On March 25th, Uks held its final consultation with media leaders to present its findings on Constructive Journalism as part of the “Exploring the News Message System through the Lens of Constructive Journalism in 2023” project, in collaboration with Deutsche Welle Akademie. Earlier, in January and February, Uks held preliminary consultations with prominent news directors, editors, and decision-makers in the news media industry, during which Uks briefed them on the concept of constructive journalism and its perspective on the matter.
The primary objective of Uks was to address obstacles to constructive journalism on the editorial and structural levels. Feedback from reporters indicated that they were ready to work on constructive stories, but the media structure did not allow them to dedicate time to these types of stories. Another objective of these consultations was to develop voluntary and consensual guidelines for constructive journalism in the context of Pakistani media.
After establishing communication channels with media leaders, Uks requested that they nominate journalists and reporters from their organizations for three training sessions on constructive journalism, which were successfully conducted under this program. Journalists and reporters have begun producing solution-oriented stories based on their learnings from the training sessions. Media heads have allowed constructive content to be prioritized for publication, leading to positive changes at the community level.
In addition, during these consultations, Uks worked with media leaders to develop ten-point guidelines for constructive journalism