Media-men sensitized on psychological impacts of sensationalism

RAWALPINDI, April 13 (APP): In order to sensitize
media-men on psychological impacts, cast on the viewers
for running sensational news by the television channels,
a workshop was organized here on Thursday.
The workshop was held as sequel to the two-day
Surgeon General International Conference-2017 under
the aegis of Army Medical Corps.
“Psychological Impacts of Media on Society and
Emotional Well-being of Young People,” was the topic
of the workshop that was attended by reporters, covering
Defence beat, representing electronic as well as print
media.
During the deliberations a consensus was found on
the matter that media should abstain from unnecessary
projection of such events which fall in the category
of “sensationalism or terrorism” with special regard
to their live projection and keep repeating their
recordings.
The need was highlighted to organize a national
level moot to deliberate upon the pros and cons of
the matter.
Speaking on the occasion Surgeon General Lt.
General Asif Mumtaz Sukhera appreciated the role of
national media in war against terror.
He said no one can deny the importance and
important role of media, played in building a
healthy society.
Referring to the Army Public School incident,
he said that the resolve of the entire nation came
to the fore whereby outrightly rejecting terrorism
and it was the media which played positive role by
highlighting the sentiments of the masses against
this scourge.
Dr Muhammad Gull, a native Pakistan settled
in the UK, on the accession said that the projection
of content carrying sensationalism by media cast
inverse impacts on human minds with special regard
to the youth and children.
He said he volunteered to get himself engaged in the
study on the subject back in 2014, during which he came across
the fact that if hundreds of people are killed in terror related
issues but thousands of people die of starvation and hunger
every year.
Therefore, he advocated that there was the need of the hour
for diverting focus towards that fact which had been causing more
fatalities than anything else.
The workshop concluded with a comprehensive question and
answer session.