IBA, Karachi launches its first Journalism Society

October 21, 2019: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi launched its first Journalism Society at the IBA main campus. The event was organized by members of the IBA Journalism Society and students of Master's of Science in Journalism Program (MSJ) at the Center for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) IBA.

The speakers at the launching ceremony were prominent journalists Mr. Mubashir Zaidi and Mr. Zarrar Khuhro. The session was moderated by MSJ students. Mr. Zaidi and Mr. Khuhro shared their insights on the future of journalism in the digital age. They spoke about the challenges and transitions of traditional media to the digital medium; influence of social media on news; and challenges of the credibility of news.

The panelists were asked about the content policy regarding the credibility of news on Facebook. Mr. Khuhro said that Facebook does not remove fake news. "It's their business model; Facebook earns money from this (and for that) they need likes and shares". Highlighting the importance of social media he further added, "The public at large needs to understand how to use social media in a constructive way."

Mr. Zaidi advised aspiring journalists to work with dedication. He said, "It's not a 9-5 job. It's a 24-hour job as you look for stories. Work hard as much as you can and create your own niche."

Mr. Khuhro commented on the same question and shared that journalists' personal opinions don't matter. Their job is to observe and report facts. This job is unglamorous with a lot of hard work involved.