Dr. Anjum Zia, The true Inspiration.

Arham Dar talks to Prof. Dr. Anjum Zia, HOD of Department of Mass Communication LCWU about her Department, Education, Research and role of Media.

Brad Henery said: "A good teacher csn indpire hope, ignite the imagination and instill a love of learning."

Prof. Dr. Anjum Zia, Head of the Department of Mass Communication in Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, has been in the field of education for more then 20 years. She worked hard in establishment and development of the Department of Mass Communication in Asia's largest women University. Her focus is to make this Department as one of the best department of Pakistan specially in the field of Mass Communication. She went to Canada for her post doctrate last year. She is looking forword to initiate PhD program in her department. She wants to see her graduates at the high level position of Media Industry and she is still looking forward to it. In an exclusive interview with Arham Dar she discussed the working of herdepartment and the role of Media and the difference in standerds and attitude of Canadian and Pakistani students in terms of education and research.

While talking about her journey to mass com she said “I was not interested in Mass Communication primarily. I did my FSC. I was interested to be a doctor but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I studied my BA with economics and statistics so once you lose your target for some time you become lost & that was my case. After graduation my father, who was a literature lover and he also had connections with journalists so he wanted me to be a journalist, he pushed me in this field. Although I didn’t wanted to be a journalist but I used that education to become a teacher and I think it is the best profession for me. My mentor is Dr. Mughees-ud-din Shiekh. He was my teacher and I copy him how he teaches and motivate the students and from that time till now he is supporting me in all types of tasks.

While talking about the problems she faced while building her career she said “There were so many problems because it is my attitude that whatever I want to do ], I want to do it in a very professional way so I think it is very difficult to be a professional and to do everything professionally so when I started teaching there was no department, there was no staff room so I worked on these lines to get the building particularly, the office where I can sit and guide to the students then I worked for the development of the curriculum and I faced so many problems for that because I want to make my department as one of the best department of Pakistan specially for communication studies so I faced administrative problems, financial problems, criticism but that did not make me stop my work. I worked hard and thanks Allah I was able to overcome all these problems.

Talking about maintaining balance between her professional and personal life she said “It is really very difficult to maintain your personal and professional life because your personal life is as important as your professional life and sometimes your personal life is more important and to create a balance between these two you need the support of your family. If your parents, husband and in laws are supportive you can do it.

Dr. Anjum Zia revealed that she thinks that she has not yet achieved her target. Her target to build the department of Mass communication in LCWU was that she wanted to see the graduates at the high level positions of media industry she added that she is still looking forward to it. She said that a day will come when she will be able to achieve her target and will proudly say that these are my students and they are doing a lot for the country and for the media. It is a sort of ambition of her and she is hopeful that she will achieve it. She said that her target is to start Ph.D. program in Mass Communication department of LCWU and she is working on it these days.

Dr. Anjum Zia went to Canada for doing her Post doctorate, talking about her experience in Canada she told “It was an amazing experience. I learned a lot, I enjoyed a lot and there was not any type of pressures that I was facing in Pakistan at workplace and at home. Although I had to manage everything, food, washing etc. even then I spent a lot more time on my studies I studied so many articles and there were so many concepts which needs to be clear so I did all these during my stay in Canada.

Talking about the different standards of research and education of Pakistan and Canada she added “There is a huge difference in terms of research and education between Pakistan and Canada. In Canada they have quality research but we are far behind. I think the reason behind that is we do not have those facilities of research which Canadian researchers possess. The people of Canada know the worth of quality research and they are very supportive to researchers but in Pakistan the research culture is entirely different, you have to do lot more effort to produce a quality research. In Canada if you know your direction you can achieve it in no time but in Pakistan you have to face so many problems because research culture is not developed in Pakistan.”

