When I began to teach eight years ago, I asked the students to tell me what journalist they wanted to hear more. That list was always varied; Students were interested in listening to journalists to editors to television presenters.
Inevitably had an invited teacher every week of the first semester and I am grateful that all my guests spoke frankly to my students. I am equally proud that my students ask difficult questions such as why wages are delayed when media owners are clearly rich.
But I noticed a change in the winter of 2019, a decrease in interest between undergraduate and postgraduate students. Not that they did not know journalists, they really don’t mind knowing about them. I started listening to more complaints from ‘I don’t feel represented’ in the media variety. There was a lot of resentment for how Arat’s march had been covered a year earlier. The anger of misogyny has grown every year that I have taught and, as children say, I am here for it. The managers of the writing room that read this must take note.
Then, in 2023, when I began to teach literacy in the media to students of liberal arts who, not in any journalism or media track, was surprised by their lack of interest in meeting journalists.
The only two names that appeared were Waseem Badami and Iqrarul Hasan, both in the same channel. My students were not all followers of a particular party, but their families were, so they were the two names with which these students were more familiar. This year too, Waseem Badami has headed the list. It is because they like their style of journalism that they say is not combative. It looks like a good guy, a student said.
Eight years do not seem much time to witness such a decrease in interest, but perhaps, it may reflect the decrease in what happens as news these days. When journalists are fired, and others have to intervene and take the additional charge, without additional compensation or when they have to work without obtaining salaries for two months, it seems unfair to wait for quality journalism.
However, many of my colleagues are producing star job in impossible circumstances. They deserve the recognition of their work, which is not to get the eye balloons that it deserves. Because the heads of the screams on television and YouTube consume too much space.
One noticed a decrease in interest among students.
As disgust that may be, some anchors have taken out of the air in recent weeks and this should cause great concern. My students were not pushed because they are not related to television, much less television anchors.
I turned to a friend and instructor of journalism in the United States to obtain his thoughts. Why can’t I make my students worry why these anchors were taken out of the air in Pakistan? How can I see that this censorship will also affect them?
He said he was struggling to get his students to connect with the great story about Netflix that canceled the documentary of six parts of Ezra Edelman about Prince because the farm of the late artist complained that the film had “dramatic” inaccuracies and certain “sensationalized” events.
I have followed this story with interest since I am a big fan of the Prince; The problem provides many discussion points for media students, censorship, whose work is to protect the legacy of a subject, but my friend said he could not get his students to get involved because “they could not relate to Prince.” And they felt that the film should be canned because Prince didn’t seem like a pleasant person.
Perhaps this is a generational problem with which we must both accept: we need to evolve with our students instead of promoting the problems that do not care, as tragic as they feel.
My students get involved with the news. It is simply not the way I want them to do it.
They consume news on platforms such as Tiktok, media applications and verify updates several times a day. They are bombarded with information, and conspiracy theories, they often struggle to sift the facts of fiction, but this does not mean that they don’t care. They are cynical. I tell you that they have the features of a good journalist and say that they want quality journalism, but that they fight to find that too.
Although my friend and I are far away, we find this similarity among our students: Gaza appears in the list of things that care with climate change, health and money. They were closely after the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist who directed pro-palestinian protests at Columbia University. They are deeply affected by police brutality and injustice.
News organizations must pay attention and turn off the thirst of this generation for reliable and fair information. I am guilty of stereotypar them and I must take a step forward and do the right thing. We must all.
The writer is a journalism instructor.
UNKNOWN: @Ledinglaly
Posted in Dawn, March 16, 2025
