ANALYZING THE ROLE OF REPORTING; NEED AND INFLUENCE IN THE SITUATION MEDIA CONTRIBUTION TO GOVERNMENT POLICY USING MEDIA FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES EARLY WARNINGS LOCAL MEDIA COVERING CONFLICTS

1. By Zarmeen Durrani
ANALYZING THE ROLE OF REPORTING; NEED AND INFLUENCE IN THE
SITUATION
• MEDIA CONTRIBUTION TO GOVERNMENT POLICY
• USING MEDIA FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES
• EARLY WARNINGS
• LOCAL MEDIA
• COVERING CONFLICTS

2. REPORTING
• collection or gathering of facts about current events or
background material required for a news story or feature.
• The purpose of reporting is to inform the people what is
happening in the world around them.
• Report provided helps in updating information about
developments, and future plans, for example in changing of
technology development or government policy.

3. MEDIA CONTRIBUTION TO GOVERNMENT
POLICY
• The media are active participants in the policymaking process
and the ability to stimulate change or maintain the status quo
depends on their choice of subject or policy issue and how
they frame it.
• The media is important for understanding the political agenda.
Through the media, citizens learn how government policies
will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their
policies and programs.

4. • The media acts as the primary conduit between those who
want to influence policy and policymakers controlling the
scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of
information.
• The government of Pakistan recently banned the plastic
shopping bags. The media plays an important role in
promoting and spreading the environmental awareness. It
made short documentaries on plastic and made different shows
on this issue.

5. • Social Media Movements have played a major
role in causing awareness to this issue. It started
#OnePlasticFreeDay Campaign. The goal is to
drive change in the government and big
organizations to stop the use of plastic.

6. MEDIA FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES
• Humanitarian Response: Any action by any actor that is
taken to reduce human suffering or meet human needs caused
by a humanitarian crisis.
• Humanitarian Reporting: The area of journalism that
specializes in reporting on situations that threaten the health,
safety, security or well- being of a community or other large
group of people.
• Broadcast media, particularly radio, can provide a critical
severity of the crisis for the entire community. This helps
families to decide whether to pack up and move or hunker
down

7. • After the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, a new
community radio media program called “Jazba-e-
Tameer” was set up to provide information, and
became a major source of independent, reliable and
useful information. The daily one-hour programme
reported on relief efforts including feedback from the
affected people.

8. • In the case of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa people were able to
access information on the humanitarian response by listening
to radio programs. “Lara Dar Kor” and “Sabaoon” provided
essential information on the assistance provided by the
government and aid organizations. One of the aims of the
project was to include local voices and increase the dialogue
between the affected local community and the humanitarian
sector.

9. LOCAL MEDIA
• media vehicles, such as newspapers, radio stations, television
stations, and cable stations, that function primarily to serve the
communications needs of the communities or metropolitan
areas in which they are located.
• Regional newspaper (The Regional Times of Sindh Khalsa
Akhbar Lahore)
• radio stations (Smile FM 88.6 Haripur, FM96 Radio Swat,
Power Radio FM99 Abbottabad.)
• television channels ( Lahore news, rohi etc) are local media .

10. Local media can make a number of contributions that
can potentially have a great impact on a humanitarian
situation.
• Local media can play a key role in informing the response and
the process of reconstruction.
1. Before a disaster occurs, media can let people to know
exactly what is happening, what they should know to stay
safe.
2. Local media can help government relief ministries and
humanitarian agencies reach large populations of people
quickly.
3. Local media can give the local community a voice to share
what information they have regarding the crisis.

11. EARLY WARNING
• An early warning system (EWS) is designed to
predict and mitigate the harm of natural and human-
initiated disasters and other undesirable events.
• EWS for natural hazards include designed for floods,
earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, landslides and
drought. Other systems exist for a variety of events
including missile launches, road conditions and
disease outbreaks.

12. • The early information by electronic media about disasters can save
many human being . The loss to property can also be minimized to
considerable extent.
• The media can create awareness among community about various types
of disasters. It can also play a role in preparing the community by
training them and making them aware about do’s and don’ts during
disaster.
• 19986, 1994 tsunami warning
• The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy
monsoon rains in the KPK , Sindh, Punjab and, Balochistan regions of
Pakistan, the media gives the forecast of flood. Media gives early
warning to people suggested that to migrate to other areas.

13. CONFLICT COVERAGE
• The realization that media can be used for peace purposes
and to reduce conflicts. there are many peace media outlets
in modern times to help to stop violence and suggest ways
and means to resolve conflicts.
• During conflict times, generally, national media go hand-in-
hand with other government institutions to win support for
the war and criticize and weaken the enemy.
• Although the media can never resolve conflicts by themselves,
however, by presenting conflicts in a broader perspective, they
can perhaps diffuse tensions.

14. • In the case of Pakistan, both the military and government have
used the media to advance their perspectives in the War on
Terror.
• In case of the US, the excessive use of the media for
promoting national interests during the two world wars,
Vietnam invasion and the Latin American states, the entire
Cold War with the USSR and in the case of Iraq and
Afghanistan with optimum success.
• in war in Afghanistan Norwegian newspapers used enemy
images and corresponded with the Norwegian foreign policy.

15. • media reporting of ethno-religious conflicts found the
coverage escalatory, inflammatory and conducive for
warmongers. researchers believes media have a bias towards
violence due to pressures from conflicting parties and the
professional requirements of media industries. According to
Wolsfeld (2001) news media have a “vested interest in
conflict”.
• Graham Spencer (2005) propose media is not predisposed to
peace because violence is ‘news’ and peace is ‘no news’.