Planning to study Media and Communication??

Karakorum International University (KIU) offers admissions in a number of emerging fields.

At the newly formed Department of Media and Communication (formerly department of Communication Studies), KIU offers the following programs:

• MS in Communication Studies (2 years program- evening shift)

• BS in Communication Studies (4 years program- morning shift)

Other new exciting courses to be offered in the near future include:

M. Phil in Communication studies, Short course on various themes such as: Interpersonal Skills, Writing skills, Documentary making and many more…

For further details, please contact:

Department of Media and Communication,

Room 102, Near Musharraf Hall, KIU

Adventure for learning

Saleem Khan, Senior Lecture, demonstrating video making
process while emphasizing proper usage of camera  

Media Coverage

Local, National and International Media Coverage of Northern Areas of Pakistan

By Riffat Alam, Lecturer Mass Communications, KIU

Media space is what legitimizes identity, so unless we are represented in it, we don't really exist. Northern Areas of Pakistan, where serenity lies, is enriched with much diversity of landscapes and natural resources. This area is also called the living museum of biodiversity. From strategic point of view, Northern Areas has its own importance as its border leads a gateway way to China, thereby, promoting trade relations between two countries.  It possesses a potential trade corridor to central Asia and India as well.

Politically, Northern Areas has its own setup (Northern Areas Legislative Assembly) under Federal Government. Administratively, it enjoys the status of Semi-Provincial setup; but not constitutionally, because in past Northern areas was governed by Maharaja Kashmir, and after partition constitutional future of NA lingers-on subject to the settlement of Kashmir issue under the resolution of United Nations to plebiscite of its people.

The issue, we are going to discuss in this piece of writing is whether national and international media is giving coverage or not, to northern areas of Pakistan and also details about local media?

International Media

Media shapes our societies by shaping opinions of audience and disseminating information about whole universe. Northern Areas of Pakistan, being a mountainous region, is a source of attraction for foreigners and in this way promoting tourism in the country .Northern Area has not always been given coverage on International Media, despite its strategic importance and the great land of high mountains. International Media has never focused its magnificent glaciers, mountain ranges, unique culture with its diversity and natural resources.

In this era, the world is now soaked in the ocean of information through diverse tools of media; but this area is still not highlighted regarding its beauty, natural resources and unique conjunction of the great mountain ranges. Presently, International Organizations are seeking for natural resources and adventure tourism in Northern Areas of Pakistan, but media is not seeking for its coverage. International Media can promote geology, geography, unique biodiversity and scenic beauty of Northern Areas, internationally.

National Media

At national level, our media highlight the Northern Areas from tourism point of view but its issues and events have never been highlighted in media. This area is facing the problem like sectarian violence, but this issue has never been highlighted in media. Being a conditional part of Pakistan, this area has been ignored in national media. The reason, I think, is that we lack our representation in media, we don’t have any political representation in assembly and media, still, couldn’t be able to find charm in this area. There is, however, need of aggressive sustainable publicity of this place in media. Besides, Local doesn’t go for national level newspaper because they cannot meet their standards to national newspaper regarding budget and circulation and not easy access to national media especially print media. But they can have an easy access to electronic media.

Local Media

Local media gives coverage to both local and national issues. But our local media is not successful to be a source of interest at national level, because here one of the element of news proximity works which focuses that people go for the news of their interest which would be news of their territory only. In this way our local media cannot be the source of interest at national level.

There are certain ways out through which we can bring this area in lime light on media e.g. at national level, media should promote local games like polo which can be best source of entertainment for audience at national level and international level.

In addition to this, we can organize national games in this area like cricket, volley ball, football matches and popular water and ice sports. In this way, both National and International Media could easily come to this place consequently will promote this area.  Last but not least, promotion of Eco-tourism in this area could be promoted through media which leads to uplift the 3socio-economic condition of the inhabitants of this area.

From Local Village to Global Village, A media perspective*

By: Sultan Ahmed

Old societies of remote regions that have existed without change for centuries like the Gilgit- Baltistan and which have suddenly been exposed to shocking views of life through the electronic media and the computer are struggling to come to terms with the transformation to their values and mores of living.

Sociologists have noted three different kinds of responses that this exposure is encountering: the creative response of the young educated people who would find their way to swim with the tide; the traditionalist response of rejection based on the fear the new world would swallow up their values and traditions and the response of those who have accepted change as life’s principle and believe change would revitalize their stagnating cultures.

Take my case. I was born in a small village in Gilgit Baltistan of Pakistan, where we had few contacts with the outer world. My parents, like other villagers, were associated with farming and livestock. The whole population was illiterate, except our teachers in the small village school. TV, VCR, telephones and computers were unknown. Few people had radio sets. People gathered to listen to news broadcasts at community places. It was in 1989 when I moved to Karachi for further studies that I saw a computer for the first time. I was 14 years old.

When after ten years, I went back to my birth place I found things had changed dramatically. I saw satellite dishes all around, and realized that the people in my village were no longer limited; rather they had become part of the larger village that Marshal McLuhan calls “the global village”. Today, in my village, people are able to see what is happening around the world. This is an amazing revolution that has brought new dimensions to the lives and thought patterns of people. For instance, in a stage show by local school children in 2006, the students showed comparison of two groups of women discussing matters of mutual interest. The older group (of 1980s and before) was shown discussing village issues like agriculture and livestock and petty village politics. The second group of women (influenced by media) was shown discussing Indian dramas, movies as well as political issues ranging from Pakistan to the whole world and, of course, cricket.

