Communication for development: Women have a crucial role in today’s media landscape: experts

Equality at workplace, power of youth, women in media discussed at seminar

ISLAMABAD:

Women in media have immense power and are gaining significance in Pakistan, agreed panellists in a discussion titled “Communications for development: women in the media, photojournalism, and documentary making” at Bahria University on Monday.

The event was hosted by United Nations as a part of their 70th anniversary celebrations, in collaboration with the university.

Among the topics covered were issues of harassment of women at media workplaces and what organisations were doing to prevent it, gender balance and equality at workplace, role of women in media and how media and communication help the development sector.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Pakistani filmmaker and Oscar winner, encouraged girls and students in general to stand up for the truth and speak their mind. “My journey of talking about issues made a lot of people uncomfortable, but they must be talked about because if we do not, we would not be able to find solutions. We need a lot of soul searching and we must collectively, as a nation, do that,” she said.

Speaking about the power of filmmaking, Chinoy said its power is often underestimated. “I once documented struggle of a woman, Humaira, who was educating 1200 children and wanted a state of the art school for them. When we released the documentary, her dream came true as people gathered from all across the globe to fund her idea including Madonna,” she said.

The filmmaker said there are a plethora of opportunities today as compared to a few years back. “In 2015, you do not need anyone but yourself to publish your work. All one needs is a camera and a good concept. Always remember, that no one is going to give you an opportunity; you will either have to fight for it or create it by doing work,” she said.

Talking about the role of universities in cultivating and nurturing the youth, Chinoy said when students reach the university level, they get a chance to exchange ideas and speak to professors who help in broadening their horizons. “University can play a vital role in cultivating freedom of thought, expression and independent critical thinking and getting the youth to ask relevant questions and exchange ideas with others,” she said.

Other panellists included documentary and feature film producer Julian Phelan, freelance filmmaker and photographer Nazia Akram, AFP video coordinator Diane Desobeau, senior journalist Muhammad Ziauddin, Javed Khan Jadoon and Fasi Zaka.

“The problem with Pakistani media has been that until a very long time, it was controlled by government. Moreover, business community has a major influence on it as most media groups are owned by businessmen,” said Ziauddin.

While discussing the threats and dangers a journalist is exposed to in the country, Zaka said there may be certain kinds of dangers to a journalist, especially in specific areas like FATA or Balochistan. “But where there is danger and hindrance, there is also a lot of opportunity,” he added. He further said that media houses should involve expert advice from universities and students, especially those with technical knowledge, while covering stories that require specialised knowledge.

Vittorio Camaruto from UN said youth is not just the future, but also the present and its power cannot be ignored.

The chief guest, Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan congratulated the UN and its stakeholders on the 70th anniversary and commended its efforts in the country. “Pakistan has been a victim of man-made and natural disasters, some of which are known to be the worst in the country. UN was not only the first to respond but was also the source of accurate information for journalists to report and do the analysis,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2015.