Mr. Shams Ul-Haq is an investigative journalist. His work involved doing research in 150 radical mosques for German national TV ZDF in Europe for the last two years. He has also registered himself in thirty five refugee camps in Europe with different identities and wrote two books about the experience. As an expert on the nature of terrorism, he has made a name for himself in Europe. Now he is involved in launching an institute for journalists together with the German ambassador in Lahore. He worked together with senior editor Susana Santina of German national TV ZDF. Mr. Shams Ul-Haq has the honor to receive the Media Person of the year Award in 2019.
When did you first consider a career in journalism?
It was not planned. In 2007 I interviewed Ms. Benazir Bhutto for German Newspaper Die Welt. After which I noticed that I can build a good bridge between the two countries. So that the image of my country can improved. At that point, I started my career as a journalist.
How do you look back on your career now?
I am surprised that it has been very positive in the last 10 years, despite me not having formally studying to a journalist . There were many ups and downs, but I have traveled the world and Alhamdulillah, thanks to God’s help, I have come very far.
What struggles should a journalist be prepared for?
This raises the question of which direction to go in journalism. I’ve been traveling in the crisis areas. And have always had to deal with the possibility that something dangerous could happen to me. That’s the biggest difficulty when reporting from the crisis area. Or like, for example, I was undercover in the Islamist areas. Here you have to be prepared for any danger.
What advice would you give to a younger you?
The most important thing is to respect your parents and the senior teachers, if you have a goal planned you should definitely work hard for it, no matter how difficult it is. The Pakistani journalism is rather difficult, since every second person is a journalist . I recommend the young journalist to live a few months abroad to gain experience.
We often here that the media has not portrayed Pakistan properly. What can we do to fix the damage?
That’s a very good and important question. The first thing you have to do is train all the owners of the media houses so that they do not let politics and power influence them. It would take a few years for the intelligence services in Pakistan’s media to have no influence. We also need to offer proper journalistic education in Pakistan. For this, the government of Pakistan has to work as quickly as possible. Otherwise Pakistan would continue with the mafia system journalism. But please do not forget there is also very good journalism in Pakistan.
How do you think Pakistani media or journalism can be improved?
As I’ve already stated, we have more stations in Pakistan than in all of Europe. But the right training schools are missing. for example, we do not have any journalism school in Pakistan with whole facility with studios, where young people can complete a three year education. We still have a lot of work to do here.
Maheen Ahmed – Writing to create culture
@lahore_la_notte_
