Promoting goodwill: Greater exchange of mediapersons urged

ISLAMABAD:

A delegation of Indian journalists visiting Pakistan, on Tuesday, agreed that there was a need to expand interaction between journalists of both countries to tone down the prevailing media narrative.

The 13-member delegation from the Kolkata Press Club was headed by KPC President Sudipta Sengupta and General Secretary Anindya Sengupta. “We are overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth of the Pakistanis and coming to National Press Club (NPC) is like coming home,” said Sengupta, who stated that NPC resembled KPC. The general secretary suggested that more visits would help create an amicable environment.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Afzal Butt stated that the there was a need to build people-to-people contacts and spread the goodwill once they returned home to improve relations between their countries.

Anjan Bandyopadhyay of Zee Akash News stated that some media houses on both sides needed to do away with sensationalism. Another Indian journalist commented that people’s minds had always been poisoned by the media, spoiling efforts to promote goodwill through visits.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2014.