KU moot on journalism begins
KARACHI – Maintaining that Urdu press catered to the feelings and aspirations of the people, speakers at a national conference noted that it needed to make headway with respect to content and presentation.
They expressed the view that the Urdu newspapers relied mostly on political or protocol statements, instead of event-reporting, commentary and analysis, which neither improved the overall standard of Urdu journalism, nor it contributed to intellectual growth of the readers.
The conference on “Urdu Press-problems and prospects,” organized by the Department of Mass Communication, University of Karachi, got underway on Monday at the Sheikh Zayed Islamic Research Centre. Comprising seven working sessions, the conference is scheduled to end on May 26.
As per plan, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was to open the conference, that could not happen and as such organizers were seen considerably depressed.
Speaking as chief guest, a noted personality of the local advertising scene, S H Hashmi, said that Urdu press had played significant role in the freedom movement and also made progressive strides after the creation of Pakistan as well, but it was still faced with numerous problems.
He said that Urdu newspapers were benefiting from modern technologies and were published more than the total daily circulation of English and other languages dailies, but those had been failing to attain a circulation rate matching to the population of the country, despite their significance.
However, he pointed out that promotion of Urdu journalism was linked with the promotion of Urdu language in the country. He urged the Urdu and English press to work jointly for making Urdu truly a national and official language of the country.
Suggesting measures for improvement of Urdu newspapers, Mr Hashmi said that they should check the dominance of “statements” and should report about events and developments, particularly those based on investigations and research.
The Urdu papers should also hunt for thought provoking and informative substance and improve the standards of their editorials as those were necessary for building up the public opinion, he remarked.
Sindh chief minister’s advisor on Information and Media Development, Salahuddin Haider, informed the audience that of the 574 dailies in the province, 329 were in Urdu.
He, too, was critical of dominance of statements in Urdu newspapers and deplored the lack of analysis and serious writings and mentioned that they should follow the English newspapers for practising standard journalism.
He also suggested to newspapers to not to publish columns by incompetent persons, as many of them wrote subjective and biased material, just for the sack of public relations.
The advisor also read out some excerpts from the draft speech of Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, who was also the chancellor of the public sector varsities in the province and was scheduled to attend the conference.
Referring to a surge in electronic media, the governor, as quoted by the adviser, said that newspaper still enjoyed their old status and position despite recent popularity of electronic media.
Newspapers grasped the problems and developments in detail and helped shape up the public opinion, besides creating public awareness, while the electronic media presented the gist only and mostly failed to maintain any continuity on different issues.
Urdu newspapers had been playing important role right from the days of freedom movement and also fostered the spirit of unity and preservation of Islamic culture in the subcontinent, the governor said. He expressed hope that the KU’s national conference would go a long way in solving the problems of Urdu press and guiding it towards progress.
In his presidential remarks, Dr. Pirzada Qasim, the KU vice-chancellor, said that Urdu language and press were doing a great service to the cause of national harmony, solidarity among the provinces and strong federation.
However, he remarked that some major targets related to newspapers and other forms of disseminating information were yet to be achieved in the country. In Pakistan, there were 20 copies of newspapers for every 1000 people, while internationally it figured over 100 for a population of one thousand, he added, saying
that efforts should be made to enhance the accessibility to newspapers.
KU Mass Communication department Chairman Dr. Tahir Masood said that Urdu journalism, which was launched about 200 years back, had achieved many milestones, but still was faced with many serious problems.
It was unfortunate that in a population of 140 millions the Urdu newspapers had not a combined circulation of even 10 million copies, he said, adding that on the other hand the newspapers were so costly that the poor or lower-income groups were unable to purchase them.
He regretted that Urdu newspapers and periodicals had failed to provide the readers with thought provoking, analytical and investigative stories. Dr. Miskin Ali Hijazi said that Urdu journalism was the national journalism of the country, which was playing its role significantly despite many problems.
The government did not bother to value the public opinion or pay heed to the problems highlighted by the press, he deplored. Prof Zakaria Sajid said that Urdu journalism had become a global institution now, but at the same time it was to be considered that how it would survive the challenges of globalization.
During the first working session, senior journalist Sajjad Mir discussed the nature of journalism in Lahore and Karachi since the pre-partition days. He said that Lahore school of thought in journalism tried to attach itself to certain mission, while at Karachi it aimed to attain the status of industry.
PTV’s former managing director, Farhad Zaidi, said that emotionalism and intolerance in the Pakistani society in general, was also reflected in urdu journalism.
Athar Hashmi said that internet or cable news networks were no threat to Urdu newspaper as it would stay as long as the Urdu language stayed in the country. However, he stressed the need to raise the standard of Urdu newspapers.
Dr. Muhammad Shamsuddin, Prof Asif Rizvi of the Islamia University Bahawalpur and Dr.Shahjahan from the Peshawar University also spoke on the occasion. Dr. Shahjehan said regional Urdu papers were serving more people in comparison to national dailies.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/25/2004
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