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Participants in a three day PPF workshop for radio journalists held in Karachi from March 08 to 10 emphasized the commonly held view that in Pakistan, as in most developing countries, radio is considered amongst the most effective mediums of information and entertainment. The government of Pakistan has declared the year 2010 as ‘the year of radio’, and prime minister of Pakistan has announced he will deliver his address to the nation every month on radio.
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Training workshop for Radio Journalists on writing for Radio
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March 08-10, 2010 |
Location: |
Karachi |
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Participants in a three day PPF workshop for radio journalists held in Karachi from March 08 to 10 emphasized the commonly held view that in Pakistan, as in most developing countries, radio is considered amongst the most effective mediums of information and entertainment. The government of Pakistan has declared the year 2010 as ‘the year of radio’, and prime minister of Pakistan has announced he will deliver his address to the nation every month on radio.
They pointed out that there are many FM radio stations in the country, but mostly they offer music and entertainment programs. To provide the listeners information, radios should also focus on news and current affairs programs. To enable them to do this, the need is to provide professional training to radio journalists in writing for radio. When radio was introduced in Pakistan it was considered a medium for homes and families, who would enjoy and benefit from listening to it in their homes, but today radio is considered as main source of information and entertainment for youth.
It was, however, felt that though now people take more interest in listening to news and current affair programs on radio, but majority of FM radio stations in Pakistan are still limited mainly to music and entertainment programs. This is partly due to lack of trained manpower but also partly due to the harsh policies of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).
The PEMRA adopts separate policies for news and current affairs programs of radio and television. Its policies for radio are stricter as compared to the news and current affairs policies for television channels.
The participants were of the view that shortage of trained and professional radio staff was a serious problem which limits their creativity. There is need to have proper radio production plan for which it is necessary to ensure proper research and information. The basic idea, subject, topic, language, duration, frequency, and other related matters should be taken care of in radio production plan.
Advertisements also play a major role in radio programming. The rates of radio advertisements are lower as compared to tariff of television advertisements. Radio stations also get less quantum of advertisement than television channels. Moreover, sponsors give advertisements to music and entertainment programs of radio. Therefore, radio stations are giving more emphasis to music and entertainment programs, ignoring news and current affairs. While presenting news and current affairs programs on television, the presenters have the benefit of body language and facial expressions, but on radio the broadcasters have to give such expressions with rhythm and pitch of his voice, which is a difficult task and needs a lot of practice.
Unlike newspapers, there is no set deadline for news and current affairs programs of radio. On radio every minute could be a deadline. Radio has to keep its listeners constantly updated through local news or other alternate information sources. Its programs include education news, local sports events, weather forecast and other topics that interest listeners. Radio has the advantage of being a medium which can be listened while driving, sloughing in field, cooking in kitchen or working on sewing machine. And it is affordable even by the poorest people.
Discussing the professional requirements, the participants were told that the radio producers and broadcasters must know which class of people listens to their programs at a particular time slot.
They should design their programs keeping this factor in mind. Care must be taken in the selection of words. The language should be standard, easy and comprehensive. There must be a flow in the narrative, and softness and politeness in presentation, so that the listeners enjoy the program. The radio broadcasters should give special focus to their pronunciation and avoid using heavy and complicated words.
If all this is taken care of Radio could play an important role in raising awareness among the common people about various social, political, economic and cultural issues facing the country.
There is a need to relax curbs on news and current affairs programs of private radio stations, so as to encourage them giving more focus to these important programs.
Twenty journalists attended the workshop facilitated by senior broadcaster Imran Sherwani and PPI Editor Nasir Aijaz Memon.
Later, certificates were distributed amongst workshop participants.
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| List
of Speakers |
| Name |
Designation
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Organization |
| Ms. Sharmila Farooqi |
Advisor
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to Sindh Chief Minister |
| Ms. Sultana Siddiqui |
President
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Hum TV |
| Ms. Noor Naz Agha |
Advocate
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| Ms. Farhat Parveen |
Social Worker
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| Mr. Imran Sherwani |
Senior Broadcaster
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| Mr. Nasir Aijaz Memon |
Editor
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Pakistan Press International (PPI) |
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