Centre for Excellence in Journalism offers professional help, skills improvement programmes. PHOTO: APP
KARACHI: Good quality journalism is a pressing need of the modern world and to cater this need, the Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) has been launched.
CEJ is a collaborative professional development and training project of the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Institute of Business Administration (IBA). The institute, situated at IBA's city campus in Saddar, was launched by IBA dean and director Dr Ishrat Husain and US American ambassador David Hale in a ceremony held on Saturday morning.
The US Ambassador availed the opportunity to speak about the US government's relationship with IBA that dates back 60 years. After visiting a couple of cities in the last three months, Hale said he found three things in Pakistan that fascinate him. "The immense diversity, limitless energy and intelligent ambition of the youth fascinate me about the city," he said.
The CEJ aims to help journalists gain and improve their skills so they can play their crucial role in the public discourse of the country, he elaborated.
Dr Husain thanked the US State Department for granting $4 million to build the modern institute that will cater to professionals from both print and electronic media. He also explained the different types of trainings and courses that CEJ has hosted so far. "The institute has hosted different workshops including one on emotional safety of journalists," he said.
ICFJ vice-president Patrick Butler was happy to see CEJ become a reality. Addressing the audience that mainly comprised journalists from various mediums, he shared an experience from when he came to Pakistan five years ago. He asked some media people what they needed. "They asked me for a training centre where journalist could be trained professionally," Butler recalled, adding that the need is fulfilled with the inauguration of CEJ.
ICFJ has success stories to share. So far, it has trained more than 200 journalists belonging to various media organisations including print, electronic and radio, said Butler. The courses vary from basics of news writing and feature writing to investigative reporting and TV news reporting, he added.
The centre will soon be starting a Master's programme in journalism to cater to professional journalists, he announced.
Craig Duff, a professor of Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, spoke about his visit to the CEJ with his graduate students and how he witnessed the hard work that journalists are putting in their work. The curiosity to learn and discuss is what impresses you and motivates you to do more, said Duff.
CEJ acting director Christie Marie Lauder thanked the IBA dean and director and the US ambassador for their support. The speeches were followed by a short video that showed the newly built CEJ offices on the fourth floor of Aman Tower in IBA. The centre includes a library, a computer lab, a TV production room, a meeting room, an editing suite and a broadcast room.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2016.
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