Citizen Journalism is Gaining Momentum in Pakistan

Emad Sohail
Workshop participants in Karachi (right) and Lahore (left).

“If you’re going to fall out of love with public approval, something interesting will happen: people will be deeply attracted to your work.”Jeff Goins

Social media has transformed the debate around democracy and access to information in Pakistan by giving citizens and activists the power to write about topics that are impossible to cover in the traditional media. To help support the voice of these new citizen journalists, CIPE Pakistan organized blogger training workshops on June 15 and June 29 in Karachi and Lahore.

Forty-three participants, mostly younger people, were taken through the process of creating blogs to publicly voice their opinion on issues such as corruption, women’s issues, entrepreneurship, and corporate citizenship. The event activities can be followed on Twitter with the hashtag #Pakbloggers and on Facebook at http://goo.gl/AyrCF.

Participants learned tools and techniques for effective blogging that can easily reach the masses. They learned about the importance of blogging; the challenges and technical issues associated with it; CIPE themes such as corruption, entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, and women’s issues; and how to use social media effectively in this modern age. The presentation is available at http://goo.gl/jldgo.

The participants were highly motivated to cover important issue, particularly corruption and the geopolitical situation, resulting in the development of the following blogs:

Geo Politics in South Asia and MENA

Enough!!!! Views on Women Issues around the Globe!

Take a Leap! A blog to Discuss Corruption Issues and Anti-Corruption Measures

Feminist Me

Lady UnderCover

Participants were of the view that these workshops helped them to better spread and market their ideas over social media. Topics covered so far on these blogs include:

These self-motivated bloggers are determined to unleash their potential to create notable examples of citizen journalism in Pakistan – provided they continue to update their blogs regularly!

Published Date: July 11, 2012