Media training centre opened Peshawar varsity

PESHAWAR- The NWFP Governor, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, inaugurated a radio studio and media training and research centre at the University of Peshawar.

The radio studio, first of its kind in any of the universities which contains latest equipment for digital recording, battery chargers, professional micro-phones and discs, has been established with the financial support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) – a German foundation – and technical assistance by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), Peshawar station.

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, whose website (www.jmc.sdnpk.org) was also launched and would supervise the studio which would initially produce programmes in collaboration with the PBC, Peshawar station.

A three-member team from Deutsche Welle – Voice of Germany – would visit Peshawar in October 2001, to train members of the department of journalism and mass communication and the PBC programme producers on radio journalism.

The proposed training course is part of the broad-base training programme the department of journalism in collaboration with the FES has underlined for the journalism students and professional journalists of the NWFP.

Under this programme several training workshops had been organized in the recent past at the district level to facilitate the working journalists, said Dr. Shahjehan, Chairman of the Department of Journalism, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony at Aga Khan Auditorium, at the University campus.

The governor presided over the ceremony, which was attended by the vice-chancellor of the Peshawar University, Dr. Zulfiqar Hussain Gilani and Mr. Gunter Lehrke, resident representative of FES, Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor announced that the subject of journalism would be introduced at the degree level and in this respect issued directives to the authorities of the education department.

A demand to this effect was, earlier, made by the chairman of the faculty of journalism who said by doing so a large number of students with journalism degrees from the University of Peshawar would be accommodated as teachers in colleges.

Mr. Gunter Lehrke said his organization would continue extending help to the faculty of journalism, upgrading the studio to the level of a small community-based radio station. “It seems quite nice that the faculty would produce trained broadcasters,” said Mr. Lehrke.

He said if Islamabad implemented its intended move of liberalizing electronic media by issuing licenses for setting broadcasting houses in the private sector, the radio studio would be helpful in meeting the future market demand by producing trained radio broadcasters.

Chairman of the department of journalism, Dr Shahjehan told this scribe that after getting required training of broadcasting, the staff and students of the department would start making radio programmes on the campus activities and the same would be aired from the PBC, Peshawar station. Similarly, he added, up gradation of the studio to the level of a community radio of the university campus would be the next step the university would strive for.

Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, in his speech termed the setting up of the radio studio an innovative step on the part of the Peshawar University. On this occasion, he also announced a grant of Rs l million for the up gradation of the Aga Khan Auditorium
Source: Dawn
Date:5/19/2001