
The finale of the third Valley Voices project saw women journalists and writers gain confidence in writing about some of the more controversial topics facing women in Pakistan at a workshop with our partner - the Tribal News Network (TNN).
Tackling writing blogs was the first task for the group under the mentorship of documentary filmmaker, multimedia journalist and blogger Sabin Agha. Prior to Sabin's session, most of the participants were unfamiliar with blogging and would be unlikely to write about some of the more contentious issues.
The all-women group of journalists and writers involved in this project live and work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in North West Pakistan - a very traditional, conservative part of Pakistan, where most women have a little or no access to formal education, and are hugely underrepresented in the media.
With Sabin's coaching the women grew in confidence and skills, and gained the ability to write from a personal, female perspective on important - yet often neglected - topics affecting women and their rights.
In a place where women's voices are rarely heard or represented, breaking with the prevalent social conventions and hierarchical structures is a big first step towards empowering women to pursue careers in the media.
I was surprised to see that the bloggers picked up very bold and taboo topics like gender discrimination, domestic violence, and harassment against women.
Sabin Agha, trainer I appreciate TNN for publishing all these blogs, as they were written without fear or reluctance, says Sabin Agha.
Earlier in the project, nine focus group discussions had been held with local women in the region, thus giving the reporters first-hand information on what local female audiences actually want to consume. The topics raised included harassment, jobs and economic opportunities for women, gender inequality, education, health and cooking.
Trainer and gender analyst Qudsia Mehtab Mehmood sees this part of the project as a step forward in creating gender-balanced stories which are mostly lacking in local media coverage.
Sabin opened our minds regarding blogging and removed the fear which was inside us.
Valley Voices mentee
-- Play
-- --
The process of pitching was the focus of another workshop session. Multimedia journalist Sana Gulzar and Executive Producer at TNN Khalida Niaz shared their newsroom knowledge on how to communicate with editors, pitch stories, and how to react to feedback and criticism.
TNN News Editor Hina Gul shared the rebranding process of TNN. She says the organisation has evolved over time and the new identity better represents the organisation as independent, progressive, gender-inclusive, and a voice of marginalised groups.
The workshop concluded by sharing participants' feedback on the impact they would love their stories to have. For some, like Nausheen, the change has been bigger than they ever imagined.
Professionally, it changed me so that I can read and write more than before, and also I learned how to write many things I learned to lock the ocean in a jar' (how to say the big story in a few words), she says.
I learned how to write controversial and difficult topics easily and have started earning through writing. Now I am an independent woman.
Nausheen, a Valley Voices mentee
About the Valley Voices project For women in Pakistan, the fight for empowerment and equality comes with a specific set of challenges and struggles. Women are rarely part of the public sphere, with little to no participation in decision-making, often being misrepresented or subjects of discrimination in media. With their voices constantly silenced, the Valley Voices project aims to make them active participants in content creation and local media engagement.
For the first time, women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in North West Pakistan were asked about their media consumption habits and interests in a programme designed to make local media more relevant to them and enhance their political participation. Starting with the premise that the only way women can truly be represented in the media is by including as many women journalists as possible, Thomson Foundation teamed up with a local partner, the Tribal News Network (TNN), to provide them with the necessary tools.
Since 2020, Thomson Foundation has been working with the Tribal News Network (TNN) on ways to give women a voice, both as producers and consumers. An audience study revealed interesting insights into womens media consumption habits and expectations. These informed several training and mentoring sessions on mobile journalism productions, aimed at a women audience, including illiterate women from remote districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. TNNs local reporter network was strengthened by providing relevant skills and confidence to young women reporters and bloggers.
Related content
Why female journalists in Pakistan dont like coffee
Read Sabin Aghas blog on the treatment of journalists in Pakistan
Valley Voices - Enhancing womens political participation
Learn about a programme focused on media production for women in Pakistan
Empowering women in Pakistans rural communities
Topics that matter the most to Pakistani women
Explore our projects across the globe
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Yospace will be at IBC from 11th - 14th September (booth 5.C78). For more inform...
03/09/2026
NEP Group has announced leadership changes at Creative Technology Group. Founder and CEO Graham Andrews will step away from day-to-day leadership at the end of ...
03/09/2026
The NFL and TikTok have announced a multi-year partnership renewal expanding the league's presence on the platform. NFL posts on TikTok increased more than ...
03/09/2026
Grass Valley has appointed Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras. Van Geel began his career in 1999 at Philips DVS and moved into product management in 2005...
