Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi (CEJ-IBA) and Nestlé Pakistan conducted a collaborative two-day online workshop on Basics of Health Reporting: Nutrition as a Source of News. The training was attended by 18 journalists from Faisalabad, Bajaur, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
Senior Health Reporter, Zofeen Ibrahim, spoke about challenges reporters face while reporting on health in the country. She shared tips on how reporters can report effectively and said, “Getting in contact with researchers is easy on social media but one should always check the credibility before using them for their story.”
Giving an overview of malnutrition in Pakistan, Public Health Specialist, Dr. Fauzia Waqar said that malnutrition was a serious problem in the country. She remarked, “Almost 66% of the women have Vitamin-D deficiency, 52% have calcium deficiency and almost 44% children under five have iron deficiency.”
Moreover, the session on the economic cost and impact of malnutrition and the role played by the food industry was delivered by Head of Research at Business Recorder, Ali Khizar.
IT and Telecom Manager and Certified Instructor of Mobile Journalism (MoJo), Muhammad Rahamdil Khan, held an introductory session on mobile journalism in which he shared tools and tips on how reporters can use their phones for effective reporting purposes. “MoJo helps make news-gathering easier, and is time and cost effective,” he said, pointing out that individuals can have their own MoJo kits.
Director CEJ-IBA, Kamal Siddiqi, concluded the workshop with a talk on Ethics in Reporting, in which he said that journalists should be mindful of ethics and safety while reporting and/or editing.
This is the first online health reporting workshop CEJ-IBA has held in collaboration with Nestlé Pakistan.
