The number of journalists in Pakistan has increased from 3,000 in 2005 to 17,000 in 2011, according to a presentation made by InterMedia on Tuesday.
An NGO working on media development and DRI said that though the number of journalists have increased manifold during the last five years in Pakistan, they remain untrained. Almost 80 per cent of them have not performed election coverage and neither do they have understanding of the electoral process of the country. The presentation was part of an award ceremony “Reporting on Electoral Reforms and Local Election Issues”, which was organised by InterMedia in collaboration with Democracy Reporting International (DRI).
There has also been an increase in the number of TV and radio channels in the last ten years. In the 2008 general elections there were over 100 radio and around 20 TV channels, whereas in 2002 there were no private channels, radio or television. In 2011, the figure increased to 140 radio stations and 35 TV channels operating countrywide.
Speaking at the occasion Inter-media Chief Executive Adnan Rehmat said that the basic objective of this training is to guide the working journalists on the electoral process. More then 400 journalists, from 115 districts participated in the training, out of which three won the best reporter awards on electoral reforms and issues.
Ijaz Tareen of News One was awarded the first position, Abdul Salam, from the newspaper Daily Tehreek got second position and Saleem Buzdal of Geo TV secured third position.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2011.
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