Journalism for peace: ‘Media must reject sectarian violence’

Workshop speakers stress the need for exposing human rights violations.

FAISALABAD:

The media must highlight the implications of sectarian discrimination and violence on account of personal beliefs, language and ethnicity.

This was emphasised by the speakers at a media sensitisation workshop held under the auspices of the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) on Monday.

AWAM Programme Director Naseem Anthony said that media actors had to be well-informed about human rights issues to responsibly play a critical monitoring and reporting function in the observance of human rights as part of its broader watchdog role.

“Media should set benchmarks for best practices through informing, educating and critiquing.”

AWAM Programme Officer Zarfishan Nasir said that duties and rights of journalists were derived from the right of public to be informed.

The media, she said, had a significant role in educating the citizens about human rights, exposing human rights violations and enabling human rights protection and observance.

She said, “Media persons must fulfill their role of gathering information and reporting by being truthful, no matter the consequences.”

Writer Wajahat Masood urged journalists to educate citizens about the implications and effects of sectarian hatred on the account of beliefs, languages and ethnicity.

He stressed the need for emphasis on importance of promotion of religious tolerance, social harmony and protection of religious freedoms for the sake of preservation of human civilisation.

He said that the media should avoid publishing and broadcasting material that promoted ideas that threatened social harmony and those that harmed relations between diverse communities or incited hatred against minority groups, leaving them more insecure and vulnerable.

Masood said that discrimination spread from laws to society, from social customs to politics, and political norms to economy. This, he said, was a vicious cycle where by discrimination continued to create an intolerant society.

“It is crucial to use accurate and neutral terms and phrases, especially when reporting about minority groups,” he added.

The workshop brought together over 25 journalists from print and electronic media.

It focused on professional ethics among media persons and increasing their sensitivity to human rights violations particularly in the context of right to freedom of belief, and enhancing their knowledge and skills to undertake high-quality investigative reports, editorials and features leading to social harmony rather than instigating fundamentalist groups within community.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2013.