03/09/2026
Telestream has announced Vantage Super Resolution, an AI-powered upscaling capability for the Vantage media workflow platform, developed in collaboration with N...
03/09/2026
Solid State Logic (SSL) will debut the TCA Tour at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.B45), a portable production system built from System T components in a desktop frame...
03/09/2026
DPA Microphones has announced the 6388 CORE Headset Microphone, making its debut at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand D60). The supercardioid headset features a physicall...
03/09/2026
Qvest will present a multi-vendor Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) showcase at IBC2026 (Booth 10.C24), demonstrating how the EBU's DMF architecture can be imple...
03/09/2026
Imagine Communications will showcase the Magellan PanelFlex control surface and other control portfolio updates at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, Septembe...
03/09/2026
Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 production probe is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on commerci...
03/09/2026
Audio-Technica has unveiled the BP350ST MS (mid-side) microphone in two versions: the camera-mount BP350ST-UL and the boundary or gooseneck-mountable BP350ST-UB...
03/09/2026
Telos Alliance will introduce updates to the J nger Audio flexAI audio processin...
03/09/2026
DUNKMAN, the professional dunk league founded by Shaquille O'Neal in partner...
03/09/2026
Orlando's WRDQ TV 27, WFTV Channel 9 previously named over-the-air broadcast...
03/09/2026
EverPass Media has announced a multi-year commercial distribution agreement with Netflix, expanding on an existing partnership that has delivered NFL Christmas ...
03/09/2026
Yahoo Sports and Apple TV have announced a partnership to deliver alternate broadcasts of select Friday Night Baseball and MLS games on the Yahoo Sports website...
03/09/2026
With another academic year underway, college athletic departments across the cou...
03/09/2026
Facility becomes permanent home of NFL Live on Sept. 9; centerpiece studio for c...
03/09/2026
Create musical synth bass sounds from scratch
Anthony Marinelli Music have recently announced the launch of Bass DNA, a new online course that teaches music...
03/09/2026
Most powerful Tonex hardware to date
IK Multimedia's latest release introduces their most advanced Tonex hardware unit to date, combining their AI Machi...
03/09/2026
Upmix & downmix software upgraded
Penteo Audio Plugins have announced that the latest version of their powerful upmix and downmix software is now available....
03/09/2026
With the start of the new apprenticeship year, young talent has once again begun their professional careers at SGL Carbon's sites in Germany. Recently, the ...
03/09/2026
With the industry increasingly embracing hybrid, software-defined production models, Calrec will preview a series of Argo and ImPulseV software enhancements at ...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
Recognizing the ever-increasing demands for media throughput in challenging environments like post-production, two leaders in network technology have worked tog...
03/09/2026
EVS, a leader in live video technology and production infrastructure solutions, and Matrox Video, a leader in software-defined media technology and IP-based vid...
03/09/2026
AJA Debuts OG-FiDO-4 openGear Four-Channel SDI/Fiber Conversion Cards
Brie Clayton September 3, 2026
0 Comments
New product family expands 12G-SDI and...
03/09/2026
Nice Touch launches V2 of its AI edit assistant for professional editors
Brie Clayton September 3, 2026
0 Comments
Built by two editors with twelve ye...
03/09/2026
Accedo, a global provider of video streaming software and services, and MediaKind, a world-leading video technology company and the number one independent provi...
03/09/2026
International research from Big Blue Marble puts a consumer churn number against a technical failure, and sets out what streaming providers must fix before 2030...
03/09/2026
High-performance points of presence power video streaming delivery to large audiences across Latin America with guaranteed quality of experience
Broadpeak , a ...
03/09/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, will unveil the next evolution of Dalia at IBC2026 (7.A43), its media-aware agent...
03/09/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the world's largest independent IT and business consulting services firms, will showcase CGI OpenMedia Evolve and CGI d...
03/09/2026
LiveU is participating in the IBC Accelerator Incubator 2026: Smart Stories The New Knowledge Architecture for Content Production, an industry-wide initiative...
03/09/2026
Broadcast Solutions, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast and media industry, has taken another major step in its...
03/09/2026
Quortex today announced that it will showcase how it is accelerating innovation and the transition to IP at IBC 2026. The company will debut its newest intellig...
03/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/09/2026
The EZDRM approach to Revenue Security on streaming video can be visualized as a multi-dimensional set of solutions. A growing dimension of that approach is the...
03/09/2026
From field capture to management, control and production, Kiloview will demonstrate one connected Hybrid AV-over-IP workflow including a complete 4RU producti...