Karachi: The Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA), Karachi, and Nestlé Pakistan conducted a collaborative one-day workshop on ‘Basics of Health Reporting: Nutrition as a Source of News’ on Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Islamabad. The training was attended by more than 20 journalists belonging to Mardan, Gilgit, Islamabad and Peshawar.
The workshop was led by Kamal Siddiqi director CEJ, who conducted a session on ethics in reporting. He spoke to the journalists about media ethics and how to analyze health and nutrition related news stories from local media. Journalists should be mindful of ethics and safety while reporting or editing, he advised. “Health reporting is very important part of journalism and we have to be mindful about reporting correctly,” he added.
Participants also examined the existing health and nutrition news and gaps in reporting. A session on Pakistan’s health sector and policies was led by Dr Fauzia Waqar, a public health specialist. She spoke on major challenges to address malnutrition. “Your diet is what you eat, and nutrition is what you get from it,” she said.
Ali Khizar Head of Research at Business Recorder, conducted a session on the economic cost of malnutrition and the role played by the food industry. “Malnutrition inhibits the mental growth of infants and children,” he said. “In Pakistan, this damage is very visible as the labor productivity has decreased in comparison to India and Pakistan,” he added.
Later, Mukhtar Alam senior health reporter conducted a session on health reporting in Pakistan. He focused on what challenges reporters face while reporting on health in the country. He also shared tips on how effectively reporters can report on the health beat.
Muhammad Rahamdil Khan introduced the concept of mobile journalism to reporters and shared tools and tips on how effectively they can use their phones for health reporting purposes. “Every reputed and known news channel and organization in the world today is adopting mobile journalism technology to make news-gathering easier, time and cost effective,” he said, adding that MoJo kits have made work easier as reporters don’t have to run between the field and the office and they can work on their mobile phones.
Waqar Ahmad Nestlé Pakistan’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said, Nestlé Pakistan takes great pride in collaborating with CEJ-IBA for the second consecutive year in capacity building for journalists in the field of nutrition. In line with UN’s Sustainable Development Goal # 3, Good health and well-being, formulating this partnership we would definitely achieve our goals of adding value in prioritizing reporting on malnutrition in Pakistan which is a huge challenge to the health sector.
At the end of the workshop, certificates were distributed among the participants.
