Reporter:
Between Feb 28 and March 2, 2007, an election reporting workshop was held in Islamabad. The workshop was organized by Internews. Participants came from print, radio and television and from all over the country. Internews Pakistan’s Media Law and Policy Advisor Matiullah Jan said this about the aims of the workshop.

Internews Pakistan’s Media Law and Policy Advisor Matiullah Jan:
The objective of the workshop was to strengthen the democratic process. To do this, journalists needs to know how issues around elections can be raised in an effective manner. This so that people can make informed choices and participate actively in the election process.

I think journalists and the media have a responsibility to inform and educate people about their right to vote and how they can use the power of the ballot to change governments and ultimately their own destiny.

This is the reason Internews organized this workshop for journalists. We wanted to provide journalists the skills to cover the election process effectively. And through investigative reporting bring out the facts that are usually hidden from the people due to which they cannot make right decisions.

We have selected participants from all four provinces and fifty percent of them are women. Women, you see, constitute more than half of our population. However, they are still unable to exercise the right to vote.
There are over 70 FM stations on air in Pakistan currently. This is significant. In the next elections, these FM stations would have a huge role in informing people and educating voters.

Reporter:
Thank you Matiullah Jan. I also talked to Deputy Secretary of Election Commission Iftikhar Hussain Shah, present here.

Deputy Secretary of Election Commission Iftikhar Hussain Shah:
The feedback on the election workshop has been wonderful. We regret that we missed some of the sessions. The first day, the Secretary of the Election Commission Kanwar Dilshad was here and he was all praise for the workshop. Now I am here for this session and from the feedback I have from the participants it looks like an extremely useful exercise.
The Election Commission itself is planning to train media and to increase interaction with media. This we will start two to three months before the elections. During the time we will invite feedback from the media, representatives of political parties and the political leaders. We will also inform them election procedures and especially electoral laws about which we have a lot to tell the media.

Reporter
Thank you Iftikhar Hussain Shah. Journalists from Electronic and Print media had this feedback about the three-day election reporting workshop:

Participant 1: I am Mumtaz Alvi from the News, Islmabad. The workshop has exposed me to new dimensions of election reporting. Election reporting is a never-ending process – as soon as one election is over, we are already preparing for the next. I will improve my reporting in the light of skills and techniques I learnt here. These skills will help me report this whole process objectively and play the role or a responsible journalist to strengthen democracy and political process in the country.

What struck me most is that we need to report on the inner structure of the political parties themselves as well. Even the parties that have a democratic outlook may not necessarily follow the same practice internally – they may nominate people instead of electing them, the workers may not have much say in the running of the party, and the parties may not follow conventions. This has a negative effect, ultimately, on the progress of the nation itself.

Participant 2: My name is Shamsul Mulk Mandokhail and I work as a reporter for Urdu newspaper Intakhab in Balochistan Province. There were a lot of things I did not know; now I do thanks to the Internews training. Our president has said we’ll have elections this year – so I’ll report this year on elections objectively and impartially.

Participant 3: I am Ali Razza from the Daily Ibrat in Hydrabad (Sindh Province). I have not learned anything new from the workshop, but the group discussions and coming together with fellow journalists have opened my mind to news ideas for stories that need to be covered during elections.

Participant 4: Gonila Gil. I am from the Daily Khabrain in Lahore (Punjab Province). I have been with my newspaper for the last 5 years, but have not covered elections yet. There were things I knew about already, but I also learned a lot of new things and especially from the Election Process Session with the Secretary of the Election Commission. I also learned a lot from group discussions.

Participant 5: I am Bukhar Shah and I work with the Daily News in Peshawar (Northwest Frontier Province). The workshop had sessions with a different resource person in each session. The participants had to brainstorm for story ideas after each session and present them before the workshop. I learnt a lot from this. All of us learned about something new or new ways of reporting old ideas. Many of us have reported elections before but never with the kind of information and insights we got from this workshop. This will improve our reporting.

Participant 6: My name is Nabeela Aslam. I am the Executive Producer of Internews-supported radio production house (in Islamabad), Meri Awaz Suno. I have gained a better understanding of election issues from this training. When you cover elections, you, as a reporter need to know about the rules and laws related to elections and your responsibilities as a reporter. Only when you are better prepared and informed, can you highlight the issues surrounding elections. It is only an objective and impartial reporter who can hold stakeholders accountable and educate people about rights.

Participant 7: My name is Sadaf Naqvi and I am from Pakistan Television, Quetta (Balochistan Province). Workshops like this help newcomers who are new to the world of journalism. These workshops encourage journalists to go out and report from the field, rather than the desk, they motivates us, and provide us with new ideas for stories around elections. Also, the resource persons were very good.

Participant 8: I am Zaibun Nissah Gharsheen from the Daily Jung in Quetta (Balochistan Province). The workshop was extremely informative. Earlier our reporting was not very focused and informed; we used to do general stories. Now we have learned new things like the voter’s rights and responsibilities, media’s roles, the role of Election Commission and the government’s conduct. The new and important skills I learned was how to do election reporting effectively, especially how to create awareness about the electoral process among people.

Reporter:
You were listening to the point of views of participants from the election workshop. With this, its time for me, your reporter Tarique Siyal to say goodbye.
Khuda Hafis!

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