HYDERABAD, Oct 20: Media personnel are required to look into emerging issues of economic reporting because print journalism is going to grow more in terms of regional and national newspapers in future. The journalists doing any story on water or poverty need to do it in the wider scope so that it becomes a saleable story not only nationally but internationally as well.

These were the deliberations of a one-day workshop on “Effective Economic Reporting” organised by “Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in the press club here on Monday.

CIPE Senior programme manager Hamad Siddiqui briefed journalists and reporting editor of a national newspaper, Kamal Siddiqi, spoke on the occasion and shared views with participating journalists from the print and electronic media.

Kamal Siddiqui dwelt at length on the specifics of an effective economic reporting and said that Hyderabad is an important center for commerce stories if the journalists are ready to explore them from different angle. He argued that Pakistani media is expanding and growing more and national dailies would have to focus on regional issues on the pattern of other developed countries.

It will not only increase competition but would lead to more job opportunities for journalists. English and Sindhi newspapers would record more growth instead of Urdu language press because presently circulation of the former has reached a saturation point. Press freedom is taking place and Pemra laws have changed ever since change of government.

He said that some people argue that Pakistan now has more TV channels than India but apprehended that quite a few of them would face closure because most of them are not associated with any newspaper organisation. “TV channels are mostly affiliated with newspapers”, he said. He didn’t rule out possibility of on-line journalists in terms of cell phone news services by newspaper organisations in future because role of media in the country is changing. Great importance was attached in the workshop to ethical reporting which is often not done by media personnel. Journalists and camera men often tend to cross ethical limits while reporting any story.

It is simply because journalists don’t have professional training and there is a concept that once a layman joined a newspapers he starts learning on his own. Radio news need a promotion as elsewhere in the world is most sough-after tool of news among people. It was cost effective and doesn’t need electricity and it will always have an edge over TV reporting in future in Pakistan.

He said that journalists should take interest in economics because Hyderabad is an important centre of commerce reporting as it was located quite close to rural areas which produced cash crops such as wheat, sugarcane, cotton and rice in addition to vegetables and fruits. Journalists based here could break more stories before they are availed by their counterparts in provincial or federal capitals.

“Even a Kalabagh Dam story should be presented in a way that it not only raises question of poverty but also water scarcity. For such a news any farmer could be focused along with other important ingredients of water issue”, he proposed. He said that economic reporting concerns a common man as only budget constitutes a good commerce story.

He stressed the need that the element of “balance” should not be lost sight of in any such report given the fact that business news always involve chances of loss of economy and money and it could lead to litigation against newspaper organisations.

Therefore, he said, opinion of both sides should be properly covered. He said that for quite some time State Bank reports are quite reasonable and Economic Survey, which is released before budget, is an important document to compile a news on poverty, water or any other issue.