Talking about education she added “Education can polish your personality, it can enhance your information, and it can give you the confidence which I think are students are lacking. Pakistani students do not know how to study they just try to gain information and they believe in cramming and as soon as they get free from their classes they want to go home but in Canada they never go home after classes and even there is a huge gap between two classes one is supposed to be 8 am to 10 am and second is in evening so what they do, they stay in university go to library and read the books, make their assignments and presentations and consult the resources so they are enhancing their knowledge even they have to earn to pay there fee but in Pakistan students have lot more support, they get their fee from parents and even at home they are facilitated. I think Pakistani students are wasting more of their time in useless activities.

The basic objective of media is to inform, to educate and to entertain but Media is a business industry now it’s not a mission now, it is working like an industry or a business organization so they have to earn for that purpose. Although they are doing their duty, they are creating awareness among the public, they are giving education to the public in a way but they also have to produce some stuff for entertainment and to enhance their readership, or listenership or viewership they have to follow or produce something which may be of low slandered but if the public is watching them or the targeted masses is not responding to it. Media persons says that whatever they broadcast is the demand of public, although  I don’t believe it because I believe that those people who are involved in media they are more educated, they know what the purposes of media are, they should provide the public what are the needs of the public instead of providing entertainment all the time or rubbish information which is not valuable for them but the thing is that they want to have the maximum money, they want to run their business, at the end of the day they are doing their business.

Talking about Media laws and ethics she that as media has become a business industry now so they have come up with the agenda of earning and the media laws and ethics are left far behind. She said that laws and ethics of media should be implemented there is less implementation of laws, one can implement laws but cannot implement the ethics, these are the moral values and it should be voluntarily accepted but they are not doing so because they are running their business. Media is not working to create a developed nation but to earn so most of the time they violate the laws.

Talking about the role of media in political stability of Pakistan she said “I think they are doing a good role in the sense that they are creating awareness in the masses about the political parties, what they are doing, about their activities and even about the political scenario of Pakistan they are doing a good job.

Talking about the role of women in media she added “I think no profession is bad, every profession have some negative and positive aspects and if a women has the ability to be a good journalist or a good media person she should go for that because if you have confidence, moral values and if you know your direction then no one is there to stop you, you can do that. The women are now being supported from the government, from the organizations, even from the law but maybe there is a pressure from her family or parents that you should not go in media because it is a bad profession. The women who get media education are more informed, can take stand for their rights.

Talking about the reluctance of students in choosing print media as their specialization in semester 8 she said “I think the students are not that much mature, they cannot properly analyse what the requirements of print media are. It is a common perception that if you are going into broadcast media you will enjoy and will be more prominent, you will be earning a lot and you think that in production may be you will be contributing in news or drama or programs that will go to the majority of people so you will be well known and you will get more and you may have the power so these are the thing which are very fascinating among the students and when they think about print media it seems very boring to them and secondly there is a very important reason that are students are fascinated by the electronic media. But for print media the basic requirement is that you must have command over language but in electronic media you can overcome these issues.

Talking about her department she said “Our all courses are practice oriented and we always try to arrange workshops, seminars and presentations just to make the concepts clear to the students. Practically they have to make assignments, presentations, projects like documentaries, short films, dramas, radio programs and features, newspaper articles, magazine articles, feature writing, editorial writing. So gradually we are polishing their skills and till masters they are doing these practices and if there is a need to enhance some of or one of the skill I always arrange different workshops. Now I am focusing on to arrange workshops on Cyber-crimes, online journalism because these are the current areas these should be focused.

Talking about her secret of her success she revealed “I think there are only two things one is hard work and second is my ambition. If are ambitious and you want to do anything and you have the potential that you can work hard no one is there to stop your way and above all is the support of your family and support from Allah. I am thankful to Allah. A stage comes in your life when you face some hurdles but I am thankful to Allah that He made me to overcome those hurdles.

When asked what you would be if you would not be a teacher she said “If I would not be a teacher maybe I would be running some of my business.

At the end of the conversation she gave message to students she said “There is no alternative of hard work, this is my experience. If you are a hard worker there is no one who can come in your way. If you want to achieve something just target that and do hard work and A day will come when you will be succeeded.