Before journalists can bring women’s issues and triumphs to the media forefront, they need to be equipped with necessary tools for global outreach, which are readily provided through social media.
This was the crux of the first day of a two-day workshop for women journalists and mass communication students that began here on Monday.
The social media section of the workshop was led by Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) Deputy Country Director Hammad Siddiqui.
During a session, it was revealed that participants did not commonly use social media as a journalistic tool, as only five out of the 18 participants said they exclusively used the medium to promote their articles.
Even though all participants used their Facebook accounts to gain story ideas and post articles, more far reaching media tools such as Twitter, Google Alerts, Google Plus and Linkedin were unknown to most of the participants.
“Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of help available to young people on how to take their career forward,” said Siddiqui.
Nazia Fida Hussain, a journalist, said, “I recently shifted my career from fashion to journalism and it has been daunting.”
Though she appreciated the workshop for helping her learn about media tools, Hussain noted she will need continuous guidance if she is to properly understand the digital media world.
The second day of the workshop that has been organised by Uks Research Centre and CIPE, will continue tomorrow.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2012.
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