APNS executive committee calls on president

Alvi says media has played a pivotal role in connecting, informing and educating people

ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi has laid stress on dealing with the issues of malnutrition, infant mortality, population growth and women’s right to inheritance in the shortest possible time with prudence while expressing resolve to play his constitutional role for social change.

President Alive shared these thoughts in his meeting with the executive committee of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) that called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was also present on the occasion.

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Highlighting the role of media, Alvi remarked that the media has played a pivotal role in connecting, informing and educating people for the common cause of national development and social change.

However, he cautioned that extra care was required to combat the emerging threat of fake news, which, he said, had led to disastrous consequences in the past. He said in recent years, the frequency of fake news had increased.

The president said unless a nation is equipped with modern concepts and technologies like artificial intelligence, the dream of becoming a progressive and developed country would remain afar.

He expressed his gratitude to executive committee for their support to his initiative on artificial intelligence, which, he added would bring a change in the overall thinking pattern of researchers and scientists.

He said his initiative of artificial intelligence had gained significant success in Karachi and now the programme had also been launched in Islamabad and Faisalabad.

The president said social media including Facebook and Twitter had gained acceptance in the society and an awareness campaign for the resolution of various social issues such as health, education and drinking water can be run through it.

He urged the media to play its due role in a positive manner to underscore the issues faced by the society and promised a special award for the channel that comes up with best reporting on health, education and other social issues.

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Talking about his recent meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, President Alvi noted that the meeting was very fruitful and entails hopes for bringing peace in the region. He said Pakistan will fully support the peace process in Afghanistan and will actively contribute for its rebuilding.

The APNS delegation apprised the president of their issues and thanked him for his continuous support to the media.  The delegation said it is responsibility of the media to curb the trend of fake news through fact-checking.