Individualland (IL) Pakistan organized a training workshop on "Reporting on Safe Charity Practices" at Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ), IBA City Campus on Tuesday. Speakers said safe charity, knowing where your donations are actually going remains a vital issue in country like Pakistan, one blighted by the plague of extremism. They said IL is working on a media focused Karachi based imitative "Promotion of Safe Charity Practices through Media" to sensitize media personnel on prevalent charity practices of violent extremist groups.
In her presentation, moderator Syeda Sundas of Individualland Pakistan said that religion, ethnics and linguistic conflicts are the key factors of violent extremism in Pakistan. She further said intra and inter provincial, economic and socio-political conflicts are contributing factors in violence in the country.
While reporting on Safe Charity, Sundas said that a reporter must avoid manipulations and produce a balanced story. "Trust and honesty with the use of multiple resources is important to report on safe charity", she added. She also suggested avoiding fabrication and plagiarism while ensuring determination and patience. "Reporter should also know the difference between news story and a opinionated article", she underlined. Sundas also recommended avoiding fake news. Sharing the Do's of safe charity reporting she said complete research, reliable sourcing, facts & figures, self censorship and focus on public interest should be the integral part of story. "A reporter should interview to take opinion of influential people on the news story", she added. She said a reporter must not show his identity besides self opinion also be avoided. She also suggested avoiding glorifying banned organizations unintentionally.