Srinagar, July 20: International media practitioner and an alumni of the University of Kashmir, Dr Fazal Malik on Wednesday advised the future media professionals to be multi-skilled and learn how to multi-task in order to increase their chances of employability in an environment defined by integration of digital, multimedia and interactive technologies.
 Delivering the lecture, ‘Media Convergence: Challenges and possibilities’, at the Media Education Research Centre of University of Kashmir here, he painted a vibrant picture of future media landscape.
 He said that journalists have to learn new skills and develop critical thinking to survive in an environment where integration of various communication and information technologies and synergy between various media will make the media job market very competitive.
 Urging future media professionals to look beyond the traditional vocations in media, he said that technology driven unification of communication demands new ways of processing, producing and distributing content across different platforms. He, however, underlined the importance of good content and narrative in this new world of digital age.
 While accepting the fact that the media convergence had brought about enterprise, innovation, entrepreneurship, and a better cross-cultural understanding, Dr Malik warned that uncritical adaptation of new technology may lead to gate-keeping, over-regulation, cross media ownership and increase in knowledge gap which are detrimental to the free flow of information and democratization of media content. Sharing his experiences of working in various media at international level, Dr Malik said that the curriculum in media education should reflect the dramatic changes taking place in the media situation across the world.
 Dr Malik has specialized in media entrepreneurship and he has developed scores of media platforms including community radio stations, niche publications and production centres in the United Kingdom and UAE.
 He has worked as Broadcast journalist for the BBC in the UK and taught media and cultural studies at the Nottingham Trent University before joining the higher education in UAE where he leads media department.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST