"Role of the media is to be a watchdog in exposing malpractices and corruption. In a civil society, information is power. In fact, media runs through all aspects of society and can play a great role in exposing corruption, and in focusing on economic development, healthcare, disaster management and other spheres," says renowned US Public Affairs and Communication Specialist, Marguerite H. Sullivan.
She was addressing an informal gathering hosted by Moderates - a private sector think tank dedicated to strengthening tolerance, interfaith harmony and democracy. The topic of her discussion was 'Media freedom and Sustainable Democracy'. Talking about the issue of negative media, she said "Improvement in media's role cannot be brought about by journalists alone. It's crucial that civil society joins the media to carry forward a transition. And the emerging digital media is the channel for us all to get our voices across to others".
She said the world's attention these days is on Pakistan and this is a golden opportunity to project its positive image to the world. She insisted on an 'ongoing dialogue' with the international media to share best practices and get the story of Pakistan across to the world in its true perspective.
Commenting on the new developments in the media, she said, "Pakistan has an explosion of newspapers. In US, newspapers are dying as they give way to the new digital media and numerous bureaus in Washington have closed in recent years. Our future is going to end up with a hybrid support for media. The question is what is credible and what is not? There are entities coming up that are investigating stories and offering them to different papers and channels.
In Southeast Asia there's an explosion of print media but I predict that in 10-15 years we'll all be online with better penetration of internet and cell phones." The event, held under the auspices of the US Speakers' Programme, was co-ordinated by Dr Elizabeth Colton, Public Affairs Officer at the US Consulate General in Karachi. Chairman and Members of Moderates, dignitaries and senior media people took part in a lively discussion after Sullivan's presentation.
Expressing her views, Dr Colton said "This opportunity has brought into discussion a whole lot of issues that we were all concerned about. The purpose of US Speakers' Programme is to bring people from many areas of expertise to speak as independent Americans and Marguerite has done just that.'
Welcoming Marguerite Sullivan, Syed Jawaid Iqbal, Chairman Moderates, appreciated the US commitment to the essence of democracy and its efforts in helping developing nations such as Pakistan move towards a sustainable democratic system. Thanking the speaker and participants, he said "Such open exchange of ideas is essential for cultivation of values of tolerance and intercultural harmony and I am delighted to see the enthusiasm of our visionaries and youth as it heralds the onset of winds of change." Jawaid Iqbal also thanked Dr Colton for her co-operation by providing an opportunity to host such an outstanding speaker to which Dr Colton responded with assurance of her support in future.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.