ICFJ VP of Programs Discusses Pros and Cons of New Technologies at VOA Urdu Town Hall

By: Alexandra Ludka | 12/30/2014

ICFJ's Patrick Butler (middle) participates in a VOA Urdu panel discussion on digital journalism. Source: screen-grab from VOA Urdu video.

ICFJ’s Vice President of Programs, Patrick Butler, recently participated in Voice of America Urdu’s first Student Town Hall panel discussion, where he emphasized the importance of new and emerging journalism technologies but also stressed the value of traditional reporting practices.

The Town Hall discussion, “Digital Journalism: Challenges and Opportunities,” took place on Nov. 19 and featured several other media leaders from both the U.S. and Pakistan along with students from the Institute of Business Management (IOBM) in Karachi.

The panelists and students discussed rapidly changing media trends as well as the importance of maintaining traditional journalism practices to ensure accuracy and fairness in reporting. Butler warned the students that reporters should never hide behind technology.

“We should never give up what we call ‘shoe-leather journalism,’ which is being out on the street, meeting people, finding the story and talking to people face to face,” he said. “It is tempting with digital media, with email, with direct messages on Twitter, to do all our interviews on the computer instead of being out and we never leave the newsroom. And that’s a real danger.”

Butler also said we need to promote "media literacy, which is educating students...and the general public at large about how [to] evaluate all these myriad sources of information coming at us now, which are much more than we ever had before...that would be a good idea for Pakistani universities to adapt."

See the whole VOA Urdu panel discussion here.

Latest News

Electoral Disinformation, But No AI Revolution Ahead of the US Election — Yet

Many predicted a revolution in the world of disinformation during the 2024 U.S. election due to the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI). But it hasn’t come to pass – at least not yet. ICFJ Knight Fellow Laura Zommer breaks down how to monitor the status of disinformation and AI in the days leading up to Nov. 5.

Sri Lanka: Through the Lens of Women Journalists

On a recent morning, in the heart of Sri Lanka’s capital, about two dozen women journalists discussed ethics in photojournalism – the decision to photograph certain scenes of violence and tragedy, and how to do so with care. It was a reminder of the importance of creating spaces for journalists to connect and learn.

An Academic's Media Literacy Journey from India to Oman

In 2018, Dr. Tamilselvi Natarajan came across a video depicting a child kidnapping, which spread widely on WhatsApp in India. In reality, however, the video was actually a public service announcement — not an actual kidnapping. The incident inspired the media educator to pursue training in fact-checking. Through an ICFJ and MediaWise program, she connected with advanced tools to continue to educate students about mis- and disinformation.