PPF Journalism Training Workshop, Kotri

Date: February 15 – 17, 2004
Location: Kotri

Kotri is an important city of Dadu district, Sindh. Located on the hub of Pakistan Railway main Karachi-Lahore line, it is a central junction for trains going towards the interior of Sindh and Baluchistan. With growth of population, Kotri has almost become a suburb of the bigger Hyderabad City. But Kotri is part of a different district, governed by district administration 200 miles away at Dadu.

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) organized a workshop under its Rural Journalism Skills Development Program in Kotri, District Dadu, on February 15 – 17, 2004.

PPF media trainers’ team consisted of Mr. Fazal Qureshi, Chief Editor, Pakistan Press International (PPI) and Mr. Ghulam Abbas Kassar, PPI correspondent who acted as a local organizer of the program.

There were 29 participants, 20 women and 9 men. Women included lecturers, social workers, and graduate level students. Men were journalists from the city of Kotri.

The workshop started with an opening ceremony. The Principal of a college, Professor Ume Kulsoom Abbassi welcomed the PPF team. She said imparting journalism writing skills was an important way of empowering participants to express their viewpoints through national media.

Mr. Fazal Qureshi explained objectives of the PPF program under which workshops were being organized in smaller cities and towns all over Pakistan. He said that the enthusiastic response of participants was one big indicator of program’s success.

The workshop began with lectures regarding definition of news, news – writing principles, concept of inverted pyramid, principle of five Ws and an H. The session involved an open exchange of questions and answers covering a wide range of subjects relating to journalism
A view of participants attending workshop.
and freedom of press. The participants were assigned a practical exercise on news writing.

Second session was based on article and feature writing. The session began with a practical exercise on selecting a writing subject. Participants were asked to write article and features on topics, which they opted to write on, for newspaper.

The session was followed by a lecture that emphasized need for preparation of professional manuscript, importance of photographs and instructions on marketing articles in media. At the end of the day, participants were assigned a practical exercise of article writing.

The last day of workshop started with a discussion on the output of participants on article writing. In the following session there were lectures on ethics, lawsfor journalists and keeping reference records. In the end women participants were informed about PPF Women Feature Service headed by editor Saima Naz.

Women participants were advised to write for the feature service, and in case of publication of an article, a payment of Rs500 from PPF was assured. The closing session was presided over by Member National Assembly Kotri, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur.

Special invitees to the closing session included, Mr. Dur Mohammad Kamal, Director Information and Mr. Ali Hassan, President Sindh Journalists Organization. In his brief remarks Nawab Ghani Talpur warmly praised PPF for organizing the workshop. He highlighted importance of such training for women and local journalists. He hoped women participants would also think of adopting journalism as profession. He expressed that more workshops would be organized in rural and semi rural areas of Sindh. In the end certificates were distributed among participants.

List of Participants
Name
Designation
Organization
Professor Ume Kulsoom
Principal
Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Afsheen Khalique Saddar
Lecturer Botany
Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Raheela Anwer Ali Baloch Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Bushra Shaikh Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Ummarah Gul Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Sindhu Rasool Bhurgri Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Irum Gul Baloch Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Muhammad Nawaz Channa
Professor
Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Jabeen Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Razia Sultana Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Shabana Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Imam Zahid Memon Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Mehwish Iqbal Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Yasmeen Shiber Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Sanam M. Akbar Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Rabia Mohammad Shafique Khan Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Gul Naz Jan Shahzada Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Mehtab Rasheed Ahmed Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Naheed Akhter Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Asma Fateh uddin Memon Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Mehwish Akram Khan Korejo Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Fozia Akram Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Naila Rasool Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Shagufta Bhatti Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Najma Bibi Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Noreen Akhtar Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Ghazala Jawed Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Shumaila Asif Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Ambreen Anjum Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Tahira Syed Government Girls Degree College – Kotri
Ali Meerani
Correspondent
Daily Halchal
Hussain Azad Shero
Editor
Weekly Saakh
Zulfiqar Ali
Correspondent
Khabrain
Usman Ajmeri
Correspondent
Nawa-i-Waqt
M. Nadeem Khan
Correspondent
Pakistan Press International
Professor Nawaz Channa
Teacher
Boys College

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