Center in collaboration with Palladium Pakistan and support from UK Aid organized a roundtable discussion for the news reporters of Dunya News and News One. It was held at the Center for Excellence in Journalism at IBA Karachi on April 5, 2018 in order to to introduce the core teams of the two channels to the concept of a Health Bulletin against the backdrop of ‘rights-based health reporting’. This activity was conducted after the MoU signing ceremony between Center and, Dunya News and News One.
The media representatives were oriented on how the initiative of a Health Bulletin will regularise health reporting in Pakistan, since the share of voice of health issues is quite low on mainstream news channels. The sessions included; objectives of the Health Bulletin, public health issues in Pakistan, rights-based approach to reporting, content and, resources and ethics in reporting. The participants also benefitted from the guest lectures of Dr. Haris Ahmed, Head of the Sukh Initiave as well as Kamal Siddique, Director CEJ at IBA.
The journalists brought up their practical concerns and engaged in a lively discussion on how to solve the hurdles of health reporting on the ground. There was also an informative dialogue on challenges and sustainability of this activity and the possible format of the program for being able to report the most relevant health news, best suited for Pakistani audience. The core teams of both the channels appreciated the initiative of this timely intervention and showed enthusiasm for being a part of the Health Bulletin project. The roundtable discussion concluded with a certificate distribution ceremony.