Media urged to play role in restoring peace in society
Karachi: Senior journalists from print and electronic media on Tuesday underlined the need for increasing the coverage of peace initiatives and highlighting positive things to motivate society for easing tensions and restoring peace as being the basic human right.
They were speaking at a consultative meeting organised by the National Organisation for Working Communities (NOWC) under its project “Peace My Right” at a hotel.
The participants discussed the current trends of media and said massive violations of journalism ethics had been taking place and leaving a negative effect on society.
Some of the speakers said the media highlights what the market demands and it has rather encouraged violence in society. Others contended that the state agencies were patronising militancy in the country and the media had to report the incidents. “We are sitting at the heaps of ammunition and all the successive governments continued issuing arms licences instead of combating terrorism and other heinous crimes and restoring the writ of the law.
They urged the government to launch a campaign for cleansing society from illegal and legal weapons being used in bloodshed, besides disengaging the state agencies from patronising militant groups. “The media should also strictly follow the ethics of journalism, realise its responsibilities towards society and avoid the kind of reporting that creates hatred and hostilities among different sections of society,” they said, adding: “The media should promote positive things and motivate the citizens to develop tolerance, interfaith harmony and respect for the culture and languages of others.”
The participants of consultative meeting asserted that there must be unity among media on common points and should avoid inter-community conflicts.
Those who spoke, included senior journalists Idrees Bakhtiar, Nazir Leghari, Mazhar Abbas, Anis Mansoori, Abdul Razaque Sarohi, Ahmed Khan Malik, Manzoor Shaikh, Hamsafar Gadahi, Akhtar Shaheen Rind, Ms Farhat and Mir Zulfiqar.
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