KARACHI: The Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi (CEJ-IBA), in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), recognized the winners of the “Humanitarian Reporting Award 2021,” at a ceremony hosted at the IBA City Campus, on December 2, 2021.

The Awards, which were conducted for the fifth year, were organized to promote ethical, accurate and responsible reporting on humanitarian issues including violence against healthcare workers, disaster reporting, issues related to people with disabilities, disaster response/ preparedness and climate change.

The award recognized work in four categories: Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu & regional languages); Mainstream Print (Urdu & regional languages); Mainstream Print (English); and Online (English, Urdu & regional languages).

News stories published between September 29th, 2020 and September 6th, 2021 were considered, and almost 300 submissions were received from across the country.

The winners and runners-up were selected by a panel of senior journalists. Jury members included Zeeshan Haider, Editor, BBC Urdu; Arshad Aziz Malik, Resident Editor, Daily Jang Peshawar; Lubna Jerar Naqvi, prominent journalist and IFJ Gender Coordinator for Pakistan; and Imtiaz Ali, Staff Reporter, Dawn.

Dr. Seemin Jamali, former Executive Director JPMC, was given a special award at the ceremony in recognition for her outstanding work for the humanitarian community.

Commenting on the state of healthcare in the country, Chief Guest, an obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr. Shershah Syed said, “Neither the federal not the provincial governments are interested in basic healthcare for the poor.” He lamented that the media was not covering real issues such as education and healthcare for young girls.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021