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PPF / Friedrich Ebert Stiftung ( FES )Journalism Training Workshop, Sehwan Sharif, Sindh

Date: June 14-16, 2005
Location: Sehwan

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in collaboration with Freidrich Ebert Stiftung ( FES ) organised a Journalism Training Workshop at Sehwan Sharif, Sindh for local journalists and women from 14-16 June 2005.

Sehwan, located at a distance of 150 kilometers north of Hyderabad is the most important spiritual center of Sindh, kinown all over the sub continent for being home to the mausoleum of Shahbaz Qalandar. This tomb and a large number of other mausoleums of saints attracts a stream of pilgrims from all over Pakistan throughout the year.

The workshop held at the local Press Club was attended by 26 participants, consistring of 19 press correspondents representing national, regional and local newspapers and magazines and seven educated women social workers, teachers.

The PPF instructors team consisted of Mr. Fazal Qureshi, vice chairman PPF, and Mr. Abbas Kasser, senior journalist from Hyderabad. PPI correspondent in Sehwan Hussain Bux Dahri acted as organizer of workshop.

In his welcome address President of the Press Club Mr.Zulfikar Ali Solangi thanked PPF for organizing the workshop at Sehwan. He also recalled that PPF had held a similar journalism training workshops for local journalists in the past, which had been very useful.

Mr. Fazal Qureshi in his opening remarks informed the participants about the concept behind the workshop. He also explained the role of PPF in the defence of freedom of press in Pakistan in collaboration with national and international media organizations.

This was followed by introduction by men and women participants and then the working session began. The first segment began with explanation of the principles of news writing, the concept of Inverted Pyramid in news writing , the principles of 5 W’s and one H. Every segment was followed by open discussion through questions and answers covering a wide range of subjects relating to news writing.

Lectures followed practical exercises. In the practical exercise on news writing, the participants were given material and asked to rewrite it in accordance with the principles of news writing with a proper lead. Quite a few of the participants did a good job of writing a news item.

The next segment was a discussion on principles of news ethics and new values. The participants took part in discussions and all aspects of journalism ethics including complaints about blackmailing and irresponsible news reporting were discussed threadbare.

Then the segment on article and feature writing followed. The lecture covered article writing from beginning to end, stage by stage, from how to se
lect a subject, how to write a theme sentence to determine the parameters of the subject, how to collect and sort out the material and how to write the article. The lecture emphasized the need for professional preparation of a neat and clean manuscript, the importance of photographs and finally on how to market articles and features in the media.

As a practical exercise the participants were asked to select a subject, write an article on some issue of their area which could be used for release to the newspapers. One subject was selected and participants made to brainstorm to determine the contents of the article covering all aspects. The task of writing the article was given as homework. Their output was then discussed in open session the next day and evaluated.

The final segment of the programme was about importance of maintaining reference records on subjects of interest to the writers.Then an open discussion followed in which the participants also gave their feedback about the workshop.

Ms.Sana Haider a local social worker, said she had acquired new skills about writing for the newspapers which she is going to practice in the coming days. She found the duration of the workshop rather short. It should at least extend over a week, she said.

Ms.Nadia Mangrio, a social workers she had gained useful knowledge about writing press releases, and articles which will improve her output for the media. She said I have always been interested in writing and the workshop has provided me a highly useful opportunity to acquire skills for writing for newspapers. Such workshops should be held in other districts and towns also.

Mr.Nazar Ali Panhwar correspondent Daily Express said he had acquired new knowledge about principles of journalism and news writing. He said such workshops are a useful means of raising standards of journalism and should be held on regular basis.

Ms.Naheed Kazi a social worker of Indus Resource Centre said that she had learnt new skills and ability to write for newspapers .This skill was important for all but more specially for women and should be included in the educational curriculum at the graduation level.

The closing session was presided over by Nazim UC No. 1, Sehwan Town Khadim Hussain Solangi. He distributed the certificates to the participants. In his speech Mr. Solangi praised PPF for having organized the journalism training workshop. He specially welcomed the inclusion of women in the workshop. He urged the newly trained journalists and women to devote their attention to the ethics of journalism and show honesty and responsibility in reporting news.

List of Participants
Name
Designation
Organization
Mr Hussain Bux Dhari
Correspondent
PPI
Mr Shums-ul-Haque Memon
Correspondent
Daliy Ummat
Miss Sana Baloach
Volunteer
Green Rural Development Org
Miss Nadia Mangrio
Social Worker & Enumerator
NDS
Mr Shahzad Ali Ahmed
Central Organiser
Sindh Development Society Org
Miss Huma Akhtar
Volunteer
Mehran Women Org
Mr Ghulam Qadri
Secratory
Green Development Org
Mr Yaseen Rind
Reporter
Daily Shaam
Mr Shumsuddin Panhwar
Correspondent
Daily Mehran
Mr Gul Sehwani
Correspondent
Daily Tameer-e-sindh
Mr Ghullam Hussain Chandio
Education Promotors
Indus Resource Center