The emerging situation is proving difficult for locals of my village to understand. People find themselves exposed to the dilemmas, hopes, despair and struggles of a much larger world than they have known. Some people believe this development to be very positive, while others would argue that it is eradicating our cultural value systems. Annabelle Sreberny (Media and Cultural Studies, Key Works p. 621) has developed a tool to examine this kind of issue from different angles.

The first category, according to Sreberny is a “happy post-modernist” approach, which involves integrating cultural texts into lives in creative ways. In the context of Northern Pakistan, an example would be the educated youth who see an opportunity in the media for the purpose of development and prosperity as I did in getting admission to a Canadian University on-line.

The second category Sreberny discusses is the “melancholy political economist” who is suspicious of the onslaught of western or modern culture industries. This is a major group that believes foreign media is capable of eliminating cultural and religious values. The people in this school of thought are mostly illiterate about internet and its use. They have heard some stories and instances of how internet has been misused in certain contexts. They have never been oriented to the wealth of knowledge that can be accessed through internet. They are also worried about the various channels and cable. This group is of the view that media stand for nothing but vulgarity.

The third category, according to Sreberny, is the “cautiously optimistic Fourth-Worldler”, who sees the possibility of revitalization of local identities through media. This category also stands true in many cases where the differences of language and ethnicity come into play. In case of the Northern Pakistan, some people live extremely remote and media like radio gave them a sense of connection. One of the languages spoken in the region is actually spoken on the highlands of three other neighbouring countries. These people had no way of conversation and were confined within their own national boundaries; they had a feeling of suppression and sense of exclusion. Luckily, a radio programme was initiated in the same language and people on all the four borders managed to connect as one community through this medium.

To conclude, in the case of a small, remote village, which was largely deprived of communication in the past, mass media has offered inclusion in the international community. On the other hand, there is always a danger that people in such remote areas may become unaware of their indigenous culture and become overwhelmed by the media power, as, according to McLuhan, “media is so powerful that it can impose its assumptions on the unwary”. So, those villagers, like many other marginalized communities, have neither the choice to shun the electronic media, nor the well developed discernment to be wary of what emerges from that. In such a situation, the civil society, academia and youth have responsibility to understand the nuances of electronic media; so that besides development, the indigenous cultural heritage and values are able to survive in this journey from local to global village.

Originally published in the online journal “the Karakoram Knowledge Highway” in 2008

Shocking priorities

Shocking priorities….. Education becomes last

By: Sultan Ahmed, Assistant Professor KIU

Naively or otherwise by design, they are on the verge of wrecking the already shambling Pakistani society. What a country! From the peanut 2% of GDP allocated for education, hardly 1.5 % is actually spent while reallocating rest of the amount for other sectors. On top of that, the recent revelations from authorities regarding the fate of higher education have put the entire nation in a state of yet another shock. Ironically, the government has decided to cut short budget for higher education in the face of emergent needs of 2 million people hit by disasters, as proudly announced by a senior government representative in a TV show. She was talking in front of highly qualified University teachers and students. Her seemingly vehement concern for the 2 million people at the cost of ruining out the future of entire nation depicted the level of thinking that takes place at highest level of leadership in the country. The Vice Chancellor of Punjab University brought forward very genuine points for which the government leader had nothing to justify but the fate of disaster hit people. Unfortunately, this is yet another disaster in disguise at the magnitude of the same disaster which washed away the country. It is a disaster of mind. In reality, physical losses can be accumulated even by injecting resources from other countries, and receiving of relief from various countries is already a work-in-progress. However, changing  minds is a herculean task which takes generations after generations. When this nation is going to have well educated and thoughtful minds is a key challenge ahead.

Spending on higher education is rather considered expenditure, as evident from the current government policies. Another assumption in the emerging situation is “the deliberate effort of keeping the nation illiterate” hence pushing back the 180 million people to the stone ages. Otherwise what is the point in categorical denial of funds for higher education whilst overlooking other schemes and programs which do not have everlasting impact on the future of the country?  Experts are of the view that the government should look for other options to make up for the damages posed by the natural disaster while sparing education, the building block for a nation’s progress. It is a pity that teachers are still given least priority when it comes to remunerations and benefits. Few months before, the Prime Minister had announced upto 50% raise in salaries of government employees, which was implemented in a gallop country wide for all government employees except University teachers, because of lack of funds allocated to Higher Education Commission.  

Coming to the point of prioritization, wise nation would keep education as their top most priority in the age of information, communication and knowledge. The most educated societies are most powerful nations in the contemporary world. Therefore, the leaders should put their heads together again and think with fresh minds with some important questions in mind, which include but are not limited to: Can we achieve much with quick fixes or we need to make some solid plans in place? Why education is not the top most priority? Where does the leadership want to see the nation in the coming years with the existing policies and priorities? It is important to note that universities or the hubs of knowledge country wide are in protest not for any personal reasons but they feel the shocks of disaster hitting the minds of our leadership.  Let us hope that we are able to manage this disaster wisely and timely. 

Welcome to the world of communication

Hello there,

Welcome to the new blog created by the Department of Media and Communication, Karakoram International University (KIU). This blog is aimed at sharing information, news and views within the University and outside. This blog provides opportunity to students and faculty members share their views through articles, discussions and sharing innovative ideas. It is need of the hour to start sharing materials developed by students as part of their assignments which otherwise never get chance to come to lime light.

We look forward to making this forum a unique platform as a beneficial spot for KIU community in particular and other readers in general.

So lets us dare to share our ideas with each other and increase the horizon of our learning using ICT.

Note: Dare2Share welcomes ideas and comments from our readers however our team may not necessarily agree with all comments/ideas.

Cheers

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