January 22, 2012

Journalism Education in the Pakistani Borderlands

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By Lawrence Pintak

Islamabad

Students brave roadside bombs and Taliban threats while on class assignments. Professors are kidnapped and killed. Campus radio stations get regular visits from military intelligence.

Welcome to journalism education in Pakistan's tribal areas.

"Nine-eleven was a boon to us," says a lecturer at one of the universities there, a few dozen miles from the Afghan border. "We are a backward area, so there were no opportunities for journalists. Now all the world wants reporters