IUST’s Journalism students interact with Senior Editor

Awantipora: An interactive session with Associate Editor of Tameel-e-Irshad, Nazim Nazir was held in Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (DJMC), Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) here on Tuesday.

Deliberating in length on the evolution of Urdu journalism in Kashmir, Nazir said that journalism in Kashmir is one of the ‘most difficult professions’ due to the prevailing political situation and one has to be extremely professional about the newsroom practices. “During reporting one should be balanced, keeping in view all the ethics of journalism and as an editor, the responsibility increases many folds. We cannot afford to be biased,” he added.

Nazir dealt with technical requirements of news writing, layout designing, editorial writing and newspaper advertising in an elaborate manner while giving tips to the students. “A newspaper is a complete package with all specificities taken care of. We should keep it simple and lucid, while writing the editorial which is the opinion of an organization about the current situation or any other salient issue and all the parties should be taken into consideration.”

While tracing the journey of Urdu and English Press in Kashmir, he also talked about the leading Urdu Daily, Tameel-e-Irshad and how it continued to hit the stands even during the 2014 floods and 2016 turmoil which contributed to its popularity among the readers. He credited the hard work and dedication of its employees for helping the newspaper become a leading Urdu Daily.

While encouraging the students to explore multiple opportunities that are available in the field of Urdu journalism as budding journalists, he asked them to exhibit the necessary ‘dedication and determination in such circumstances’.

He further added, “Urdu journalism has kept alive Urdu language in Kashmir. A journalist should know language which is very important for him/her.”

Coordinator of the session, Monisa Qadri – Senior Assistant Professor (DJMC) called on students towards this field as Urdu journalism has always had a scope in Kashmir as one lakh Urdu dailies are printed in Kashmir everyday which is more than English dailies.

She said, “Urdu journalism remains an unexplored field for journalism students largely even though it is not saturated as yet and considering that IUST offers a course on Urdu journalism and this lecture has created an interest in students and during the interaction Nazir also offered internship opportunities to our students.”

While appreciating the lecture and interaction, student DJMC, Javed Joo said, “It was an extremely informative session and as someone who is interested in this field I feel it opened many windows for me.”