Making the News in Pakistan

Dramatic events in Pakistan have focused the worldwide media spotlight on the country in recent weeks.

But the news agenda is not always that clear cut -  and practising and would-be journalists will find out there later this month how to create powerful television from the more mundane.

Thomson Foundation consultant Helen Scott is schooling journalists and media graduates from across southern Asia in the practical techniques of news gathering. The training forms the final fortnight of an eight-week course in TV at the South Asian Media School in the Pakistani capital, Lahore.

“They will be learning highly practical skills, rather than theory,” says Helen. “All need to produce a four-minute film, and I’ll be teaching them how to structure an extended news piece.”

Subjects covered will also include writing to pictures and sound, news values, news features and on-the-day news production and studio planning.

Course participants are from Bangladesh and the Maldives, as well as Pakistan.