ISLAMABAD, May 9 (APP):Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Thursday said that responsible media could play an important role in projecting true and positive image of country in the world and in realization of a developed and prosperous Pakistan.
She was addressing a certificate distribution ceremony of First Professional Management Course of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Department and welcome ceremony of Probationary Officers of 36th Specialized Training Programme here.
The SAPM said that the biggest challenge, being faced by Pakistan, today was to counter negative image projection of in the world and media should play a pro-active role in countering this issue.
She said that senior journalists were like academies and they should come forward to project the positive image of country.
She said that there was a need to overcome the communication gap between the government institutions and the media outlets, so that the vacuum which results in disinformation, should be removed and policies and priorities of the state and government could be projected properly.
The SAPM said that that media has become a technology-based industry and its strengthening and capacity building was need of the hour.
Dr Firdous said “media landscape was changing rapidly and now digital media had become an important tool for dissemination of information.”
She said that the media had right to criticize the government, but at the same time it should give positive feedback for improvement of governance and provision of relief to the common man.
She said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was mouth-piece of the all government ministries and departments and its job was to overcome the challenges on national, regional and international level.
She said that time has come to make Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority an independent institution, free from government interference in order to banish the impression of arm-twisting.
Emphasizing capacity building of media persons, the Special Assistant said disinformation caused by communication gaps created chaos and disorder in the society. She said modern technology should be utilized to upgrade media to the international standard.
Firdous Ashiq Awan urged the participants of the course to engage with the media persons for accurate dissemination of information since lack of accurate information led to spread of disinformation.
Later talking to participants of protesting APP employees she said that all their genuine demands would be considered sympathetically.
Addressing the participants of the training, Secretary Information and Broadcasting Shafqat Jalil expressed the hope that this training would prove helpful for them in their future life.
Welcoming the participants of new badge of Specialized Training Programme, he said that they would learn the dynamics of the information department during this training.
He said that in this age of technology, the information officers face new challenges, so they need to learn latest techniques and methodologies to face this challenge.
