Their online dossiers feature reports in Hindi, Urdu, Dari and English on topics such as maternal mortality and healthcare, women’s rights and the role of women in business and society.

“Good journalism promotes positive changes in society,” says Ayesha Hasan of Pakistan, one of the visiting journalists who participated in the kick-off of the Women’s World project in late 2011. Reflecting on the role of free media, Hasan says they “can bring about peace within Pakistan as well as with its neighbors.”

That also reflects the aims of DW-AKADEMIE’s several long-term projects in the region. For example the development of children’s TV programming in cooperation with the University of Peshawar and a TV station in Afghanistan for Pakistani and Afghani journalists. DW-AKADEMIE also conducts training workshops for regional affiliates of the Pakistani Broadcasting Corporation PBC. Some of the participating journalists come from extremely remote parts of Pakistan.

In this interview, Ayesha Hasan, who is based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, describes her experience as a journalist in Pakistan and as a visiting reporter in Germany.

Pakistan is an Islamic republic. How difficult is it to write about religious themes?
“It is very difficult. One can actually write about all possible issues, lifestyle, celebrities and health. But religion in Pakistan affects all social spheres. If you report on issues like violence against a woman, many groups will try and defame the woman, who is not a victim for them, but actually the criminal because her clothes or her behavior are against religious norms. The same is also true for women who are abused by their husbands.
Religious groups usually do not consider writing about such issues as a violation of Islamic law, but the journalist doing so definitely comes under scrutiny because there is a suspicion that he or she does not accept Islamic law completely. These groups believe that Islamic law is on their side, but Islam is not a religion of violence. There are some groups of people who do wrong things in the name of religion.”

Have you or the newspaper you work for ever faced dangerous situations?
“A short while ago we published a few blogs on our website about sexual orientations and homosexuality. Many groups called for the website to be boycotted and started an online campaign against the newspaper and the publishing company.
They accused us of being against our religion. It is very easy to sway public opinion in Pakistan either in favor of or against an issue. This can be dangerous for a newspaper, a publishing house and also for individuals and journalists. The people in Pakistan also love to exaggerate news.”

You belong to the northwest Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is particularly unstable politically. How difficult is news coverage when it comes to politics?
“Politics is also a difficult subject, especially when one researches and deals with powerful people. For small issues, one could lose one’s job and for big issues one could be killed. Saleem Shahzad, who wrote about the Pakistani intelligence agency’s possible involvement in the Karachi naval base attacks following the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2nd, 2011, in Abbotabad was killed soon after on May 22nd. One gets the impression that the government is not seriously interested in clarifying the murder and wants to portray journalism in a bad light. Journalism is not a business, it is a responsibility.”

How can a free media promote peace in Pakistan?
“Media for me is the most important actor in working towards a peaceful society. Media organizations are communicators; they transport images of people and communities. They can bring about peace within Pakistan as well as with its neighbors. That is why we should also report more about mutual interest with other countries, rather than exaggerating conflict.
Journalism can remove the aggressiveness from politics by using facts and by reporting accurately. In Pakistan unfortunately there is a lot of sensational journalism, bad journalism, which creates news instead of communicating information neutrally. This should stop.”

What challenges have you faced as a journalist?
“In the future I want to write more about hard themes, about politics and women’s issues. In the province where I live, women are not aware of their rights, many are illiterate. Some of them have access to the media only when they go to clean the rooms of male members of their families. The men usually keep television sets in their rooms. I feel my responsibilities are three-fold: as a journalist, as a Pakistani and as a Pashtun. Good journalism promotes positive changes in society and forces politicians to reflect upon a social problem. Women journalists are not taken seriously in Pakistan. Most employers assign them soft beats like culture and lifestyle, fashion and society. This concept needs to change if more and more women are to become serious journalists.”

In this audio clip, Ayesha Hasan describes how her working visit to Germany has helped her grow both personally and professionally.

Ayesha Hasan by DW-Akademie Asia

Interview by: Martina Bertram

But researchers like Kalinga Seneviratne say that labor migration from Asia has many hidden problems.

Kalinga Seneviratne

Mr. Seneviratne is the head of research at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) based in Singapore.

At the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn this summer, Kalinga Seneviratne and other experts discussed how the media can tackle issues pertaining to labor migration.

