I could present a general summary of an international event I just attended, but that would do no justice to the large platform I was honoured upon and spoil the essence of richness I was surrounded with. By richness, I mean the abundance of qualities, passion, leadership, and integrity. From the childhood, I have always looked for my voice, a voice that I have always been in pursuit for the past twenty-three years of my life. I wanted to speak about politics, religion, peace and justice. Matters such as these are always preferred to remain confidential. It is sad and demoralising, as I have always felt suppressed not to have my voice delivered. My pursuit led me to one of the most brilliant platforms I could have ever witnessed, to speak out; learn, progress and develop. Future News Worldwide 2018 did justice to the 100 journalists who travelled from miles out in search of a platform to bring their stories into life. Residing at the heart of the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scottish Parliament served as the hub of the generation of future leaders. Journalists, editors, and executives from a range of organisations including Scottish media groups, the British Council, Reuters, BBC, CNN, Google News Initiative and Facebook formed the astounding Future News Worldwide Advisory Board. We have been guided to lead, encouraged to experiment and risk, taught the value of trust and never let go of our curiosity.
My participation and presence in this platform might come as a surprise to many. Pursuing civil engineering and having worked on machine learning and computer programming might seem a far way out from the aspects of journalism. I have always loved writing and mathematics. Journalism has been a way of life for me. I have considered my voice and my pen to be a supplement to each other. Journalism made my stories travel; stories to motivate millions. Future News Worldwide 2018 provided youth with the voice they have always aspired after. When voices are heard, actions are taken. When measures are taken, a community mobilises, and development takes place. That is why it was so crucial for me to be a part of this esteemed platform. When I went into the conference, I was like a blank sheet of paper; on which you could have written anything you wished for. I am glad and proud to have filled my share with the most brilliant lessons, guidance, and motivation from the group of esteemed journalists. David Pratt’s daunting experience as foreign correspondents in Afghanistan; Donald Martin’s excellent workshop on “what to and what not” to publish; Yusuf Omar’s struggling expedition from Durban to Damascus in three months; Catherine Gicheru’s stand for women empowerment; Melissa Bell’s insight on business in journalism; and many more uncountable lessons have truly made this conference a remarkable journey for all the young journalists. We shared and harnessed the importance of ethical approach and truthfulness in chasing our stories. Participants from fifty countries representing the Middle East, Africa, North America, South America, Central America, South Asia, South-East Asia, Far East, Asia Pacific, Oceania and Europe; gathered, networked and contributed. We made friendships that would last forever and had souls touched us like never before.
I had an amazing personal encounter with Paul Ingrassia, former managing editor of Reuters and currently the editor at The Revs Institute, an automotive history and research centre in Naples, Florida. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and winner of the Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award for financial journalism. It was a brief but an amazing encounter. His wisdom did not wear out with his age. He highly appreciated how I look forward to infusing machine learning and the likes of artificial intelligence to transform the next generation of news media and journalism. It is essential to envision the future and even more important to work towards getting there. The bulk of his extraordinary achievements and a brilliant career did not weigh down the humility he carried with him. His personification displays the perfect kind of lesson - No matter how successful you are, it is always important to keep your feet on the ground. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Future News Worldwide 2018 for giving a chance to interact with such brilliant personalities.
I believe, only emotions will not change anything. To get into the system of world peace and justice, we need to train ourselves with certain qualities. Qualities develop through knowledge, power builds upon knowledge, power is justified through sacrifice, and the cycle of leadership is complete. Future News Worldwide 2018 has been a blessing for us aspiring journalists, a worthy lesson and a life-changing experience.