Women College observe ‘World Press Freedom Day’
A day-long seminar to observe ‘World Press Freedom Day’ was held at Government College for Women, M.A Road, Srinagar on Wednesday.
The seminar was organized by the department of Mass Communication and Multimedia Production (MCMP) and was attended by prominent journalists and academics of the valley.
Special Correspondent with The Week, Tariq Bhat, talked in detail about various issues of press freedom in Kashmir. He said that pressures from different quarters curtail the freedom of press. “More than the pressures by the outside forces, biased journalism is the biggest impediment to its freedom,” he added. He urged the students to focus more on practical training in order to excel in the field. “The moot point is to train very hard to survive in the field,” he said. Kashmir Bureau Chief of The Economic Times, Hakeem Irfan, in his address, talked about his experiences regarding freedom of press and the curtailments imposed upon it by different agencies. “The bottom-line is, despite all pulls and pressures, the journalists should always side with the people,” he added. Monisa Qadri, assistant professor at Islamic University of Science and Technology, said women journalists have to overcome more hurdles in a place like Kashmir.
She said the women journalists’ freedom was limited by the social and professional constraints that are not faced by their male counterparts. Raziya Noor, who works with Dainik Jagran, talked about the lack of women journalist associations and hindrances that the women journalists face at the family and societal level. Later Principal, Prof Shaheen Altaf delivered the welcome address in which she highlighted the importance of freedom of press. She also urged the department to continue such efforts so that the students get exposed to the upcoming challenges in the field.
