Thursday, September 3, 2009

Pakistani Radio Introduces Female Reporters


Radio Kyber operates from the town of Jamrud, inside the strong traditionalist tribal regions.
It is the brainchild of the Fata secretariat, funded by the Pakistani government, to counter the pro-jihad, anti-West hard-line coming from extremists.
The station started broadcasting a range of news, music, health and development programmes in 2006 under a constant volley of death threats - and even the occasional rockets attack.
Station editor Said Nazir said the trio had been employed so that women's issues from a part of the world where women are almost shut out from society could be better understood.
"You know that these are the tribal areas, and a very conservative place and women's issues do not generally get highlighted and covered by mainstream media.
"We, however, manage to highlight these issues, through our female reporters, who also bring in creative and unique ideas for programmes and news coverage."

Pakistani soldiers with rockets
The women often travel long distances to cover stories ranging from the plight of internally displaced persons, health issues, children's issues and more.
One recent story concerned the return of locals from refugee camps to their homes deep inside the Bajaur tribal agency.
As she approached one woman, neighbouring refugees objected to her trying to interview the refugee.
"The men and the women object to us filming women, they don't like it, it is against their principles.
"I told them I was not talking to anyone who has given me permission and I was just recording voices," reporter Asma Nawaz said.

Local traditions are very strict in the area - fathers and brothers barely see their sisters once they are married off, women at home live in a separate section to men.
Their duties revolve around some of the most primitive attitudes, of cooking, cleaning and bringing up children.
Against this background, the strength and courage of the female reporters is all the more remarkable.

source: news.sky.com

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