President urges media, society to play role in nation’s moral building

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday urged the media and the society to play their due role for nation’s moral building along with economic development of the country.

“All the indicators are in place to herald that Pakistan will achieve moral stability. The way we hosted millions of Afghan refugees and handled the terrorism, manifests that Pakistan’s moral fiber is very strong,” he remarked while addressing an award distribution ceremony held to recognize the contribution of the television channels in creating awareness through public service messages.

The ceremony was also attended by First Lady Samina Arif Alvi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Chairman PEMRA Mirza Salim Baig, renowned news anchors, representatives of journalists unions and senior journalists.

The president conferred first award to ARY Media Group for allocating 7,560 minutes during the first quarter (January to March 2019) for public service messaging, second award to Dawn Media Group for spending 7,440 minutes and third award to GNN News for allocating 6,660 minutes for the cause.

President Alvi told the gathering that the media owed responsibility to reform the nation by dedicating more time for public service messaging on health, human rights, water conservation and other social issues.

He said even in their programs focused at arts, writings and dramas, the media should inculcate the aspects of nation building.

He said it was not mere the duty of the government or Prime Minister Imran Khan rather it was everyone’s responsibility to reform the nation using every medium.

He said the television channels were equipped with the biggest tool for national reformation which they should utilize to create awareness on stunted growth, malnutrition, breastfeeding, cleanliness, women rights in inheritance and water conservation.

President Alvi said the nation building was not possible unless media took up the social issues. He said the frequent airing of certain public service messages would deliver a clear message to the masses in changing their habits and improving their life style.

Referring to the transitions of media from print to electronic and now social media, the president said unfortunately the negative news got far more mileage than the positive one, particularly in the era of social media.

He said the religion and training created the social fiber of the nation. Even the State of Madina was a social revolution, not merely the religious one.