International Media Conference 2018

3 Days International Media Conference; organized by Faculty of Media and Communication Studies, University of Central Punjab held on 28^th June till 30^th June, 2018, with a central theme  Global Education, Professionalism & Commercialism. The inaugural ceremony was held on 28^th June, 2018 in UCP Auditorium. Dr. Nizam Uddin, Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission graced this occasion as Chief Guest while his Excellency Mr. Martin Kobler, German Ambassador was the Guest of Honor of the ceremony.

Dr. Manju Mishra, Chairperson, College of Journalism and Mass Communication Nepal, Mr. Zhang Xu from Communication University of China, and delegates from different universities of Pakistan were among the other worthy guests. In his opening remarks, Prof. Dr. Mughees Uddin Sheikh, Dean Faculty of Media and Communication Studies shed light on the importance of academic conferences and discussions. Moreover, he was of the view that this is high time to revisit media theories and curriculum to answer the challenges faced by traditional media after the intervention of new media. Later, Dr. Manju Chairperson, College of Journalism and Mass Communication from Nepal shared her impression about the conference.

Mr. Zhang Xu shared the message of Luo Quing, Dean, School of International Media, Communication University of China who sent her sincere wishes for the conference and faculty of FMCS, which were shared by Mr. Zhang Xu in Chinese language and translated by Dr. Muneeb for the audience.

Elizabeth Eide, Professor; Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, joined us through virtual conferencing and shared her views on “Transitional Navigation Citizenship, journalism and new media challenges”

Hamid Mowlana, Professor of School of International Services, American university, Washington D.C. was also expected to join the conference but due to some unavoidable reasons he could not make this visit possible, however,  Hamid Mowlana honored us by sending his paper to be presented on his behalf titled “Human Communication” which was presented by Dr. Frasat Rasool; Assistant Professor, FMCS.

Program was further proceeded by the remarks of honorable Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zafar Ullah, Pro-rector UCP who showed his gratitude to chief guest of ceremony Dr. Nizam Uddin for his constant academic, moral and financial support for fostering the research culture in Pakistan.

Dr. Muhammad Zafar Ullah also appreciated the efforts of FMCS for organizing an international conference and acknowledged the services of visionary leadership of Dr. Mughees Undin Sheikh Dean FMCS for inviting the international delegates and heads and deans of all prestigious universities of Pakistan.

Further the Chief Guest of Inaugural Ceremony Dr. Nizam Uddin, Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission appreciated the initiative taken by FMCS and expressed that since FMCS is successfully running the best PhD program in Pakistan; such conferences provide platform to the scholars and practitioners to come together and to share their findings and experiences to explore the avenues of academic solutions.  He also emphasized on establishing exclusive media and communication institutions in Pakistan.

In the end, Souvenirs and shields were distributed to worthy guests as token of acknowledgement by Pro-rector UCP Dr.  Muhammad Zafar Ullah.

Inaugural session was followed by 11 parallel sessions of presentations of academic Research papers which were divided in 05 following themes.

1. Digital media, curriculum development and teaching method
2. political economy and democratization of media,
3. Media ethics : theory and practice
4. Public relations, advertising, marketing and consumer behavior
5. Environmental communication

 More than 300 research papers were received from different national and international universities and 70 papers were selected by the review committee. Presenters from different national Universities including Punjab University, international Islamic university, Government College University Faisalabad, University of Gujrat, Fatima Jinnah University Islamabad, Lahore college for women university, Kinnaird college, Lahore Garrison University, Lahore Leads University, University of Management and Technology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute Sciences & Technology Islamabad, Post Graduate College for Women Vehari and Post Graduate College for Women Dera Ghazi Khan, presented their academic and scholarly work.

Another distinguished feature to share regarding the contribution of FMCS in this conference is that 10 MPhil scholars, 19 PhD scholars of FMCS and 17 faculty members of FMCS presented their papers which is a huge success for us.

Whereas moderators included Dr. Farasat Rasool, Dr. Mudassar Hussain Shah, Mr. Ahmed Sheikh, Mr. Fahad Anis, Mr. Rehman Nasir, Mr. Ahsan Farooqi, Ms. Anila Irfan Ms. Rubab Akhtar Ms. Sara Alvi and Ms. Mehr un Nisa.

