Director CEJ, Amber Shamsi, visited KPC

Director CEJ, Amber Shamsi, visited us at the Karachi Press Club today. We had a detailed discussion about journalism in Pakistan, including its current and future challenges. We agreed to work closely together to enhance the capacity of journalists, particularly in light of the media's transition to digital platforms. We also deliberated strategies to promote ethical journalism and discourage unethical practices, as well as addressed the issue of disinformation.President KPC Saeed Sarbazi,Veteran journalist Mazhar Abbas,Vice President Mushtaq Sohail, General Secretary KUJ-D Naimat Khan,Treasurer KPC Ehtisham Saeed Qureshi,Members GB.Kulsoom Jehan & M.Farooq Sami, Women Journalists Mona Siddiqui and Sheema Siddiqui were also present.

Jang/Geo journnalists wreak havoc at Karachi Press Club

An unruly group of Jang/Geo Group journalists violently disrupted Cable Operators Association of Pakistan's (COAP) press conference here on Friday afternoon, Samaa reported.

According to sources, as soon as the president of COAP, Khalid Aaraeen started speaking to media at Karachi Press Club (KPC) , dozens of angry Jang Group journos attacked him with barbs of all kinds.

This is for the first time in the history of KPC that "freedom of expression" was so brutally strangled by none other than those who claim to be its biggest proponents.

The argument, which started with an exchange of allegations took a turn for the worst at the very outset of the press briefing. "The wild brawl that ensued left the KPC press conference room in an utter mess", said a Samaa TV reporter.

Shattered windowpanes, broken furniture, mangled electronic equipment, torn-down curtains, and other destroyed property of KPC spoke volumes about the 'Sturm und Drang' it saw in a short time.

After wreaking the mayhem, which analysts say was premeditated, Jang Group staffers succeeded in sending the cable operators packing.

Later talking to Samaa TV, Khalid Araeen condemned Jang Group mediamen’s shameful sabotage of their press conference.

“We were manhandled, threatened, and cursed, by the Jang Group journalists”, said he.

To a question, he said that COAP was not expecting such hooliganism for the so-called educated journalists representing Pakistan's largest media group.

“It was absolutely shocking. They just pounced on us like hungry wolves. We were accused of depriving Jang/Geo employees of their livelihood”, said he.

When asked whether Geo TV's transmission will be shut down, he said, "It’s nothing personal; however, we believe in the recently issued 'fatwa' (religious edict), according to which watching Geo TV is a sin."

He further added that cable operators would not propagate anything that was against Islam.

New media: ‘If you want to be a journalist, be curious’

The first step to becoming a journalist, according to French journalist Julien Le Bot, is to be curious.

Le Bot, who primarily works in digital media, believes that philosophers and journalists have similar characteristics. He added that when he was younger, he wanted to be a philosopher but ended up working in journalism.

While talking about the do’s and don’ts of journalism, Le Bot quoted a couplet from French poet, Charles Pierre Baudelaire, to explain the importance of ‘strolling’. He added that journalists don’t just have to be curious but need to be professional strollers as well in order to get the job done.

Long form

The French journalist said that just like any other field of work, journalism, also needs to catch up with new practices.

“In France, the most innovative projects are produced outside the newsrooms,” he said while talking to The Express Tribune. “After holding workshops in Karachi, I have come to realise that the people here have a lot of potential to explore the emerging and challenging avenues of journalism.” He added that along with new practices, the method of story-telling also has to change – take up issues and make them more exciting.

The 33-year-old journalist said that long form journalism was important. “If you have a story, you engage web developers and use tools to make it interactive and work on it just like any other project,” he said. “The pressure in a newsroom is such that it reaches the point of redundancy. This demotivates journalists from their goals and thus to keep the job moving forward, new modes need to adopted.”

While talking about his own career, Le Bot said that he started working for France24, when he was just 23-years-old and then started a media boot camp called 4M Mashriq, for new media startups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine.

His trip to Pakistan made him realise that he can take the camp a step further and bring in more training sessions for young journalists who want to explore new avenues of journalism.

“I left routine journalism because I wanted to be free to do what I wanted to work on,” he said. “I did not want to depend on the agenda of newsrooms.” Le Bot added that social media and online newspapers have more readership than broadcast or print. “In France, it’s only the older lot that watches television,” he said. “The young people are only interested in social media, Twitter, for them is like a newspaper.” He added that it was just a matter of time that the same trends would be followed in Pakistan.

Current projects

His company, Yakwala, which is a phonetically arranged word for ‘what happens is now’ provides services to new media startups, civil society organisations and NGOs for making their projects more relevant and digital.

