Front Page kicks off ambitious advocacy programme

The advocacy group chooses CEJ as their first stop to meet future journalists

Front Page journalists with students at CEJ

 GEO. Google. Dawn. Instagram. Twitter. These are just some of the organisations and platforms students said they turn to when they want breaking news. However, panelists from The Front Page said they rely on news legacy outlets for latest information.

Is this simply a case of generational difference in media diets or a sign that news organisations are still not aware of news consumption habits of young people? Perhaps, a bit of both.

This was just one of the issues discussed on Tuesday during a guest session held at the Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA). Journalism instructor Shahzeb Ahmed had invited members of The Front Page to his class which comprised students from the CEJ’s master’s programme as well as undergraduate students from the IBA’s social sciences department.

They were enthusiastic, savvy, inquisitive, and eager to share their opinions with the visiting journalists. The Front Page was represented by journalists Mazhar Abbas, Nizamuddin Siddiqui, Muna Khan and academics Prof (Dr) Tauseef Ahmed and Irfan Aziz.

Almost all of the 15 students present said they read the main newspapers, although a majority said they do so on their digital devices. They also shared their thoughts on how and why the traditional media had in effect “failed to connect” properly with the younger audiences. The journalists’ panel explained why in their opinion social media accounts posing as journalists lag behind.

The topics that were discussed included misinformation, censorship over the years, business models, as well as the role of objectivity in journalism. The panelists shared stories from their reporting days to illustrate how unverified information has hurt the credibility of journalism over the years. They also spoke about the media’s changing landscape which has resulted in the removal of professional editors from the scene.

Many of the participants agreed that relentless pressure exerted by the establishment-government combine to make the mainstream media “behave properly” ultimately forces the latter to exercise self-censorship. This ceding of space by the mainstream media allows the social media hordes to rush in, to fill the void. This is bad news for all stakeholders because the social media resorts to sensationalism and ends up covering even sensitive issues in an insensitive manner. The industry’s standards suffer badly as a result.

Meanwhile, following their successful inaugural event, members of The Front Page group are looking forward to holding similar sessions at other universities. They are also planning to hold a panel discussion on the future of print media early next year.