We had quite a pleasant day attending a workshop with journalist Ayesha Baksh at The Current. It took place on Saturday, when all of us arrived at university for our attendance held at the faculty office. Afterwards, we posed for a photo outside the B Building, and our instructor Dr Ayesha Sadiqa travelled with us in our bus to attend the event.
When we reached The Current, we were greeted by Ms Noor Fatima, who gave us an introduction about the purpose of this workshop, and then asked Ayesha Bakhsh to start the workshop.
Ms Ayesha Baksh started the workshop by sharing her experience and journey of becoming a journalist. She revealed that her interest in journalism began as a child when she used to read newspaper editorials with her father. She went on to complete her MSc in Communication Studies from Fatima Jinnah Women University. She also shared the struggles she faced in the beginning of her career as she was from Pakpattan. However, later on she was able to join ARY News as a news anchor, and then in 2007 she joined Geo News.
Ms Baksh shared some important tips for anyone who aspires to become an anchorperson. The first thing she advised was to develop a habit of reading newspapers daily. Secondly, she emphasised fact-checking, asking us to make sure to check the data we will use for our stories, as there are many ways to research online. Lastly, she urged us to remember to respect the culture of the places we will have to go to for news coverage.
When the lecture was over, we students were encouraged to participate in a Q/A session with Ms Baksh. After some students had questions related to hosting and anchoring, I asked how an anchorperson should deal with biases present in the media.
When the session ended, refreshments were provided for us which I enjoyed, especially the samosas. Afterwards, we climbed aboard our bus and travelled back to our university. We arrived back at 2pm, and attended the rest of the classes for the day. I enjoyed the day a lot as it was full of excitement and we learnt a lot from our session.
