‘Citizen journalism a tool to strengthen democracy’
LAHORE: A training workshop was arranged by Individual land Pakistan in partnership with Freidrich Norman Foundation (FnF) on “Citizen Journalism” and “social media” in Lahore on Tuesday.
Citizen Journalism is a growing phenomenon globally and with time, has surfaced not only as a vital source of non-selective information for citizens but as an important tool to strengthen democracy as well. The aim of the workshop was to create awareness amongst masses about the concept of “Citizen Journalism” and social media, find solutions to improve it and to make the people realize the role of it in strengthening democracy in a society.
People related to media (print and electronic both), environmentalists, students of journalism and human rights activists were among the attendants. The workshop was held in a computer lab of Punjab University.
Farhan Khalid was the speaker while Shaukat Ali Ashraf moderated the workshop. Farhan started the proceedings by giving an overview of evolution of media in last two decades globally and in Pakistan.
The speaker linked the rise of this new branch of media to the catastrophe of 9/11, 2001 globally while in Pakistan, the dreadful earthquake, which jolted Pakistan on October, 8, 2005, was the turning point.
The participants of the workshop were introduced to blogging and micro-blogging with the help of social media websites “wordpress, “thoughts”” and “Twitter”. Their accounts were made on these blogging websites and they were made to write blog comments on various topics as well.
The speaker also presented local and international examples of citizen journalism during the workshop in order to clarify the concept of citizen journalism.
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