Media fellowship: Journalists awarded for aptly covering social issues

The fellowship instills values of social justice in participants.

A journalism fellowship recognised members of the print and electronic media who highlighted stories related to social justice issues in the country.

The year-long Media Fellowship on Social Justice (2012-2013) is a project of Rozan, an NGO involved in various social activities, in partnership with Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.

Besides enhancing the knowledge of participants on issues of social justice, the fellowship also recognised the best reports of the participating journalists.

Journalists who received the awards are Shahzaman Khan from Geo News, Peshawar in the broadcast media category, Syed Sajid Bukhari of Nawai Waqt in Multan in the Urdu print media, Mohammad Hussain Khan of Dawn in Hyderabad for English print media and the award in the regional media category went to Sadia Kamal of Rohi TV, a channel covering South Punjab and the Seraiki belt.

A jury comprising senior journalists evaluated stories filed by the participating journalists.

The objective of the fellowship was to sensitise journalists on issues of social justice, with a special focus on rights of vulnerable groups.

More than one hundred and fifty applications were received by the organisers and thirty participants were selected in December 2012 for the fellowship.

The selected fellows comprised op-ed editors, sub-editors, feature writers, radio and television anchors and reporters from various organisations.

Senior journalists and civil society representatives were involved in developing the curriculum of the fellowship.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.