“When you become an online journalist, the entire world is your audience,” he said. “You are free, independent and more vocal in what you want to do and achieve.” He added that for him every journalist must become an online journalist by starting a blog and following up on tools that tell them about their readership and followers.

Tahir Hasan Elects as President of KPC, Moosa Kaleem as Secretary

Tahir Hasan Khan, a senior reporter of The News and a candidate of The Democrats panel, was elected president of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) by polling 493 votes as the panel made a clean sweep of the annual elections of the press club on Saturday.

All candidates of the two rival panels — The Panel and The Panel (Green) — were defeated. As many as 996 out of the total 1175 members cast their votes.

According to the results, the first runner-up for the post of president was Khalid Farshori, who bagged 275 votes, and the second runner-up, Khurshid Abbasi, received 203 votes.

The post of vice president went to Fazil Jamili, who polled 561 votes, followed by GM Jamali with 292 and Zaheer Ahmed with 107 votes.

Mohammad Anwer Khan became treasurer by receiving 537 votes. The first runner-up was Ihtishamul Haq Mufti with 279

Moosa Kaleem

votes, while Jamshed Gul was the second runner-up with 151votes.

Moosa Kaleem was elected general secretary of the KPC. He polled 521 votes, followed by Faheem Ahmed with 347 votes and Shahid Ghazali with 117 votes.

The slot of joint secretary was won by M Arif Khan, who secured 479 votes. Iqtidar Anwer got 249 votes and Bilquees Jehan polled 211 votes.

The following seven candidates were elected to the Governing Body: Shams Keerio, 560 votes; Arif Jiaja, 557 votes; Shakeel Salawat, 508 votes; Noman Rafiq Khan, 507 votes; Ghazala Fasih, 487 votes; Hamid Nazir, 419 votes; and Syed Shahzad Ali Shah Jillani, 439 votes. (The News)

KPC’s heritage building set to have its facade eclipsed

By Shahid Husain

The more than 115-year-old heritage building of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) is set to have its beautiful façade eclipsed because its office-bearers are erecting a huge steel structure right in front of it.

The enthusiastic leadership of the club had previously built a structure despite being advised by architects against doing so apparently to accommodate a growing number of members.

Construction is not allowed in a heritage building unless it is approved by the Heritage Committee.

To build the huge steel structure that will hide the KPC’s beautiful façade, a majestic Neem tree has also been cut. “It’s target killing,” a very senior member of the club commented. Other trees are also being chopped.

Previously too a beautiful Christmas tree was chopped and replaced by an ugly one for unknown reason.

Veteran journalist Hamdan Amjad Ali, now dead, would tell junior members very fondly that the sapling of the Christmas tree was brought by a journalist from the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and planted in the club. The tree grows very slowly, about an inch in a year, but had become tall and beautiful. Yet another tree was cut and replaced by “rockery”.

The KPC has not only a heritage value but it has also been the hub of political activity. The political clout associated with the club be gauged from the fact that Pakistan Peoples Party’s founding chairman and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto initiated his campaign against military dictator General Ayub Khan from the KPC and General Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, the information minister of yet another military dictator, General Ziaul Haq, dubbed the club as “enemy territory”.

Established in 1958 by a group of enthusiastic journalists in a Victorian-style bungalow on what was then Ingle Road and now Sarwar Shaheed Road, the Karachi Press Club has played a vital role in the democratic struggle in general and the struggle for press freedom in particular.

“The Karachi Press Club was inaugurated by late General Azam Khan, rehabilitation minister in the Ayub cabinet and a former governor of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). We are the product of martial law but we are deadly against martial law,” says Habib Khan Ghouri, a senior journalist and a former president of the club.

The KPC became the hub of intense political activity after 1977 during the era of General Ziaul Haq when a movement was launched for the restoration of daily Musawaat and daily Hurriyat that were banned by the military government and hundreds of journalists were arrested across the country. Sadly enough, some journalists were even flogged after a summary trial in a military court.

Known across the country for its defiance, the KPC has always opened its arms for the downtrodden. No wonder that May Day has been celebrated in the club with gusto and trade union workers, students, teachers, lawyers, fisherfolk and peasants always find solace in the club whenever they face any problem.

The KPC is housed in a double-storey building and is a majestic heritage monument. The ground floor comprises the main hall where press conferences and functions with large audiences are held. The upper floor houses a well-stocked library, a committee room, a TV lounge.

Responding to a question by The News, KPC secretary AH Khanzada said that the steel structure was on “nuts and bolts and removable” and would not hide the façade of the KPC.

He further said that the Steel Mill chairman promised to help in erecting the steel structure when he visited the KPC.(The News)