^2ND DAY OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE

The 2^nd day of International Media Conference, organized by FMCS was based on documentary competition. The organizing committee received a lot of entries from the government and private sector universities including Punjab University, Kinnaird College, and Lahore College for Women University, out of which 10 documentaries were shortlisted for the display.

Mr. Ayub Khawar, A. renowned poet, Script Writer, and project Head of a famous program “Mazaaq Raat” was the guest of honor, while Mr. Syed Noor, a renowned Film director and backbone of Pakistan’ film industry was the Chief Guest of this ceremony.

And the judges included Mr. Urooj Samdhani, Dr. Lubna Zaheer and Iram Ghani The chief guests and guest of honor distributed the certificates to the participants and gave shields to the first 04 following position holders

1. Wo Sitara hai Chamakne do by Amna Munawar
2. Rasulpur by Syed Zeeshan Haider Gillani
3. Adhuri Shanakht by Maria
4. Luggage by Naveed Alam

Pro-rector UCP Dr. Muhammad Zafarullah and Dean FMCS gave the souvenirs to Ayub Khawar and Syed Noor.

3^{RD DAY} OF CONFERENCE

On third day of International Media Conference, a Round table discussion on “Media and National Interest” was organized in UCP Board Room. This session was chaired by Mr. Shamshad Khan (former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, International Relations Expert and Analyst) and moderated by Dr. Mughees Uddin Sheikh, Dean FMCS. Pro-rector UCP Dr. Muhammad Zafarullah joined the program as Chief Guest.

The panelists included

1. Gen (R) Ghulam Mustafa — Defense Analyst
2. Mr Arif Nizami — Senior Journalist Analyst and Former Editor of The Nation
3. Moayyed Ali Jafri — Journalist, The News
4. Salman Ghani — Senior Journalist and Analyst
5. Sajjad Mir — Columnist & TV Anchor
6. Rauf Tahir — Columnist
7. Salman Abid — Columnist and Analyst
8. PJ Mir — TV Anchor and Analyst
9. Mujib ur Rahman Shami — Editor-in-Chief Daily Pakistan, Ex-President Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), Analyst
10. Farooq Hameed — Columnist and Analyst
11. Qayyum Nizami – Columnist
12. Tanveer Shahzad (Special Correspondent in Pakistan For Datchay Vallay Voice of Germany.
13. Rashid Ahmed Khan (Political Scientist and Analyst)

This round table discussion was purely academic and thematic and this target was achieved in four rounds of discussion.

1. First round was an attempt to re-discover the very basic definition what is National Interest in the contemporary world of social media and globalization.
2. Second round was about to ascertain that what is the national interest of Pakistan.
3. Third round involved the debate regarding the role of media in presenting the national interest of Pakistan at national and international level.
4. In the fourth round the discussion was concluded by the Chair Mr. Shamshad Khan.

In the end, Pro-rector UCP Dr. Muhammad Zafarullah thanked all the guests for sharing their valuable views and emphasized that media has a major responsibility to consider the national interest before disseminating any communication.

CLOSING CEREMONY

On the Closing Ceremony of the International Media Conference 2018 ,Dr. Niaz Ahmed Akhter, Vice Chancellor University of the Punjab was the Chief Guest. Dr. Manju Mishra Principle College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Nepal, Representative of Prof. Luo Quing, Dean Communication University of China also graced the event by their presence. Conference Report was presented by Ms. Amber Mubeen Assistant Professor Faculty of Media and Communication Studies, UCP. Professor Dr. Shafiq Jullandhry had put forward the recommendations extracted from the conference. Prof. Dr Mughees uddin Sheikh Dean Faculty of Media and Communication Studies, the man behind the immense success of this conference gave an amazing concluding speech and vote of thanks to the organizers, presenters, participants and the worthy honorable guests. At the end of the ceremony, the souvenirs and certificates were distributed by the Pro Rector UCP Prof. Dr M. Zafar Ullah among all the renowned guests, participants and organizers.