New partnership promotes responsible reporting in Pakistan
International Alert is collaborating with Journalists for Democracy and Human Rights (JDHR) to promote more plural, objective and ethical media reporting in Pakistan.
The partnership, which was marked by representatives from Alert and JDHR jointly signing a Memorandum of Understanding in May, aims to engage the media in Pakistan with citizens to promote and protect human rights, democracy and social cohesion in the country.
Alert and JDHR will now work together with local communities, the media, civil society and government representatives across Pakistan. A number of products will be developed for media professionals and agencies, including training sessions on ‘Peace Sensitive Media Practices’ to raise awareness and improve skills on responsible reporting. Objectively written reports covering human rights issues will also be produced and published across print, online and social media.
Both organisations will also collaborate to find ways to develop programmes and raise funds that strengthen our work across media, democracy and human rights.
The partnership builds on Alert’s extensive experience of working with the media to support inclusive and ethical reporting, which began in 1993 with an initiative promoting access to information with the Press Union of Liberia.
More recently, we trained journalists on peace-sensitive reporting in Nepal as part of our SAFE media Nepal project, whilst our ‘Unheard Voices’ project has enabled journalists to share the underreported everyday stories of marginalised people affected by the Nagorny-Karabakh conflict.
Drawing on this experience and our knowledge of Pakistan, where we have been working to build social cohesion for the past four years, we will aim to encourage more open debates in the media that are informed by a wide range of opinions from across the country.