Speakers for strengthening security of media houses

Participants of a workshop stressed for strengthening security of media houses to ensure safety and protection of media houses and media persons in the country. Government as well as media houses needs to take effective measures for the security of working journalists and their offices located especially in the big cities and generally across the country, they said while speaking at a two days Capacity Building Workshop on Policies, Security Mechanisms and Best Practices for Media organised by Individual and Pakistan (IL).
The two-day event was organised to build the capacity of media houses and to train them to take effective security measures to protect media personnel and journalists from violence. The training focused on establishing necessary security mechanisms within the premises of media houses and also its extended units like DSNGs, for their staff members and reporters.
They said that media is considered the fourth pillar of the state but it has always been a victim of violence especially in Pakistan. Since the year 2000, one hundred and thirteen (113) journalists have been killed in Pakistan, the participants further said. "Media is a very important tool of dissemination of therefore it was the prime responsibility of the government to provide security to the media. But the media houses also need to ensure their security as well as their employees" senior broadcaster and media trainer Tauseeq Haider.
He said that it was the main responsibility of a media organisation to not only ensure the security of their field staff but the premises as well. Sundas Syeda senior research analyst at IL further stated hat absence of security protocols in media organisations has led to a rise in attacks on media houses in recent times. The training was attended by representatives from various media houses, Islamabad press club and Journalist Unions and included different sessions on the need of security policy, code of ethics at the national level, devising standard operating procedures, implementation of standard operating procedures and securing premises and equipment.
The participants were engaged in discussions, group work, role-playing activities during the two-day workshop. They were also asked to develop security mechanisms for their respective organisations during a group activity. Highlighting the importance of such trainings, a participant of the workshop quoted "Development of security protocols during one of the sessions was a highly useful activity. It not only sensitized us participants on the importance of safety but provided us with an opportunity to develop the protocols according to our own needs"-PR