Srinagar: In a first of its kind, Mudasir Ali Online Memorial Session organized by Media Education Research Centre (MERC) Wednesday the invited speakers discussed the ‘Journalism during pandemic: Opportunities & Challenges’.
A galaxy of media professionals working for local, national and international media besides the faculty and the students of the department marked the occasion.
Mudasir Ali was a pass out of MERC, batch 2005. He worked as Senior Editor at ‘Greater Kashmir’ besides contributing to ‘The Wire’news portal.
RiyazMasroor, J&K BBC Correspondent, MehmoodurRashid, Op-ed Editor Greater Kashmir and ZafarIqbal, Associate Editor MOJO, were the invited speakers while DrNisar Ahmad Mir Registrar KU was the guest of honour on the occasion.
In his remarks, Registrar KU complimented the department for conducting the session and conveyed the appreciation of the Vice Chancellor for the same. “There is a lifelong connect between teachers and the taught”, he said while expressing condolences to the bereaved family. “Mudasirwas a gem of a person who stood for value based journalism”.
Regarding the challenges and opportunities, Nisar described Infodemic as one of the biggest challenges along with pandemic in contemporary times.“Thesituationhas generated interest in healthcare reporting which needs more attention”, he remarked.
Zafardescribed the pandemic as a mixed bag for journalists where there are concerns for ensuring the safety while reporting the story from the ground.
Describing pandemic as the biggest story of our times, Mehmood-ur-Rashid opined,“Pandemic is still unfolding itself and we don’t know in how many ways it may affect us. Riyaztalked about the changes journalism as a profession had undergone recently.The challenge is how to adapt to thechange”, heobserved.
Jehangir Ali, brother of Mudasir Ali, was the special invitee on the occasion. He thanked the department for organising an event in memory of Mudasir Ali.
Emotional scenes were witnessed during the session when condolences were conveyed to Ali Muhammad Wazir,father of late Mudasir Ali who watched the proceedings online.
The proceedings of the memorial session were conducted by senior faculty and former HoDMERC NasirMirza.
“Mudasir has become immortal as he lives in our memories”, he said while highlighting the objectives of the session.
