Every medium has its specific policy to protect the name of political parties, organizations, or influential personalities.  The ethics we study have nothing to do with practicing journalism in our society.

At first place, I joined to pursue my passion for constructive & productive contributions to the field but later I realized that I am biting off more than I can chew while consuming the bitter facts about the field that there is no beat concept, Equal pay issues, the safety of journalists, freedom of speech & so much more to unveil. But as a beginner, you decide to compromise on a lot of things & still find yourself in a place where your passion, energy & peace is at stake because you are bound to follow the policies that forced you to unlearn the media ethics. I couldn’t see myself as a part of it so I switched to a digital media as an independent journalist & digital marketer to be in touch with my journalistic roots.

In universities, Students struggle to manage theoretical work & practical work. The three main universities that offer Media & Journalism courses are still in the developing stage the result of which leads to raw skills graduates because we don’t have a proper plan to utilize the young & fresh minds in journalism. The internship programs don’t offer a stipend, the working hours clash with the university hours, & the lack of resources within the universities is the reason why most of the students couldn’t practice the theories.

The government should design courses to support & promote quality education. I highly suggest the newcomers to start exploring options from the third last semester for the sake of clarity instead of being tolerant to the peer pressure of focusing only on getting a 4.5 CGPA or a perfect thesis because the experience is as important as your outstanding results.”

Sohairah Afaq a graduate student of media and journalism from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University (SBKWU) Quetta in 2022  and she is still jobless. She said there were 25 female students in her class and only one student pursuing a career in the journalism field but In Karachi instead of Quetta. She said it’s very hard to get a job in our field, especially for the beginners. If we want to be a journalist, we have to prepare a few reports and work as a freelancer in the begining. I applied for several jobs but never got a chance until now.

The ex-student of Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) Sana Akhter said she did BS in Mass Communication in 2017 and did internships in Quetta city at Dawn and Geo. I applied for several jobs and after so much struggle I have been appointed as a reporter in a private channel in Quetta. But they never appointed any other reporter with me which makes me leave my job because of workloads. She said there are 15 students in her class. Only one student pursues a career in the journalism field and one other just does some internships and then left because there is no space for newcomers in the journalism field in Quetta.

Another pass-out journalism student of SBKWU Aisha Imran said that she had done a four-month internship at Geo TV Quetta however, she experienced that there is no space for newcomers in our city. The main issues are the acceptance of newcomers by the staff, non-serious behavior to educate you about the field, availability of cameras for newcomers, and space for new and innovative ideas.

The other mass communication graduate from BUITEMS, Ahad Yousaf said that there are forty students in our class and we passed out in 2021. Only Faizan Kashmiri is the one who gets the opportunity and joins the journalism field. Ahad said I applied to many media organizations but never got any opportunity because in Balochistan there is no scope for the media field. Calculated media outlets work in the province and they offer very less salary which is not enough for our expenses. This is the big reason I left my field and join another field to fulfill my needs.

Asfandyar another pass-out media student from BUITEMS said hardly four out of thirty students join the field. He said I joined the Media field but never get a good salary and have fewer opportunities than I joined the NGO as a social mobilizer. Universities are also responsible for this issue because they never educate students practically which costs students when he/she came to the field. Nowadays inflation is at its peak and lower salaries in the journalism field are one of the main reasons to leave the field and join any other sector.

Manzoor Ahmed senior working journalist and general secretary of the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) said, that the issue of less salary is not just an issue of new graduates, it is a general issue of the journalist community. Nowadays 8 out of 10 journalists or reporters want to leave the job because of this issue. The continuous downfall of the media and journalism field after 2015, downsizing, and sudden decrease in job opportunities made journalists suffer a lot.  The advancement of technology is one of the main causes of reducing the workforce. Three main causes made new graduates not join the field or leave the field earlier. The first reason is unskilled graduates in this regard universities are responsible, second is the students are not focused, and the third reason is the fewer job opportunities which make competition tight. In his interview, he replied about the question of paid internships that this is the responsibility of the government and universities who assure the internships for the students which motivate newcomers to pursue their field of study in their career. If someone has the spark to sustain in the field and can cover issues or made reports everyone supports these kinds of newcomers in the field.

Lack of salaries is one the main reason which leads new graduates to not join the field said Ghalib Nehad the senior journalist of Dawn News Quetta. The salary of drivers or peons of other industries is equal to our educated reporter. He said that not giving space to the newcomer or fresh graduates is somehow true but it varies from person to person. When I am new in the field my seniors support me to polish my skills. He responded to the question that there is almost zero opportunity in the media field for new graduates in Quetta, he said it is true because in the tenure of Imran Khan in 2019 the media industry has been shrunk, and due to downsizing, many of the working journalists or reporters became unemployed, which makes a gap in the field and is the main cause of no space for the newcomers. He said that paid internship opportunities are a great motivation for new graduates and I also got one in Geo News Quetta when I graduated. He said that in Quetta three universities offer media and journalism programs for students and every year 150 students get graduated in the media and journalism field but unfortunately there are only 3 or 4 students who joined the field properly.

Asim Khan a senior working journalist with CNN, said that 146 registered newspapers were operated from Quetta according to the Audit Bureau Circulation. He informed me that the actual number of bureau offices or correspondents of news channels is 29. He said that the minimum salary in newspapers is 15000/- and the maximum salary is 30000/- per month. The minimum salary in news channels is 20000/- and the maximum salary is 40000/- per month in Quetta city.

The Pakistan Information Center (PIC) Head in Quetta Arsalan Qureshi said that the students have to gain experience from doing internships during their studies. Because trends change and every organization whether media channels or NGOs want skillful individuals for their media-related activities. He said the purpose and main goal of PIC is to develop journalists’ skills and work on their capacity building. The main focus is on new graduates of the media and journalism field. PIC itself organized training for young journalists to develop their skills and made them skillful which helped them to pursue their careers in their field of study. Mobile Journalism (MOJO), Feature Writing, Investigative Reporting, and Documentary Making pieces of training organized for young journalists and they learned a lot. The journalist must have the ability to operate the camera, edit himself, script, and voice-over like a one-man army because it is the demand of organizations today. If any new graduate of media and journalism wants to join the field, they must have to show his/her passion and learn skills according to the trend and demand.