“Channels of Change” is a project and an initative to enable the citizens to be at the heart of the media in Pakistan! It’s working with the journalists, the film-makers, the reporters, the news-producers, FM radios and the TV channels to show them how they can bring that essential human element to their work. In the end – it’s all about the ordinary citizen on the street and his or her perception of issues at hand that really matters. The project has initially brought renowned and experienced media experts to Pakistan to showcase media formats and techniques that have emerged in the Western markets over the recent years.
This project will continue for one year, culminating in March 2009. At this point, the British High Commission has already held a Conference Towards a Citizens’ Media for producers and programme makers in Karachi on 14 July 2008;and three New Media Web2.0 Bootcamps for civil society and journalists in both Karachi and Islamabad on 15/17/19 July 2008. All these events have been very rewarding and intenive sessions with about 200 people in Pakistan. They have been shown how they can produce content that is about ordinary citizens and their issues – so it can actually stir debate and bring about social change.
In the coming months, we will work with various TV channels and FM radios so they can eventually produce citizen-based programming using media formats that have not been experimented in Pakistan before.
We hope that this project will eventually become a channel of change for the traditional and new media in Pakistan, so it can connect to the people directly and talk about their issues and their concerns.
