Nauman Dost - Apr 1, 2008

KABUL (PAN): A workshop on investigative journalism, featuring reporters and editors from 10 independent media outlets, got under way at the head office of Pajhwok Afghan News here on Tuesday.

As many as 22 news-people from different media organisations in the capital Kabul and provinces are participating in the six-month workshop, organised by international media-support group Internews in collaboration with Pajhwok.

Internews Country Director for Afghanistan Vanessa Johanson argued the country could not make much headway in the field of investigative journalism owing to a shortage of the required qualified professionals. She cited widespread insecurity as a big hurdle in the way of investigative reporting.

Senior Australian journalist Virgina M. Moncrieff, working in the area of investigative reporting for two decades, is training workshop participants. That branch of journalism indubitably played an effective role in combating administrative corruption, she remarked.

Having mentored investigative journalists in 11 countries of the world, Moncrieff told this scribe that digging out hidden information would be particularly useful in a nascent democracy like Afghanistan.

The reporters she groomed in Cambodia, the Southeast Asian country haunted by rampant sleaze and fraud, came out with a number of insightful reports that forced the minister of justice into amending certain laws, the trainer recalled.

Asked if such a kind of reporting could be helpful in terms of fighting corruption in Afghanistan, Moncrieff replied: It depends on your journalists. If they diligently work with a sense of commitment, they can produce good results.

Speaking on day one of the workshop, PAN Director Danish Karokhel characterised the training programme as a good joint learning initiative for Afghan media outlets.

Combined training for reporters and editors will enormously benefit the country, hoped Karokhel, who ticked off certain news organisations that paid scant attention to core journalistic ethics and did not set store by professionalism.

Munir Mehraban, in charge of the project, explained the first month of the workshop had been devoted to theoretical studies in investigative reporting and the remaining five months to practical work. During the period, he said, every trainee would have to file a minimum of three investigative reports.

Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah