical practices through the choices and decisions made at work on a daily basis. This partnership between CIME and Mishal will urge journalists to work together to make their own judgments and identify their own strategies.
CIME has already hosted its Forum three years in a row, to provide panel discussion sessions for a group of selected journalists on the topic of ethics. This provides a framework for media professionals to share strategies on local ethical dilemmas that come up in their work. CIME hosts the annual CIME Forum in developing and emerging economies where journalists cannot normally afford ethics training, with the goal of improving the overall journalism ethics standards in each given country.
Mishal, launched in 2003, has been engaged with some of the most dynamic organizations in the region to develop their communication strategy and solutions for better understanding and creating synergies between different members of the information ecosystem. Mishal has been at the forefront of creating a knowledge-based ecosystem and is actively pursuing to improve the state of media and journalism in Pakistan.
The team behind Mishal has been developing, creating and managing media entities and content for the last 20 years at various platforms. Taking this initiative to the next level Mishal has been actively pursuing to build the capacity of the media in creating better understanding the issues in global perspective.
Mishal has undertaken the task to build the capacity of the Press Clubs and Associations in Pakistan by creating a knowledge-sharing learning platform for the media and journalists across Pakistan. The initiative will build the capacity through interactive workshops, conferences, collaborative-thinking and media and journalism awards for the professionals in the field of journalism and media.