Poll reporting: Media urged to provide level playing field to all political parties

Journalists asked to avoid publishing, broadcasting offensive, malicious content.

ISLAMABAD:

For a fair, unbiased and ethical coverage of elections, media should ensure fairness in allocation of time and space while covering political parties during polls.

This was the stance of journalists and other stakeholders at a workshop on “Promoting Ethical Journalism in Reporting Elections-2013”, held at the National Press Club (NPC) on Friday.

Journalist Talat Hussain said that currently the social media seems to be the only medium for the candidates. “It is the responsibility of a reporter to sift relevant data from the bulk before coming up with a story worth reading,” he said.

He added that as far as the responsibility of a journalist was concerned, they should first look at the bulk of news followed by exceptions.

“The coming elections are a test of your capabilities as how you handle news in a rush when you have the liberty to cover and kill it,” he said.



NPC President Faisal Farooq Khan said that if a journalist was approached by any party or pressurised for a favour, they should approach the committee assigned by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to lodge the complain.

Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) Chief Executive Naseer Memon said that journalists were on the driving seat as they were holding one of the responsible and sensitive professions.

Press Council of Pakistan President Raja Shafqat Abbasi said that journalists should report on equitable grounds and avoid being biased. “Media has played a remarkable role in securing democracy, strengthening it and highlighting civil rights issues,” he said.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Pervaiz Shoukat said that he had taken up with the ECP the possible curbs on the media during the polls. “I told them that any step to silence media will not be accepted because it is against the freedom of press,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2013.