Talking to Deutsche Welle reporters, the award-winning journalist explains some of the problems migrant workers face, the challenges journalists encounter when reporting such stories and how the media can play a major role in promoting human rights.

Interview with Kalinga Seneviratne

Ramesh Jaura

Ramesh Jaura is the executive president of the Global Cooperation Council in Berlin. He agrees that the media can and should find ways to continuously inform the public about migrant and minority-related matters. Jaura is of Indian descent and has worked in Germany as a journalist for many years .

In this interview he describes some of the underlying social aspects of labor migration. And he names the challenges the media must overcome both in the West and in Asia to address them.

Interview with Ramesh Jaura

One example of how media can creatively distribute and channel migration issues into the mainstream more effectively is a theme-based audio network called Radio 1812.

René Plaetevoet

This international project started in 2006. It draws its name from International Migrants Day, which is December 18th.

So far, 243 radio stations from 50 countries in four continents have participated. They range from community radio stations to national and international broadcasters.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, the director of the project, René Plaetevoet, describes the main objectives of Radio 1812, which is currently trying to expand its network and broadcast more frequently.

Interview with René Plaetevoet

By Gabriela Degen/Deborah Friedman
Interviews conducted by: Anggatira Gollmer, Deborah Friedman and Mariya Ruettinger

Of his winning shot, photojournalist GMB Akash says, “It shows eight year old Munna who works in a rickshaw factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The boy earns about 500 taka (7 U.S. dollars) a month, working 10 hours a day. When production often stops due to lack of electricity, he has time to play. It is common in Bangladesh for children of poor parents to work in various hazardous and labor-intensive

First Place Winner: “Children’s Hands” by GMB Akash

workplaces to support their families. Seventeen and a half percent of all children aged between 5-15 are engaged in economic activities. The average child worker earns between 400 to 700 taka per month, while an adult worker earns up to 5,000 taka per month.” One U.S. dollar equals about 70 taka.

The other winning photographs of the “KLICK!” competition were “Multi Kulti” (“Multiculturalism”) by Josef Hinterleitner of Austria and “Drinking Water” by Monowara Begum Moni, a journalist from Bangladesh who lives in Stuttgart, Germany.

Over the past several weeks, photographers from around the world were invited to submit their entries pertaining to the theme of this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, human rights and globalization. The submissions can be viewed online as part of an interactive world map and in a Facebook gallery.

In an initial selection process, Internet users nominated 30 finalists. These were on

Second Place Winner: “Multiculturalism” by Josef Hinterleitner

display during the three-day conference held in Bonn, Germany, in June. Of the 30 finalist pictures, conference delegates elected their three favorites to determine the top three winners.

“Child labor can be combated if parents receive working wages that allow them to feed their families,” said Julia Naumann, spokesperson of

Third Place Winner: “Drinking Water” by Monowara Begum Moni

Amnesty International Germany, referring to the winning photograph. “Children need access to schooling and education. That is key to escaping poverty.”

Klangnarong is vice-chair of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), a national NGO working towards the democratization of communication. She is also a board member of the Thai Netizen Network, an independent network of Internet citizens working to uphold cyber liberty in Thailand.

Several years ago Klangnarong fought against the Shin Corporation, the former Thai Prime Minister’s family telecom and media business, over criminal and civil defamation lawsuits brought against her for an article published in the Thai Post. The cases were acquitted and withdrawn in 2006. The verdict was widely considered to be a victory for media independence and expression of freedom in Thailand.

In an interview with Alexandra Scherle, Klangnarong explained how the media – especially international broadcasters – can maintain a balance between commitment to a cause and objective coverage. They can, for instance, give a voice to those often neglected by the media.

She also says the media must guarantee the subjects of news stories “the right to reply” should they feel such a need after being featured in a news item. Ultimately it is a benefit to all of society to be exposed to different perspectives. Members of the audience can in this way form their own informed opinions.

Interview: Supinya Klangnarong (1) by Global Media Forum 2011

Klangnarong says that in Thailand, international broadcasters do not play as strong a role as they have in the past now that online media, Internet access and satellite TV have gained more relevance. But, she adds, outlets such as BBC, VOA and DW remain an important option as long as they continue to provide accurate and high-quality information.

Interview: Supinya Klangnarong (2) by Global Media Forum 2011