PR No.187 Developing the skills of Media Students and strengthening their role as advocates of Peace and Harmony through producing Creative Media Content Islamabad: July 30, 2019

A three-day capacity building workshop regarding CVE Media Product Development for the students of media studies, started here today. This workshop has been organized by Pakistan Peace Collective (PPC), a research & communication project of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (M/O,I&B) which aims to provide refined professional media product development skills with a deeper understanding of the role of media in countering violent extremism. Around thirty-three (33) students of Media Studies departments from 10 Universities of Punjab and Two Students of Jamia Naeemia Lahore are attending this training workshop. Mr. Syed Akber Mehmood Shirazi, Chief Campaigns Manager inaugurated the workshop titled “Media Product Development Workshop on Countering Violent Extremism”. While addressing the participants he stressed on skills development of youth in Pakistan and explained that how media students and professionals can become the ambassador of peace through developing creative media content. The training he said is particularly focusing on the importance of strategic communications, which includes conceptual development of students on countering radicalization and violent extremism, technical skills development on script writing, production & practical exercises to develop CVE media products. Mufti Raghib Naeemi, Founder Jamia Naeemia, Dr. Manzar Zaidi, research expert on terrorism, Mr. Qasim Ali Shah, a life skills & motivational trainer delivered lectures on day one, to the participants regarding narrative analysis of religiously motivated terrorism and extremism, role of media in recognizing the contemporary trends as well as social & psychological impact of conflict reporting in Pakistan. They also apprised the participants on means to help develop the skills for critical thinking & analysis. The participants attending the training workshop belong to various universities from all over the Punjab Province of Pakistan, including Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Bahawalpur. Similar two-cluster training workshops will be organized by Pakistan Peace Collective in August 2019 for media students of twenty (20) more universities from all over Pakistan. *****